History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.146
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.146
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He explains 'Being thus awakened Kundalinī enters the great road to liberation (mukti), that is, the Sushumnā nerve, and penetrating the centres one by one, ascends to the Sahasrāra and there coming in blissful communion with the Lord of Lords, again descends down through the same passage to the Mūlādhāra Chakra. Nectar is said to flow from such communion. The sādhaka drinks it and becomes supremely happy. This is the wine called Kulāmṛta, which a sādhaka of the spiritual plane drinks .. In reference to a sādhaka of the spiritual (ādhyātmika) class the Tantra says 'Pītvā pītvā...vidyate'. During the first stage of Ṣaṭ-cakra-sādhanā the sādhaka cannot suppress his breath for a sufficiently long time at a stretch to enable him to practise concentration and meditation in each centre of Power. He cannot therefore detain Kundalinī within the Sushumnā longer than his power of Kumbhaka permits. He must consequently come down upon the earth i. e. the Mūlādhāra, which is the centre of the element earth, after having drunk of the heavenly ambrosia. The sādhaka must practise this again and again and by constant practice, the cause of rebirth i. e. *vāsanā* (desire) is removed." This explanation sounds very profound and highly psychical, but it is not at all convincing. Similarly, the present author wonders how many writers on Tantras and how many Tāntrikas understood the theory of sublimation put forward in 'Tantras as a way of realization' (Cultural Heritage of India, Vol. IV. pp.
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233-235) by way of explaining the insistence on five makāras. The first question is: why was it necessary to employ vulgar language to describe a state of profound bliss? Supposing the explanation of *madya* offered by Woodroffe is accepted, what is the explanation about offering flesh and fish? One cannot easily get out of 'matsyāśī' and 'māṁsāśī' the esoteric sense required by the apologists. The Kulārṇava, the Pārānanda-sūtra and several other works almost always employ the words madya, māmsa and fish in the ordinary sense. They rarely, if at all, drop the hint that words like matsya and māmsa are being used in an esoteric sense and proceed to deal with realities of madya and flesh. The Kulārnava quotes (II. 126) the verse of Manu IX, 93 (surā vai malam-annānām &c.), provides for the preparation of the three kinds of surā (V. 15-21), and says (V. 30) that surā is the 12th kind among intoxicants and that there are eleven other kinds of intoxicants made from jack-fruit, grapes, dates, sugar-cane &c (V. 29). In XI. 22-35 the Kulārnava dilates upon the etiquette to be observed in drinking wine as part of Kaula practice. It proceeds (V. 44) to divide flesh into three classes viz. of animals that fly in the sky (birds), of acquatic animals and of those that move on the earth.
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The ¹⁷⁵⁹ Svacchandatantra (a work of great authority in Kashmir Śaivism) prescribes that various kinds of fish and meat and other food that can be licked and drunk should be poured in front of Śiva (image) and one should not stint for money. Quotations from Pārānanda-sūtra (notes 1698, 1703-4) make it perfectly clear that the words madya, māmsa, and maithuna are employed therein in the ordinary sense. Pārānandasūtra (on pp. 80-81, paragraphs 69-70 and pp 82-83 para. 76-80) describes such obscene details of the sādhaka's sexual intercourse that it is not possible to set them down here. The ordinary worship of Devī was elaborate enough, containing as it did 16 upacāras (vide p. 164 note 420 above). Where was the necessity of bringing in wine, meat and maithuna as an absolutely necessary part of the worship of Devī? The Kulārnava and other tantras praise the Vedas, employ vedic mantras and quote¹⁷⁶⁰ Upanisad and Gītā passages For example, Mahānirvāna V. 197 ff employs Vedic mantras (as noted on p. 1058) for sanctifying the five makāras, the three mantras 'Āpo hi sthā' Ṛg. X 9. 1-3 in Nāmakarana (*ibid.* IX. 150-152), 'Tac-cakṣur' Ṛg. VII. 66. 16 in Niṣkramaṇa (*ibid.* IX. 163), 'Viṣṇuryoniṁ' Ṛg. X. 184. 1 in Garbhādhāna (*ibid* IX. 96), 'Ayam te yonir' Ṛg. III. 29 10 in the worship of Agni (*ibid.* IX. 21) and the verse 'Kālī Karālī' (Muṇḍakopaniṣad I. 2. 4)