Murals in and around the community

This slender volume gathers together a series of essays that expand on the author's previous book 'Nu Tantras of the Uttarakaulas' about the Uttarakaula Tantrik tradition of India and its Western counterpart that has grown at the bidding of Sri Gurudev Dadaji Mahendranath [1911-1991], a world travelling Englishman who was the first European to be initiated as a Sadhu in India.

 

At the time of his death Dadaji was the lineage holder of the Uttarakaulas, the North Indian Tantrik Goddess tradition.

 

Alongside the Westernised version of the Tradition that Dadaji created there continues the Indian stream of activity who's lineage holder is Kulavadhut of Sikkim and who was initiated by a female guru: Maheshwari Ma, who like Dadaji's guru Pagalababa, was initiated by Thakar Kalachand in the line from Pagal Haranath.

 

John's task of writing commentaries on Dadaji's essays on the Uttara tradition, along with the responsibility to begin forming a group to practice a Western dialect of that tradition were given to him in 1979.

 

This volume's essays discuss the Shambala tradition of the Himalayan regions; give an in-depth description of initiation into the tradition; its levels of practice centred around aspects of the Goddess; the male/female bodily physiology employed in practice; the use of mantra and yantra; and also examines some misconceptions about Tantrika that have been promoted by Western occultists.

 

The Fellowship of Uttara Circles of Kaulas has a Facebook page on the Internet where initiates of the tradition can be contacted.

 

 

 

Phoenix of Chelmsford 2015

 

ISBN: 978-O-9542286-3-7.

Uttarakuru.

 

Dadaji Mahendranath, lineage holder of the Uttarakaulas of India until his death in 1991 often referred to the mystical kingdom of Shambala in his essays, and even named his first Westernised Nath group the Knights of Shambala. Shambala is usually identified as a legendary country hidden in the Himalayas that is most often mentioned in Tibetan Buddhist and Bon literature. It is sometimes passed off as a purely spiritual realm that only the Enlightened can experience, yet at one time it would seem to have had a geographical physicality: Chogyal Namkai Norbu in his researches into Tibetan history, 'Light on Kailash' vol.1 p.24, quotes from an ancient Tibetan manuscript: '' To the south of Olmo Lung-ring is Sham-bha-la of India, with Vultures Peak and Bodhgaya''. India's border with countries like Nepal has fluctuated over the centuries. Olmo-Ling-ring is itself a legendary Bon realm of the Enlightened, which had an earthly reality and was the birthplace of Tonpa Shenrab and where he codified and elucidated on the Nine Levels of Bon that evolved out of earlier shamanism. When Buddhism came to Tibet in the 7^th Century C.E. Bon was at first sidelined then persecuted and went underground but cross fertilised with Buddhism to create the mode of Tantrik Buddhism known as Vajrayana, until it re-emerged in its own right. Yet the legend of Shambala lived on. The lands of Olmo-Lung-ring lay to the west of Mount Kailash and were said to resemble an eight petalled lotus formed by three rings of mountains. A pyramidal mountain was said to have been at the centre, leading some to associate it with Mount Kailash, which does have a roughly pyramidal form, and four great Indian rivers arise around it. But equally this has been dismissed, as no ruins of the King's palace have been found in the area and the mountain, held in such awe in its own right, has never been climbed. Namkai Norbu's archaeological explorations in Tibet, published as 'Zhang Zhung, Images from a Lost Kingdom', uphold the alternative notion that Olmo Lung-ring was further to the north-west. Zhang Zhung itself was a larger empire that lasted up to the 8^th century C.E., which contained not only Olmo-Lung-ring but all of present Tibet, Nepal, Kashmir Sanscar, parts of Northern India, China up to Karakoram, and even parts of Persia. Mount Kailash was the centre of that empire, and is still sacred to Hindus as Siva and Parvati's abode, as well as of great importance to Bon and Vajrayana Buddhists.

However legends of a Himalayan spiritual paradise on Earth are far more widespread. Buddhists aligned it with ideas they had over legends of a Himalayan spiritual paradise on Earth brought from India. It already existed for them in the Mahabharata, the epic Indian poem that dates back to 8^th and 9^th centuries, where it was referred to as Uttarakuru. Still the longest poem ever to be written, the Mahabharata relates the history of the Bharati dynasty, including the Princes of the Kuru clan, at the end of the age before the onset of the Kali Age. As we know Uttara is the Indian word for 'north'. Hence Uttarakuru was said to be the realm of the spiritually evolved kingdom of the Northern Kurus. The nomadic tribes of the Asian Steppes that have been named as Scythians had a similar legend, probably relating to the oases of the Tarim Basin. They were an offshoot of the Aryan tribes that invaded India in 2000 B.C.E. when the Indus Valley Civilisation was at its height. Other branches of the Scythians emigrated to become the Celts of Europe. Here we can see Dadaji's use of the 'Rainbow Bridge', imagery linking India and European Paganism. In the Altai Montains of Siberia the legendary Asian Earthly realm of Enlightened beings is Belovodia. Other hidden valleys of the Himalayas, like Tibetan Khemalung, Nepalese Kyimolung [between Ganesh Himal and Manashu], Sikkim near Mt. Kangchenjunga and Gangtok all have similar legends attached to places only accessible by hidden cave tunnels or forbiddingly dangerous snow covered routes. Interestingly, Kulavadhut, current Lineage Holder of the Uttarakaulas, comes from Gangtok, but modernisation, and an Indian Army presence fearing Chinese encroachment have diminished the area's aura of Earthly paradise. Similarly planes and satellites have failed to reveal signs of hidden spiritual sanctuaries and led to further notions of such places being only available to those possessed of spiritual sight, while pilgrimages searching for these places are seen as analogies for personal self development.

