You know that Tantra is a spiritual cult. It is a cult because Tantra clearly explains how to do a sádhaná of a particular type and stage, and what the achievement will be from each such sádhaná. All possible details have been worked out. It is a systematic practical science. It is vaevahárika [practical] – not bookish. Tantra is dharma, and – since Ácárańát dharmah [“Dharma is the assemblage of all your conduct”] – one has to do Tantra practically in one’s individual life. But the practical side of Tantra is very abstract and subtle. One has to be very careful indeed in practising it. So that sádhakas might know and understand the practical side clearly, Párvatii posed questions to Lord Shiva and Lord Shiva answered them.

The questions of Párvatii were for the sake of lokashikśá [education of the people]. Those questions which are only for the sake of questioning or for the sake of measuring the knowledge of the other person have no value on the sádhaná márga [path of spiritual practice]. They are a sheer waste of time. When the questions asked are intended for the purpose of knowing and then doing, the questions are termed pariprashnas.

What to do; how to do; why to do – these are pariprashnas. Such pariprashnas make up the nigama shástra. Such pariprashnas constitute the philosophical, theoretical, side. And the practical side, constituted by the answers of Sadáshiva, is the ágama shástra. In other words, the pariprashnas of Párvatii go to make up the nigama shástra, and the practical answers of Sadáshiva make up the ágama shástra. Nigama and ágama together make up the Tantra shástra.

One of the questions posed by Párvatii was, “What is to be done to get self-realization?” She had posed this question for the sake of lokashikśá – so that sádhakas might be highly benefited. Actually, the intellect in those days had not developed to the point that there were people who could pose such subtle questions about sádhaná. But as the subtle truths of the path of sádhaná had to be handed over to people, Hara [Shiva] and Párvatii had decided to enter into a dialogue of the type compiled in the nigamas and ágamas. Párvatii posed questions, and Shiva answered them.⁽¹⁾ So the question of Párvatii was, “What is to be done for self-realization? People are seen to undergo fasting, to perform strenuous rituals, to travel to obscure holy places, to take all sorts of pains, to know the self. What is the right path?” So Shiva replied,

Na muktirtapanádhomádupavásashataerapi;
Brahmaeváhamiti jiṋátvá mukto bhavati dehabhrt.

[Liberation is not attainable by penance, sacrificial rituals, or hundreds of fasts. Living beings attain liberation when they realize, “I am Brahma.”]

The idea that one can get mukti [liberation] through tapah, that is, by torturing the body, is not correct. God is internal; what has He to do with anything external? Standing in water for days, standing on one foot for months, raising one hand or both hands heavenwards and standing like that for a long time, burying oneself in the earth for days – all these things are simply meaningless. They no doubt call for great physical power and a great capacity of endurance – but many people undertake heavy physical labour; don’t even animals work very hard? Will all such people and animals get mukti? It is not correct.

One cannot get to God through physical tapah. Neither can one get to Him through homa and havana [sacrificial rituals]. Were this possible, it would be very easy for the rich to find God! And the poor could never get near to Him! These things are all meaningless, and represent a very backward stage of humanity.

Upavása in the sense of fasting is also useless. Were it effective, the poor and the unfed would need to make little effort to reach God!

But if one does real upavása, that can do a lot. The scriptural meaning of upavása is – by derivation – upa, which means “near”, and vása, which means “to stay”. Upavása therefore means “to make the mind stay near Paramátmá”. In other words, it means to withdraw the mind from thoughts of physicalities and keep it near Paramátmá. The Sanskrit word for fasting as such is anashana.

One may do tapah, homa, upavása, a hundred thousand times, but mukti will never be obtained. So then what should one do?

After giving the negative side, after dismissing the system of worship then prevalent, Shiva went on to explain the positive side. If these things are not to be done, what then is to be done? Shiva said, Brahmaeváhamiti jiṋátvá mukto bhavati dehabhrt – that is, “When one is established in the knowledge that ‘I am Brahma,’ mukti is obtained.” But a theoretical knowledge that “I am Brahma” will not do – one has to be truly established in this ideation.

Anubhútiḿ viná múd́ha vrthá Brahmańi modate;
Pratibimbitashákhágraphalásvádanamodavat.

–Maetreyii Shruti

[Without God-realization, a person will try in vain to get spiritual bliss. Seeing the reflection in water of a sweet fruit hanging from the branch of a tree does not give one the taste of the fruit.]

One has to taste the fruit. If one sees its reflection in the water and pretends to have tasted and enjoyed it – how much reality and value there is in that you know very well.

Having heard this, Párvatii said, “Very well, I have understood. But please tell me where to search Brahma.” Lord Shiva then said, Dharmasya tattvaḿ nihitaḿ guháyám – “The tattva of dharma is nihita in the guhá.”

The tattva of dharma – that is, the “essence” of dharma – is He, the Lord. He is nihita. Nihita means “hidden”. He is all around but He is hidden in the guhá. So though He is all around, one has not to search for Him all over, one has to search for Him in one’s guhá. Guhá has a couple of meanings – “cave”, and the “I”. Here the second meaning applies. One has to search for Him in one’s “I”. The one who is inside your “I” is you yourself. Search for your self – you will find Him. As long as the [real] you is there, the Lord is also there.

You are a sádhaka. He is the sádhya [object of adoration]. And the link is sádhaná. As long as these three tattvas exist, you are not He. When all three have become one, one may say “I am Paramátmá” – never prior to this. Until this stage is reached, one has to do sádhaná most diligently, with greatest niśt́ha [sincerity]. (Having established oneself solidly in the state of Brahma-hood, one may or may not do sádhaná – one may do it to set an example for the world; that is, one may do it for lokashikśá.)

One must do sádhaná most regularly. As long as one has a body, one must go on doing sádhaná. You must have noticed that a shiny new lot́á [small metal vessel] will no longer retain its lustre and newness after a year’s use. One has to clean it quite regularly with tamarind in order to maintain its shininess. The mind is like that – one has to do regular sádhaná to keep it neat and clean.

For those who are searching the Lord without and not within, Sadáshiva says,

Idaḿ tiirtham idaḿ tiirthaḿ bhramanti támasáh janáh;
Átmatiirthaḿ na jánanti kathaḿ mokśa varánane.

[Here is one place of pilgrimage, there is another place. People of static nature wander from the one place to the other place. But without finding the real place of pilgrimage within themselves, how can they attain salvation?]

They are all persons dominated by the static principle, whose wandering from one holy place to another is simply of no use. All this wandering results in a waste of money and energy.

Lord Shiva gives another illustration concerning such persons:

Átmasthitaḿ Shivaḿ tyaktvá
Vahisthaḿ yah samarcayet;
Hastasthaḿ pińd́amutsrjya
Bhramate jiivitáshayá.

[One who looks for Shiva in the external world, ignoring the Shiva of the internal world, is like one who throws away the rice that is in one’s hand and wanders from door to door in search of one’s livelihood.]

The Lord is within you and with you. Search Him in your innermost existence.

Footnotes

(1) Párvatii knew the answers, but since there was no sádhaka of high enough calibre to ask subtle questions, Párvatii posed as the questioner. –Eds.