2023-02-16 06:27:19 by ambuda-bot
This page has not been fully proofread.
INTRODUCTION
25
śrişodaśāk şari-vidya,
-tmikā, müla-küta-traya-kalebarā,
trikūtā, etc.
It may be observed, by the way, that while the
Lalitasahasranama does not give the syllables of
the Panchadasākṣiri, the Lalitātrisati, which contains
only three hundred names, has fifteen sets of twenty
names each, each name beginning with one of the
syllables and thus gives the mantra indirectly.
XII
The creative world-process, according to the
Tantric philosophy, is seen not only in the produc-
tion of articulate speech but also in the organization of
the human body. That man is an epitome of the
universe, that the microcosm is an exact parallel to
the macrocosm, that conditions are the same in both
pinda and brahmända is a very ancient idea. It had
found expression in various ways in the Upanişads.
The Tantra took up this idea and made it the basis of
an elaborate system of sadhana. The creative force of
the universe which was supposed to dwell in the letters
of the alphabet was also supposed to dwell in the nerve-
centres of the human system. In fact, the creation of
the external world-order, the production of articulate
speech and the organization of the human body with its
nerve-centres are, according to the Tantra, the mani-
festations of the same primordial Sakti. The divine
power dwells as surely in the human body as it dwells
in the sounds of speech and in the elements of the
universe. The goddess is in us as surely as she is in
the worlds she has created and in the mantras she has
25
śrişodaśāk şari-vidya,
-tmikā, müla-küta-traya-kalebarā,
trikūtā, etc.
It may be observed, by the way, that while the
Lalitasahasranama does not give the syllables of
the Panchadasākṣiri, the Lalitātrisati, which contains
only three hundred names, has fifteen sets of twenty
names each, each name beginning with one of the
syllables and thus gives the mantra indirectly.
XII
The creative world-process, according to the
Tantric philosophy, is seen not only in the produc-
tion of articulate speech but also in the organization of
the human body. That man is an epitome of the
universe, that the microcosm is an exact parallel to
the macrocosm, that conditions are the same in both
pinda and brahmända is a very ancient idea. It had
found expression in various ways in the Upanişads.
The Tantra took up this idea and made it the basis of
an elaborate system of sadhana. The creative force of
the universe which was supposed to dwell in the letters
of the alphabet was also supposed to dwell in the nerve-
centres of the human system. In fact, the creation of
the external world-order, the production of articulate
speech and the organization of the human body with its
nerve-centres are, according to the Tantra, the mani-
festations of the same primordial Sakti. The divine
power dwells as surely in the human body as it dwells
in the sounds of speech and in the elements of the
universe. The goddess is in us as surely as she is in
the worlds she has created and in the mantras she has