The Mahabharata fed into the literature of the Puranas, whereas the Agamas were of more southerly indigenous Tamil origin and both fed into the literature, from the 9^th century onwards, that we refer to as Indian Tantra. But many Bon scriptures that have been preserved or recovered as 'buried spiritual treasures' known as 'terma' in Tibet, are classed as Tantras because of their nature of transformation of the mundane world into a spiritual one , where humans become Gods and Goddesses inhabiting mandalas generated as visualisations with the aid of mantras and other ritual devices. These are plainly far older in the Himalayan regions where invaders did not find the ease of conquest or fertile lands that India offered. Such shamanistic practices fed into the Northern [Uttara] Indian practices as much as Buddhism went in the opposite direction. Similarly Chinese Taoist practices fed in to Indian Tantrika as Chinacara.

When Dadaji asked Pagalababa, his predecessor in the Uttarakaula tradition, where he thought Shambala was, he pointed to his head, his heart, and his cock. So don't pack your snow shoes and ice pick for a pilgrimage just yet: the Tantrik transformation begins right where you are.

 

 

Uttarakaula Initiation

 

At the end of 'Nu Tantras of the Uttarakaulas' I put an appendix entitled Self Initiation, which may have been slightly misleading. It was written at a time when I was making little use of the Internet and was designed to help those seeking initiation after reading the book. It was mainly the text of the Viravrata, the heroic vow, the vow which is taken during the rite, along with details on how to construct the circle to receive the energies transmitted by a member of the Uttarakaula tradition. I did not include the cult mantra. This was only passed on to those actually seeking initiation. Generally the appendix was there to indicate what to expect.

The term 'self initiation' is also in itself misleading. Dadaji and I had corresponded for several years before he asked me to try to make the yoga of the Goddess accessible for Westerners. In 1979 documents arrived to enable me to to perform my end of the initiation as he was in India and I was in England. We met several times later, but the international initiation link was the best way to get things underway. This was not a form of initiation that Dadaji had invented, but is dealt with in the 16^th arnika of both the 'Tantraloka' and 'Tantrasara' of Abvinavagupta, where he relates how absent initiations can be performed for someone in another country or place, or even post-mortem, as is the case with the 'Tibetan Book of the Dead', or 'Bardo Thodol' as it has been Anglicised, which evolved out of the Bon 'Tantra of the Secret Union of the Sun and Moon' and 'Doctrine of the Six Lights'. By raising the bodily shakti energy in the nadis a net is created that ensnares the soul of the initiatee as they are summoned, if recently deceased. For those still living but absent, yet equipped with the information on mandala construction given in the 'Nu Tantras' appendix it is possible in this age of technology for guru and candidate to synchronise the time and ends of their rite, with the initiator preceding his/her actions to those of the candidate's activity. A full Moon at midnight is always chosen.

Most people seeking initiation to the Uttarakaulas will be familiar with other traditions and recognise a dialect of initiations they have undertaken elsewhere. Creation of shrine and circle are the simple beginnings of the first level of activity dedicated to the first aspect of the Goddess as a nubile and morally liberated young woman, Santoshima. For 9 days before Full Moon you can gather what is needed: a raised surface and cloth for a shrine in the East on which is placed a Siva-Shakti yab-yum statue or photo reproduction, a Siva or Vajrayana Buddha for a women initiate, or a Goddess form for a man [not plastic]. Also a statue or photo of elephant headed God, Ganesh. A photo of the lineage guru, Dadaji if possible too. All sanctified by incense and salt water, which also reside on the shrine along with cup/glass/chalice for wine, cider or beer [water]; trident or ritual knife [air]; wand of the candidate's devising [fire]; and a plate for ritual offerings [earth]. Food and drink are not part of this rite, but should be offered first to Ganesh, then Siva and the aspect of the Goddess you happen to be working with, then consumed or 'given to the birds'. All the tools need to be censed with incense and marked with salt water too at some point during the 9 days.

