Tantraloka The Light On And Of The Tantras Volume Nine Volume Nine Chapters Sixteen Through Twentyseven With The Commentary Called Viveka By Translated With Extensive Explanatory Notes Mark Dyczkowski by Mark Dyczkowski 9798852285157, 8852285156 instant download after payment.

Volume nine contains chapters sixteen to twenty-seven. It begins with an exposition of the initiation into the condition of a teacher’s apprentice (putraka) that can lead to his consecration as a teacher and priest (ācārya). Whereas the basic (samaya) initiation is performed with a single Trident maṇḍala, the power of this higher one is strongly reinforced by the worship of three triads and the incorporation of the worship of the Twelve Kālīs, surrounding the calyx of the lotus in the centre. An interesting passage concerning animal sacrifice follows. Omitted at the first level, here, in order to progress to the level of a teacher and priest, it is an essential requirement. The rest of the initiation involves the complex projection (nyāsa) of layers of Mantras, beginning with those of the Six Paths, onto the neophant’s body and the sacrificial area.

Chapter seventeen continues with a series of procedures concerning the apprentice beginning with the fashioning of his sacred thread and the purification of the reality levels he is to traverse in the course of initiation. It continues with the inner illumination of his body with Mantra, the burning away of his fetters, his conjunction to the supreme principle and offerings to the fire.

The following nine chapters are quite short and deal with specific initiations. Chapter eighteen is just a few verses outlining the brief initiation (sūkṣmā dīkṣā). Chapter nineteen teaches the initiation that takes place at the moment of death (utkrānti) and the manner of reciting the Brahmā Vidyā to someone at the time of death to liberate him or her. Chapter twenty teaches a peculiar initiation that is validated by measuring the loss of weight that is believed to occur due to the burning away of the neophant’s impurities. Twenty-one deals with the initiation of those who are absent and twenty-two with the rite by which a Vaiṣṇava is converted to a Śaivite. Twenty-three is concerned with the consecration of a teacher...