The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c9.s3.12

c9.s3.12

The equipment necessary for persons competent to worship and realize deities, and the nature of the evolution of the deities have already been indicated. Now it is necessary to state the views of the Guhyasamāja regarding the principles of god-realisation, and the various experiences through which the Sādhaka has to pass before the deity is realised and visualised. The Guhyasamāja[³] calls this process Upāya (means) which is recognised as of four kinds, Sevā, Upasādhana, Sādhana and Mahāsādhana. Sevā (worship) is again sub-divided into two, namely, Sāmānya (ordinary) and Uttama (excellent). Of these two, the Sāmānya Sevā consists of four Vajras : first, the conception of Śūnyatā; second, its transformation into the germ-syllable; third, its evolution in the form of a deity, and the fourth, the external representation of the deity.