On the Full Moon night you can use a length of red wool to mark the circle around your shrine and to give you working space. The rite is performed naked to mark the return to the primordial state. First settle your mind with pranayama deep breathing: in to the count of 9; hold for 9; 9 out, for four cycles. You can count those by fingering a 108 bead mala 'rosary'. Sprinkle the circle with salt water and fume it with incense for three perambulations clockwise. The circle will glow with Light as the circle unfolds and a bindu point above completes a cone or working zonule, as Siva-Shakti yab-yums appear at the cardinal compass points: white East, red South, blue West and green North as you intone “Om Siva Shakti; Hreem Kreem Kali; Hreem Kleem Lalita; Hreem Tripura Sundari; Om Namah Shivaya. Move the knife to the southern quarter, cup to the west and plate to the north, then “ Om Gam Ganapatai Namah to Ganesh, and assume meditative position facing East. A chair is possible, if it is fumed and sprinkled. You have created the mandala of Mother-Father archetypes that will come to you in the after life bardos to grant Enlightenment, and remain with your practice throughout life. Ganesh, the elephant headed son of Siva and Parvati guards the underworld. When you start to dream of this mandala you will know that your sadhana [practices] are becoming effective within the deep mind.

At the appointed time use the salt water and incense ash to anoint your brow, heart, navel, genitals, and feet. Then read aloud the Viravrata, and your initiator will have done the same, and made the anointing gestures that you have performed. Also then mark yourself with a downward pointing triangle from right shoulder to pubes to left shoulder, with the words Peace, Freedom, Happiness, read the last verse of the Viravrata and vibrate the cult mantra that has been given to you. Rest in meditation of what has taken place, then as formless a meditation as you can manage, while continuing pranayama.

To close the rite reverse what you did to open it: returning ritual tools to the shrine then, as the Light unwinds anti-clockwise three revolutions back to earth, while the ritual energy returns to the bindu point above. Facing the shrine thank the Goddess in her form as Santoshima for helping you to complete the rite, stamp your left then right foot on the floor and perform the Taoist Arch of the back with heels raised so that feet chakras in the bawls complete the grounding. You have completed during the preparation and execution of the rite the work of the first level of shrine and circle, which you can repeat until you wish to move on to the second level, Practice empty mind meditation, so that thoughts pass by without attachment viewed like a stream, and you are open to receive the ecstatic energy of the second level. Begin to keep a dream and inspirational diary, if you don't already. A suitable Moon mantra to fix the mind from wandering is Oang soong Somaya namha.

 

At the second level the aspect of the Goddess[Lalita] Shanti presides for the ruler, the Moon and when your circumstances provide the opportunity maithuna ecstatic sexual union practice can proceed. You are in a position to initiate your partner if they wish by reversing the polarities to self and deity which you used in your own initiation. If they do not wish to take initiation you can still benefit from their sexual polarity to yours during normal sexual relations but will have to do so only by mental visualisations and involve no ritual paraphenalia. As a man you would mentally construct your cone of power during foreplay and assume the Godform of Siva with the mantras Om Namah Shivaya and Sivohim and invoke the Goddess into your partner with Hreem Kleem Lalita Shanti. If female use Om Namah Shivaya only to invoke Siva into your partners aura. You have the four elements in your circle, prolonged ecstatic sex is the quintessence which is the engine of shakti energy and needs lasting psycho-physical connection of the polarised bodies to reverse the female energy into a downward flow from crown to vagina, which rises in the male up to the crown. Until the woman has begun to orgasm this cannot happen and premature ejaculation will have to be mixed with interludes of oral sex to revive the phoenix. The 5 'm' elements written of in many books on Tantrika [Hindu words beginning with m for meat, fish cereal, wine and sex] are elements of ritual usually used in Siva cults but in Kaula Goddess cults other symbols of the elements can be used, cannabis, smoked or as a bhang drink, for [cereal] earth for instance and vegetable foods instead of meat and fish. Meat is the male lingam and fish vaginal secretions of the shakti. The food and drink feast prelude can be as elaborate or simple as chosen, but indigestion is not going to improve the yoga. Changes to consciousness are more likely to be as a result of the ritual rather than during it. Prevention of orgasm by men as in Vajrayana Buddhism is an old Pisces-Virgo Age formula not suitable to the present day. Otherwise the sex rites of the second level are continuous for householders. Midnight and full moon continue to be favoured for these rites. Nightly practice will soon lead to exhaustion and everyday sexual relations can remain as normal.

Kenneth Grant did manage to popularise knowledge of the movement of the kalas in the female organism in his writings, but in characteristically egocentric manner he associated it with using control of female genital secretions in degenerate ways to create elixir for longevity in what is nothing more than vampirism. His sources were not from enlightened practitioners in the 5 great Tantrik schools but from interlopers who had sought to use practices from within tantrik sadhana devoid of grounding in any of the 5 directional traditions of Tantrika and for singular debased use only. No success to use of these thefts was ever reported. Exchange of fluids by partners is health giving. Robbing others of them for personal ends is not, and only creates bad karma.

