Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c8.82

c8.82

As we have seen, Mahāyāna Buddhism do not recognise Śūnyatā or the knowledge of the essencelessness of the world to be the highest truth,—the highest truth is a state where Śūnyatā and Karuṇā are united together. This element of Karuṇā or compassion is emphasised in all the Buddhist Tantras, and all the esoteric practices including the sexo-yogic practice are professed to be undertaken with the avowed intention of liberating the whole world. This emphasis on the element of Karuṇā side by side with the theory of Śūnyatā is found also in the Caryā-padas. We have seen that Kambalāmbara-pāda filled his boat of Karuṇā with the gold of vacuity.² In the song where Kānha-pāda explains the esoteric doctrine by the metaphor of the chess-game, compassion is made the play-board.³ In another song he says that he has realised his body (i.e., existence) in a non-dual state of compassion and vacuity.⁴ The commentary on the Caryās explains that all the Caryā-songs were composed by the Siddhācāryas only for the uplift and ultimate deliverance of the beings.