History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.182
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.182
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v7.c92.182.1
Mantras are the very heart and core of Tantraśāstra so much so that the śāstra is often spoken of as mantraśāstra. The theory of Tāntrik writings such as the Prapañcasāra and Śāradātilaka about mantras may be briefly stated as follows: In the human body there are ten nāḍīs, the three principal being Iḍā (on the left side from the left testicle to the left nostril), Susumṇā (in the middle of the body in the spinal chord) and Pingalā (on the right side from the right testicle to the right nostril). The Kundalinī lies asleep coiled like a snake in the Mūlādhāra-cakra. It is a form of the *śabda-brahma*. The Devī (or Śakti) assumes the form of Kundalinī, all gods reside in Devī and all mantras are Her forms (Śāradātilaka I. 55-57). It has already been stated how from contact with light (Jyotiḥ) Śakti becomes conscious and has a desire to create, then it solidifies and appears as a *bindu*. Through the instrumentality of Kāla (Time) bindu divides itself into three, gross (i. e. bīja), subtle (sūkṣma i. e. nāda which is bījabindu) and para (i. e. bindu which is kāryabindu). This last is of the nature of an unmanifest sound and is called *śabdabrahma*1782a by the sages (Śāradātilaka I. 11-12, Prapañcasāra I. 41 ff). Śabdabrahma exists in all things as consciousness; it exists in the bodies of living human beings in the form of Kuṇḍalinī and then appears as letters in prose, poetry and so forth, being carried by Vāyu (air) to the throat, palate, teeth &c.
v7.c92.182.2
The sounds thus produced are called *akṣaras* and when written they are spoken of as *varṇas* (*letters of the alphabet, mātṛkā*, which are 50 from *a* to *kṣa*). The impulse to sound production arising in mūlādhāra-cakra is called 'parā' (vāk),* it is called paśyantī when it reaches 'svādhiṣṭhāna-cakra, madhyamā in the heart and vaikharī in the mouth. Both akṣara and varṇa are Kuṇḍalinī made articulate in speech and visible in writing. All the *mantras* (some say they are nine crores) are evolved from the varṇas of the alphabet that are deemed (by Tāntrikas) to be living conscious sound powers. It is the bīja mantras like hrīm, śrīm, krīm that make visible the form of the Devatā (Mahānirvāṇa V. 18-19).¹⁷⁸³ It is wrong to suppose that mantras are mere letters or words or language. They assume different forms, such as bīja-mantras, kavaca, hṛdaya &c. The bījamantras like Hrīm (representing Tribhuvaneśvarī or Māyā), Śrīm (representing Lakṣmī), Krīm (representing Kālī) cannot possibly be called language, since they convey no meaning to ordinary men. They are the Devatā (Iṣṭadevatā of the *sādhaka*, the worshipper) imparted to the sādhaka by the qualified guru at the time of dīkṣā (initiation). They are not efficacious if merely learnt by reading books. A mantra according to Tāntrik works is the sound body of Śakti charged with the vibrations of the spiritual personality of the original Tāntrika seer of the mantra and endowed with a perpetual store of power by the Tāntrik seer.
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What is needed to awaken Power in the disciple and to reap the full effect of the mantra is the touch of the *guru*, the imagination and concentrated will power of the sādhaka. The deity willed that certain letters uttered by the seer should as sound or sounds convey such and such a meaning and should have a certain potency. The sounds represented by the letters are forms of Śivaśakti i. e. *Śabdabrahma*. From this last the whole world proceeds in the form of sounds (*śabda*) and the objects (*artha*) which sounds or words denote. The Devatā, the mantra and the guru are the essentials of *sādhanā* (procedure that leads on to Siddhi, laid down in Tāntrik works); the disciple has to revolve in his mind that the three are non-different. Mantra is not the same thing as a prayer. For a prayer a person may employ any words that he may choose, but in the case of a mantra definite letters are considered necessary, which are deemed to be the forms in which Śakti manifests Herself to the worshipper. A mantra may be in the form of words that have an obvious meaning or in the form of letters arranged in a particular order and that have no meaning to the uninitiated.
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It is recognised in some of the works on this śāstra that thought has creative power, that each person is Śiva, and can attain to higher and higher spiritual levels depending upon his ability to realise himself as Śiva Thoughts are real, kind thoughts will do good to ourselves and to those around us, evil thoughts and wishes of others may cause us suffering.