A kala is a measure of time and the female organism secretes hormones and varying fluids into discharge at different times of the month in a circular fashion from different erogenous zones around the body which can be stimulated by acupressure in foreplay to enhance the constituents of secretion. Beginning at full Moon shakti energy can be found to be most powerful in the forehead chakra, but following the nadis other than the sushuma it descends with the waning Moon down the left side of the body via eyes, cheeks, lips, chin, neck, shoulder, armpit, breast, side, hip, pubic region, genitals, thigh, knee, shin, and ankle to the foot chakras and is grounded at the dark of the Moon. At new Moon it begins its ascent up the right side of the body. The circular motion is characteristically centripetal female in motion, while male energy is centrifugal and uses the sushuma to aim for the full moon energy and to clear the chakras of knots. Skilful art can employ this knowledge and technique to enhance lovemaking during foreplay, as months evolve. Not only hands but feet also can be used to stimulate acupressure points, as well as the mouth and tongue while kissing or for clitoral stimulation The crossing points of lines on the Sri Yantra have been identified with bodily centres mentioned above by some people, so stimulation of the 14 marma points and chakra regions can be seen to stimulate the flow into the genital outlet to conform with the yantra's sensitive points. This happens with or without reference to the yantra but gives an explanation of its form. The body is real and the yantra a diagram. Again, the Moon mantra to stop the mind from wandering and also to stimulate nectar flow is Oang soong Somaya namha.

 

The third level comes under the aspect of the Goddess [Lalita] Tripura and involves the study and use in rites of Yantras and Mantras especially the Sri Yantra. In 'Nu Tantras' I gave this as the meditation extended into the 3D zonule with Siva mantras to cleanse the chakras, but to invoke the Goddess Lalita Tripura into the zonule, and possibly your partner, or self if female, for rites the mantra is Ka e i la hreem ha sa ka ha la hreem sa ka la hreem shreem. There are variations on this, but if you want to be in the zonule with, or as, Lalita for your sex rites you have the means. The planetary correspondence is Jupiter.

 

The fourth level takes the aspirant into the first abyss with the aspect of the Goddess Aghori and Saturn as ruler. Graveyards become a suitable place to conduct rites, or when your circle can be bedecked with Saturnian symbols in contemplation of the impermanence of life. This stage marks the move to that of the Sadhu, the holy dropout beyond the life of the householder and aspiring to complete moksha: union with the Absolute and liberation from the rounds of rebirth. Other levels produce siddhi , magical powers which are too intrusive and time consuming to go with the household life. The levels are not hierarchic like the quabala. Realisation can come whilst at householder levels. Tantrika is of the Goddess and for her created world, not to escape from it. Sadhus are usually men, but sometimes widows. Women bring us into the world and usually dominate household life even if they work outside to help maintain households. Saturnian mantras include Oang eang haring shring sani charya namaha and Dhoong Dhoong Dhumavati tha tha and the yantra is a six pointed star in an 8 petalled lotus within the 4 gates, for anyone thinking of moving into this life phase, and beyond.

 

 

The Mahavidyas or Wisdom Goddesses.

 

From most published sources about the Wisdom Goddesses of India, or more correctly, aspects of the Goddess, it would be easy to assume that there were ten fixed forms of the deity. But this has not been, and is not always, so. All dialects of Goddess worship are ultimately traceable to Kali, who was known as far back as the Indus Valley civilisation, prior to the Aryan conquest. Together with the Horned Lord of the Beasts, Pashupatinath, an early form of Siva, Kali can be referred to as one of the pair of primordial deities. Celts, who arose from the Steppes of Asia Minor almost certainly brought the couple to Europe as Kernunnos and his Consort. Both variations of the couple are worshipped at crossroads: mandalas where forces in the landscape meet as the genius loci, or spirits of place.

A later development comes in the form of Lalita, Sri or Tripura whose main focus for worship and yoga is with the Sri Yantra magick diagram by those known as Sri Kulas. Lalita is said to have emerged from the union of Mahakala [Siva] and Adyar [Kali] in supreme bliss. Her many forms include Lalita, Mahatripura Sundari, or Sodasi, Tripura Bhairavi, Bhuvanesvari, Bala Tripura Sundari and Rajarajesvari. Her worship is through Sri Vidya Yantra and Mantra. The Sri Kulas also connect Matangi, Bagala or Kamala to Sri Vidya practice. The earliest found scriptural reference to the Sri Yantra have been found dating to the 7^th century C.E. and oddly, come from Indonesia. No detailed texts on Sri Vidya have been found in India before the 13^th century.

An early systematisation of the aspects of the Goddess can be found in the Epic Mahabharata, from the 6th century C.E., after Aryan additions to the Hindu pantheon. These are seven in number and known as the Matrikas, or Mothers of the Saptamatrika. A temple in South India devoted to the Saptamatrika pre-dates the Mahabharata histories by a century, to the 5th. The seven Matrikas are six Devi Shaktis of Hindu Gods and the seventh is Kalika Chamunda- the essence of the Devi herself- so back to Kali again.

