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TANTRA
"Come, let us go for a walk, O mind, to Kālī, the Wish-fulfilling Tree,” wrote Rāmprasād; “And there beneath It gather the four fruits of lifc." 20 "The mind ever seeks the Dark Beautiful Onc,” he states again. "Do as you wish. Who wants Nirvāņa?"
Tántrism, as a matter of course, insists on the holiness and purity of all things; hence, the "five forbidden things” (“the five M's,” as they are called) constitute the substance of the sacramental fare in certain Tāntric rites: wine (madya), mcat (māsa), fish (matsya), parched grain (mudrā), 21 and sexual intercourse (maithuna). As in the parallel Mahāyāna initiations," the nondualist realization makes all the world one-onc, holy, and pure. All beings and things are members of a single mystic “family" (kula). There is therefore no thought of caste within the Tānıric holy "circles" (cakra). Śūdras, outcastes, and Brahmans alike are elegible for initiation-if spiritually competent. The aspirant must only be intelligent, with his senses controlled, one who abstains from injuring any being, ever doing good to all, pure, a believer in the Veda, and a nondualist, whose faith and refuge are in Brahman: "Such a one is competent for this scripture; otherwise he is no adept." 28
One's sccular social standing is of no consequence whatsoever within the sphere of the truly spiritual hierarchy. Moreover, women as well as men are eligible not only to receive the highest initiation but also to confer it in the role of guru. "Initiation by a woman is efficacious; that by the mother is eightfold
20 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 189.
21 Mudrā also denotes the mystic hand postures that play such an important role in Indian ritual and art. This is the only meaning of the word given in the Sanskrit dictionaries. We read, however, in the Yogini Tantra (Ch. VI): "Fried paddy and the like-in fact all such (cercals) as are chewed-are called Mudrā" (cited by Woodroffe, op. cit., p. 571).
22 Cf. supra, pp. 554-559. 23 Gandharva Tantra 2; Woodroffe, op. cit., p. 538.
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