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Prabuddha Bharata
Kamakhya Devi Temple in Assam
different forms of mysticism for different types of people, at different stages of life. In the case of the Kularnava Tantra, Veda leads to tantra, and contemplation leads to the vision of Brahman. Tantra tries to lead people out of attachment to knowledge and ritual, to union with Shiva and Shakti. In the US, most studies of tantra deal with analyses of text and its interpretations, emphasising theoretical models. Siddhas like Sri Ramakrishna and texts like the Kularnava Tantra, remind us that mysticism deals primarily with awareness. While texts can be important in understanding the goals of tantra, we should not be trapped in the ‘dreadful ocean’ of linguistic and cultural analyses when we study it. P Notes and References 1. Gopinath Kaviraj, Tantrika Sadhana O Siddhanta (Bengali) (Burdwan: University of Burdwan, 1969), 6. 2. M P Pandit, Studies in the Tantra and the Veda (New Delhi: Sterling, 1988), 116. 3. Kularnava Tantra, trans. Arthur Avalon (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1984), 27. 4. Principles of Tantra: The Tantratattva of
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Ṣhrīyukta Ṣhiva Chandra Vidyārṇava Bhattā chārya Mahodaya, ed. Arthur Avalon (Madras: Ganesh, 1952), 243. 5. Sukhamaya Bhattacharya Shastri Saptatirtha, Tantraparichaya (Bengali) (Shantiniketan: Vishvabharati University, 1359 be), 5. 6. Arthur Avalon and M P Pandit, Kulārṇava Tantra (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2000), 17. 7. Woodroffe’s commentary on the text is useful. However, Woodroffe’s translation of the Kularnava Tantra has many problems. It emphasises the Vedic rather than experiential focus of the text. He leaves out many lines, and does not use line numbers. As in the Good News Bible, the translator adds his own commentary, and does not distinguish between the actual words of the text and his own additions and interpretations. It is thus not an accurate translation. 8. Satindramohan Chattopadhyaya, Tantrer Katha (Bengali) (Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 1983), 39. 9. See Kularnava Tantram, ed. Upendrakumar Das (Calcutta: Nababharat Publishers, 1363 be). 10. Kularnava Tantra, 2.85–6. 11. Avalon translates this as ‘caught up in the subtleties of the Sastras’. 12. These definitions come from the Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary. 13. See Kularnava Tantra, 2.60. These are the five bhutas, who in this case enforce proper religious etiquette. PB January 2016