The best known form of the Ten Mahavidyas emerged in the 12^th century, after Tara was added from Himalayan origins. They fall into two sub groups: the Kali Kula group of Kali, Tara, Chinnamasta and Dhumavati, and the Sri Kula group of Sundari [Sodasi/Lalita], Bhuvanesvari, Tripura Bhairavi, Matangi, Bagala and Kamala [Laksmi]. When Dadaji codified the aspects of the Goddess for Westerners he identified nine, and did not include Tara. Although some of names of the Goddess mentioned above do appear in his rendition of the aspects, some appear to have been given a personal dialect, as for instance when he used a name that had been revived and used as the name for a liberated modern Indian woman in a 20^th century Bollywood film. Nine is also a number sacred to Shambala, spiritual centre of the ancient Zhang-Zhung empire of Tibet, Nepal, Kashmir, and parts of China and North India and even parts of Persia. The first king of Tibet was crowned on a throne of nine steps to symbolise the nine levels of Bon practice. The Chinacara aspect that Dadaji brought to light in the Uttarakaula, North Indian, tradition of Tantrika can also be seen in the use of the Sino-Tibetan I Ching and in Taoist dialects of sex magick. The aspects of the Goddess enumerated by Dadaji were Santoshima, Shanti, Tripura, Aghori, Digambari, Kali, Ambika, Durga and Lalita. Each is associated with planetary and other correspondences in order to construct appropriate rituals. Because practitioners are predominantly householders the first three grades are the most important basis of continued practice and realisation can occur at any time during this. As such it is the inverse of the hierarchies of the Western Quabala, where grades higher up the tree are given greater importance. After the forth Uttara level of practices practitioners are moving into the realms of the Sadhus with spontaneous manifestation of siddhis [magic powers] that develop given in the time devoted to the holy dropout lifestyle of practice.

Also in the Uttara tradition there is another Goddess system of aspects based solely on Kali, known as Prabhakali, or the wheel of the twelve rays of Light of Kali: the Kali of Creation, the Kali of Persistence, the Kali of Destruction, the Kali of Passion, the Good Kali, the Kali of Control, the Kali of Death, Auspicious Kali, the Kali of the Supreme Sun, the Terrible Kali, and the Great Kali. In the age of Pisces/Virgo Kumari the virgin pre-menstrual Goddess presided at the centre of the circle as the 13^th deity. Kumari is also an important deity in Nepal, where she is part of an eightfold group of Goddesses, called the Asta Martikas: Rudrani, Brahmyani, Vaishnavi, Indrani, Chamunda Varani, Mahakakshmi, and Kumari. The virgin archetpe was revered in most traditions in the Age of Pisces/Virgo.

So not just ten Mahavidyas then , but 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 or 13, in two main streams of Kali or Lalita. All ultimately resolve into Kali. It doesn't matter which system you chose, but obviously in the tradition descending from Dadaji we use the nine-fold aspects that he enumerated.

 

 

 

The Triads of the Goddess's Aspects.

 

Santoshima: presides over basic shrine practice and circle

casting.

 

Shanti Devi: presides over polarity and sex magick

experiments.

 

Tripura: presides over yantras, especially the Sri

Yantra.

***

Aghori: mantra, yantra; mediumship; the after

death bardos. The first Abyss.

 

Digambari: Earth magick, ley lines; elementals and

directional guardians; art,music, poetry,

drama.

 

Kali: the magick of the chrone; auto eroticism, kalas,

acupressure; herbs and potions. The second

Abyss.

 

***

Ambika: mantra and yantra again; sigilisation; oracles;

astrology.

Durga: martial arts and protection magick.

 

Lalita: erotic magick of Light. Annuutara empty mind

consciousness. Gifts of siddhi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marmas

In 'The Tantra of Blowing the Mind' Dadaji says, when talking of the chakras, that there are many more throughout the body, and mentions ones in the hands for healing. There is similarly one in each of the bawls of the feet, where nerves to the toes cross tendons, which are used for grounding. These are part of the bodily centres referred to as marmas, rather than chakras. Like the example of the foot given above they occur at junctions [sandhis] of anatomical structures like nerves, muscles, bones, joints and internal organs. They are akin to acupuncture points, although fewer in number, and require less precision in locating the points. They are activated by acupressure, rather than needles, herbs or massage for therapeutic purposes and sexual arousal, if you choose the correct ones, so form a very important part in foreplay leading to ecstasy. This is tied into the monthly movements of the kalas in women. The energy flow from the endrocrine glands, which are the outer functioning of the chakras, thus stimulated and flowing out of the nadi branches from chakras and marma points is called ojas and give strength to the immune system. At the other end of the scale some marma centres are used as attack points in martial arts. So great care in the manipulation of marmas is needed, and they are best studied under guidance from someone with practical knowledge of the use of Ayurvedic medicine.

