2023-02-16 08:25:51 by ambuda-bot
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PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
THE works comprised in this volume all bear upon the higher
forms of what is called Srî-Vidyâ, the worship of the Supreme
Being in its feminine aspect. This system of worship is treated
of very elaborately in the works known as Tantras and Āgamas,
most of which appear to have been written at a time when
the higher forms of Vedic worship were found too high for
the generality of people and the Vedic ritual failed to satisfy the
lascivious purpose of a sensualistic clergy. The system taught in
these Tantras embodied, among other things, certain practices
by which the inquisitive and the unscrupulous votaries could
satisfy their own curiosity regarding the mysterious side of
Nature and obtain powers by which they could attain their
lascivious, mischievous and wordly ends. Seeing the evil wrought
by the too large a following the system commanded in the absence
of all wholesome restrictions withholding such vast powers from
any but men of high moral character, the sages have since taught
a purer form of Srî-Vidyâ perfectly consonant with the Vedic
teaching.
There are various systems of Tantric worship each named
according to the form in which the Supreme Being is worshipped.
Thus we have a whole system of Tantric worship devoted to
Siva, another to Vişņu, another to Sakti and so on. The system
of Sakti-worship as developed in the Tantras is termed Srî-Vidyâ.
It is practised in two forms, one consisting in the external wor-
ship of diagrams drawn on a cloth or a slab accompanied with
the repetition of certain mantras or mysterious syllables, the
other consisting in internal meditation upon the Supreme Being
in its various aspects at various centres, passing through various
stages to the highest. The former system is found scattered here
and there in the seventy-two works mentioned in the comentary
on the thirtyfirst verse in Saundaryalahari and the latter is exclu-
sively treated of in the five samhitas for the Subha-Agama-Pañi-
CC-0. Jangamwadi Math Collection. Digitized by eGangotri
THE works comprised in this volume all bear upon the higher
forms of what is called Srî-Vidyâ, the worship of the Supreme
Being in its feminine aspect. This system of worship is treated
of very elaborately in the works known as Tantras and Āgamas,
most of which appear to have been written at a time when
the higher forms of Vedic worship were found too high for
the generality of people and the Vedic ritual failed to satisfy the
lascivious purpose of a sensualistic clergy. The system taught in
these Tantras embodied, among other things, certain practices
by which the inquisitive and the unscrupulous votaries could
satisfy their own curiosity regarding the mysterious side of
Nature and obtain powers by which they could attain their
lascivious, mischievous and wordly ends. Seeing the evil wrought
by the too large a following the system commanded in the absence
of all wholesome restrictions withholding such vast powers from
any but men of high moral character, the sages have since taught
a purer form of Srî-Vidyâ perfectly consonant with the Vedic
teaching.
There are various systems of Tantric worship each named
according to the form in which the Supreme Being is worshipped.
Thus we have a whole system of Tantric worship devoted to
Siva, another to Vişņu, another to Sakti and so on. The system
of Sakti-worship as developed in the Tantras is termed Srî-Vidyâ.
It is practised in two forms, one consisting in the external wor-
ship of diagrams drawn on a cloth or a slab accompanied with
the repetition of certain mantras or mysterious syllables, the
other consisting in internal meditation upon the Supreme Being
in its various aspects at various centres, passing through various
stages to the highest. The former system is found scattered here
and there in the seventy-two works mentioned in the comentary
on the thirtyfirst verse in Saundaryalahari and the latter is exclu-
sively treated of in the five samhitas for the Subha-Agama-Pañi-
CC-0. Jangamwadi Math Collection. Digitized by eGangotri