Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s6.t4.8

c6.s6.t4.8

Deviating from the earlier Tantras and tāntric cults, *Mahānirvāṇatantra* specifies the method of *brahma-dīkṣā* as the best form of initiation. The following topics have been dealt it in the fourteen *ullāsas* (chapters) — liberation, meditation, Supreme *Brahman*, meditating upon the *parā-prakṛti*, rescuing the *mantras* and purifying the *tattvas*, etc., *śrīcakra* and *homacakra*, the *kavacas* (protecting spells) and the concept of *kula*, *varṇāśramācāradharma* (duties of different castes), *kuśaṇḍikā* (the pedestral for *havana*) and ten secraments, *śrāddha* and *abhiṣeka* rites, *prāyaścitta* (expiation rites), *vyavahāra* (legal matters), *vāstu* and *grahayāga*, establishment of *śivaliṅga* and four kinds of *avadhūtas* (ascetics). It makes a unique synthesis of Vedic ritualism with tantric Śaivism and prescribes two types of *sandhyās* — *vaidikī* and *tāntrikī*; differing on the type of *upāsanā*. It also preserves the chanting of *brahma-mantra*, and *gāyatrī-japa*.²⁰⁰