Apart from the chakras related to the endrocrine glands, yogic introspection has identified 14 other channels that carry energies around the body. Foremost of these are ida and pingala, the two snake-like channels that appear weaving around the central spinal nadi, the sushuma, and its chakra centres symbolised in Western cultures as the Caduceus rod of Mercury. They distribute the energy from breathing [prana]. The other major centres serve the limbs and their joint centres where the marmas are located, and can be stimulated by acupressure, especially in women as the kala energies of hormones and other bodily elements that comprise them follow their monthly circuit of bodily and limb centres, which obviously play a great part in the creative forces of childbirth. They reach their zenith at the top of the head at full Moon, move down the right of the body until they are in the genital area at the dark of the Moon, and return up the left side of the body. They are at maximum strength as elixir just before the half circuit is complete, 10-14 days into the cycle, but Full Moon is best for transcendental maithuna. After an hour's contact and coition the prana currents reverse direction down the female body and up the male sushuma instead of the procreation direction of down the male to receptive female. Where nadis and muladhara meet at the root chakra prana arrives to regulate eliminatory functions, then moves on to the svadisthana chakra to stimulate sexual arousal. Lack of such stimulation will lead to poor health and low oja energy levels.

 

 

Shakta Bija Mantras.

 

Bija means seed, and so bija Mantras are the core sounds around which longer mantras are built. On their own 108 repetitions are needed to make them effective. The 'Meru Tantra' anticipated a time when when bija mantras would be incorporated in longer forms of mantra using languages other than Sanskrit. For Kaulas to know how to construct longer mixed language mantras it is necessary to know the effects of the building blocks that are the bijas:

Aum energises prana for ojas from the chakras

Hreem is for solar energy currents

Shreem is for lunar energy currents

Kreem, associated with Kali, transmits electrical energy

Kleem, associated with Lalita is magnetic, so attractive, energy

Hum,[Hoom] is transformative fire of Siva

Haum is also a Siva mantra and revitalises by giving energy to prana

Streem brings expansion and is associated with Durga

Dum is another Durga mantra and is used for protection, like

Phat, which clears unwanted forces from ritual spaces

Treem, transcends difficulties and is associated with Tara

Saum balances solar and lunar energies of the nadis

Sauh causes nectar to flow from the crown chakra

Hleem and Swaha are endings to mantra chains.

 

Single letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, or their equivalents can also be used to build up mantras along with bijas. The most important of these for Shaktas is that used with the Sri Yantra to invoke the Goddess Tripura Sundari:

 

Ka E I La Hreem

Ha Sa Ka La Hreem

Sa Ka La Hreem.

 

There are variations on this.

 

Yantras

Are visual equivalents of the energies aroused by mantra. They can be used as foci for meditation or pro-active ritual according to the energies they represent, used as sigils for these purposes, or internalised by installing them on the body or using them as three dimensional cones dedicated as spaces to work within. For this lengthy and complex subject 'Secrets of Yantra, Mantra and Tantra' by Dr. L.R. Chowdhri, publisher: Sterling of Delhi, is a recommended source, based on the author's practice.

 

 

David Curwen, Aleister Crowley, Kenneth Grant and Dadaji Mahendranath.

 

“Since the publication of Cults of the Shadow in 1975 I have undertaken further research in the mysteries of the Sri Chakra in connection with the Fire Snake and its Typhonian implicits. I am greatly indebted in this matter to my late friend Mr David Curwen, who made available to me a contemporary Comment on an ancient Tantric work, Anandalahari. The commentator was a Kaula Adept of the Anuttara Amnaya.....”

“the spiritual lineage represented by the Adept is identical with that which informed Dr. Karl Kellner....responsible for the revival of the Order of the Templars of the Orient.”

Kenneth Grant,

from 'Beyond the Mauve Zone'

which has three chapters titled Zone of the Fire Snake 1, 2 and 3.

 

Grant's friendship with Curwen, we know came via Aleister Crowley, whose correspondence with Curwen, mainly where the latter is seeking to gain information from Crowley about alchemy, one of Curwen's specialist fields of study, is recorded in 'Brother Crowley, Brother Curwen'. We know also from Greg Peters' and Phil Hine's writing that he had some form of psuedo-Tantrik correspondence with a Guru called Swami Pareswara Biksu, associated with the Holy Order of Krishna, and the Latent Light Culture of South India, where he achieved up to Second Grade of initiation by a correspondance course: Phil Hine quotes him from the summer 1950 edition of the organisation's journal, 'Kalpaka': “In regard to the Tantra lessons you sent......”

We know that the word Tantra has taken on various debased meanings of usage and interpretation since it became of interest to Westerners, from Arthur Avalon to any New Age catalogue of the writings by self-styled 'experts'. The Holy Order of Krishna bases most of its teachings on the Bhagavad Gita, which is not an overtly Tantrik text, but one which records the conversation of Krishna [held by Hindus to be an incarnation of the God Vishnu] and his charioteer Arjuna on the eve of an ancient historical battle. As such it is most relevent to Vaishnavas, but held in high esteem by Hindus generally. Its appeal to the East-West members of the Holy Order of Krishna is that it expresses the sentiment “ fulfil your true will” an obvious parallel to Crowley's Thelemite catch phrase “Do What Thou Wilt”.

 

The 'Saundaryalahari', the blissful wave of Siva, which Grant and some other commentators shorten into 'Anandalahari', the blissful wave, comes in two parts, of firstly textural verses, then Yantras associated with the verses, including the transcendental Sri Yantra as well as yantras for lesser magical spells. Curwen said that he “credited it with giving him full initiation into a highly recondite formula of the Tantric Vama Marg.” Not many genuine Indian gurus would credit a book with granting initiation, or the whole literate world would soon be Enlightened. There is no sign of that having happened. Study is only useful if accompanied by tuition from an experienced practitioner. It is clear that Grant's use of the text, and why Curwen was interested in it is because of the bodily alchemy that can create an elixir to grant longevity, by manipulation of the kalas in the secretions of a shakti employed in the ritual. To rob one individual of their vital fluids to enhance another's lifespan would by another word be called 'vampirism', and Elizabeth Sharpe in 'Secrets of the Kaula Circle' records cases where women have suffered because of this misuse of tantrik knowledge of esoteric physiology, where mutual exchange of fluids is the intended practice. She also mentions Crowley, who she met in Nepal while he was mountain climbing, and showing interest in local Tantrik practices. Dadaji had been told by Crowley to find Dr. Ramnath Aghori if he took his advice and travelled in the Orient. Ramnath held a chair at Katmandu's major temple, Pashupatinath, on a tributary of the Ganges. Ramnath died in 1982 at a reputedly very great age. As Crowley, Curwen and Grant failed to extend their lives by any significant amount we must assume the fruit of their alchemy was fools gold.

 

What then of the Anuttaramnaya?

“Sri Isvara said:

I have produced the five Amnayas from the five faces of Siva

I have produced the five Amnayas [Great Traditions] from my five faces, viz

Purva [East] Amnaya, Piscima [West] Amnaya, Daksina [South] Amnaya,

Uttara [North] Amnaya, and the Urdhva [upward facing] Amnaya.

These are the five Amnayas and are all famous as paths of emancipation.”

From the 'Kulanava Tantra.'

 

So how then does the Uttaramnaya relate to the Anuttaramanaya that Grant refers to?

 

“Mahesvarananda [13^thcentury C.E.] refers to Auttaramnaya as the non dual principle of Uttara, which was originally taught by Bhairava [Siva] to Bharavi [Shakti] and ultimately translates as Krama [ritual and doctine of, especially Kashmiri, Kaula doctrine he expounds in 'Maharthamanjari.'] By extension he also calls this doctrine that of anuttaramnaya as the philosophy of Absolute [Anuttara], non-dual consciousness which leads to Liberation in this life in which freedom [moksha] and enjoyment [bhoga] are united.”

From 'Canon of the Siva Agama and the Kubjika Tantras' by Mark Dyskowski.

 

In Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, Anuttara is referred to as Highest Yoga Tantra.

Nothing about sucking the living juices out of others to extend your very dual existence in a net of bad karma there then. But it has had a long way to travel to get to South India.

If the 'Zone of the Fire Snake' is supposed to be central to these activities, what then can we find out about that?

 

“ The term kundulini is a very modern invention and was never used by Nath writers.... [ In the 'Kaula Jnana Nirnaya', Matsyendranath, earliest Nath author, mentioned Chakras, not as elaborate as later portrayals, but no magic snake.]....and those who learn kundulini from books- mostly written by non Indians and always by people who have never been successful themselves, often suffer insanity and obsession. True methods of Liberation are simple and without any danger, thus rendering Laya [or Kundulini] yoga superfluous.”

Dadaji Mahendranath from 'The Yoga Vidya of Immortality.'

 

The snake meditation symbolising bodily shakti energy that is to be united with Siva consciousness to experience the Absolute, was invented as a symbol by Nagajuna, a Buddhist, and adopted as a monastic visualisation, as part of hatha yoga that was invented as keep-fit exercises for monks by Goraksnath, Matseyendranath's pupil in the 12^th century C.E., so plenty of time for distortion and misunderstanding to creep in there then.

 

“I am the secret serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down my head and shoot forth my venum there is a rapture of the earth and I and the earth are one.”

'Liber AL', II 26 [and 27 warns against the dangers of misunderstanding the previous verse.]

 

This would seem at first sight seem to associate this verse with kundulini, as Grant has done, IF it were a psycho-physical reality. Neither Crowley, or his chosen AL commentator Louis Wilkinson did, although Crowley would be aware of Nagajuna/Goraksnath's symbol. Culturally and geographically there is no reason to link the Indian snake symbol with the verse. In the suitable Egyptian dialect of 'Liber AL', to unite with Nuit, the Wadjet cobra and drooping Apophis of sunset would fit better.

 

It is not surprising that an active and practical participant and lineage holder for the Uttarakaula Paramapraya until his death, Dadaji Mahendranath would pour scorn on bookish and fictional Tantrika and consign Grant's books to the Dhuni, or sacred fire. He also said that he didn't like Crowley's 'Hidden God' workings being used to “portray him as some kind of sophisticated Satanist.” Dadaji and Grant did exchange a couple of letters, and Grant asked Mike Magee to initiate him into the Nath Sampradaya, because he had no Tantrik initiation. But Mike refused, left the OTO, and formed Amookos at Dadaji's request instead.

 

I don't especially wish to stand in judgement of Grant's other ideas, but have to admit to having reservations about many. I think of him as a creative writer, albeit with the dark reactionary outlook of a vicar's son, and we do all have to be grateful for the way he promoted Austin Spare's Art and Sorcery. It is wholly in the sphere of his Tantrik distortions to fit his Typhonian cosmos where I have to take issue, and owe it to Dadaji's legacy in trying to create as sound a Westernised Tantrik tradition as Westerners can cope with make itself manifest.

Extreme Reactionaries:

[No Satan in Tantika.]

 

Increasingly, on Facebook, I have been getting messages from people who imply that they are Satanists, but have been curious about what the Uttara stream of practice has to offer. So I need to make it clear that there is no connection between serious Tantrik practice and Satanism. The guru line teachings on this are quite clear. Tantrika is a stream of activity in Indian history which stands in opposition to the dominant Vedic practices, and probably has morphed out of the remnants of pre-Aryan invasion folk practice. After so long there are crossovers but pure Tantrika stands in opposition to Vedic impositions. That much it does have in common with Satanism, in that it is a reaction to imposed doctrines. Satanism, as such is merely the inversion of Christianity and means nothing without it. It is a later reaction against a borrowed monotheism which emerged after about 300 C.E., once it was the Emperor's new clothes for Roman Imperialism which chose to demonise the old gods by creating a bad guy to fulfil the dualism which makes a nonsense of monotheism. Generally referred to as 'the Devil', but with other associated 'bad guy' ideas dragged out of Middle Eastern mythology, like Lucifer. A satan was the Jewish name for 'a plotter', and on a theological scale he was the plotter against the monotheistic god. More recently we have seen Egyptian Set, the opposer, and Shaitan, desert demon of sand storms, tossed in to the pot boiler. The demonising imagery for concocting this devil was usually borrowed from old pagan figures like Pan or Kernunnos, with their horns of plenty. None of this affected Tantrika because monotheism never took a big hold in India or in surrounding countries until quite late and then in a way that managed to harmonise with existing conditions. Dominant Vedic culture was still pagan and paganism provides a choice as to how you view your deity, not the fanaticism of monotheism, which then went into endless arguments about who's version of that god was the correct one.

The most recent additions into the naming of monotheism's bad guy, as Set or Shaitan come from imaginative pen of Kenneth Grant. Set, the opposer of his Egyptian brother of legend creates an all male dualism which is a perfect conflict model, while Shaitan a storm god was obviously the enemy of desert people who suffered 'his' disruptive stormy arrivals. So both provide an archetype for opposition to order and will appeal to anarchic types who thrive on chaos and live in the shadow of that which they seek to oppose. Nothing to oppose, nothing to cast a shadow. Grant's derivations are chosen to suit his own personal psychology, [Pluto, lord of the Underworld rising and a mess of planets in his 8^th house] and are often totally lacking in historic reality, such as when he tried to connect 'An', an old name for Siva, to Set to create Set-an, a connection that never occurred anywhere except in Grant's mind. However his authoritative style of writing, backed by a chequered association with Aleister Crowley and his followers, lent Satan a new respectability for those who fancied themselves as sophisticated occultists opposed to usually a Christian priesthood [like Grant's father.] I have shown elsewhere ['Curwen, Grant, Crowley and Dadaji'] that Grant's sources were bookish or ill informed about the nature of Tantrism, and Set-an is pure linguistic invention. But due to his authoritative tone of writing many people have been suckered into thinking that there was a connection between his Typhonian speculations and Tantrika.

Dadaji was quite clear that if you had no need for Jesus in your life then Satan also doesn't exist either. He becomes a irrelevance without the figure who's shadow he exists in. Both are presented as male and again gives the perfect model for conflict. The polarity in Tantrika, especially the Kaula, shakti cults, is male and female, representing the two primordial forces of nature in synergy: yin and yang that resolve into the Tao with correct practice as shakti energy is brought to bear to bring about union with the absolute. An all male universe can't exist it is infertile, and male dominant Partiarchal misery cults have become the curse of the planet. “Siva without Shakti is a shava” [corpse] is the old Hindu epithet. We can do little better in positive reaction against Patriarchy than to honour the Mother of the Universe in all her aspects. The only demons you will encounter in the Uttara tradition are your own, as you exorcise them on the path to liberation.

It is easy to see why people want to react against Christianity and Patriarchal cults, after Crusades, Inquisitions, and other 'holy' wars, but we don't need the extremes when it is possible to revert to Pagan expressions of the horned gods like Pan or Kernunnos, who is identical with Siva Pashupatinath, and the pagan goddesses. These nature based ways of life do relate to Tantrika and bye-pass the patriarchal eras.

For every revolution like Grant's there will always be a counter revolution. For every action, a reaction. That is the dialectical principle known at least since Socrate's teacher identified it. I am quite happy to be part of that counter revolution and point to the absurdities that have grown out Grant's disinformation, just as Dadaji did.