One text of the
Prapanchasara Tantra says that the Parabindu divides into two parts, of
which the right is Bindu, the male, Purusha or Ham, and the left Visarga
the female, Prakriti or Sah, making the combined Hamsah. Hamsah is the
union of Prakriti and Purusha and the universe is Hamsah - The
Garland of Letters, Sir John Woodroffe
Varahi is a bali (animal sacrifice) devata,
one of Lalita's receivers of offerings. Her four alchemical elements
(dhatus) are known as the four fires. Kurukulla's alchemical elements
are known as the five Shaktis. The combination of these five Shaktis
(downward pointing triangles) and four fires (upward pointing
triangles), forms the complex figure in the centre of the Shri Cakra.
Varahi's four are the twelve (three x four) sun kalas, twelve sidereal
constellations. Kurukulla's five triangles are the fifteen (five x
three) Kalas of the moon, fifteen lunar days. The complete individual
grows within nine months to be born as a Shri Yantra or plant. The
flowering of this plant is shown by the 24 petals of the yantra.
Both Varahi and Kurukulla are connected with, but
separate from the sixteen
Nityas (fifteen days of the bright fortnight plus Lalita herself).
The following chapter of the Tantrarajatantra,
translated into English for the first time, is devoted to the practice
of the Varahi mantra and contains a number of prayogas. As with all
other prayogas, a sadhaka is only qualified (adhikari) to perform these
rites if (a) she or he is initiated, and (b) does the daily puja of
Tripurasundari. Further, the commentary (not translated here) shows that
there is a number of elements which have to be taken account of when
performing prayogas. These include visualisation skills and also a
knowledge of astrology (Hindu, sidereal version), before the rites will
be successful.
The Tantrarajatantra says that Varahi is the
"father form", while Kurukulla is the "mother form" of the devata.
Tantrarajatantra Chapter XXIII
Now in the Sixteen Nitya (Tantra) the rules, the worship
and the limbs relating to the Angabhuta known as Panchami are spoken of.
I speak of puja of the siddha mantra, worship through ritual and
meditation, and sacrifice and yantras, giving all the siddhi that is
desired.After doing limb nyasa using seven,
two sets of six, ten, seven and seven parts of the mantras, a person
should worship according to rule in a chakra consisting of triangle,
circle, hexagon, invoking her with Hrim.
One should worship using the 110 letters of the
Varahi vidya in the centre (of the yantra), and should then worship the
attendants in the left, right and centre triangles who are Krodhini,
Stambhini and Chanda-Ucchanda, placing Hrim in front of their respective
names and Namah behind.
In the six angles starting from the east and going
anticlockwise one should worship Brahmi and so forth. Then in the
circles one should worship Mahalakshmi Panchami. After giving animal
sacrifice using the sixteenth syllable, and after one has worshipped all
with ritual accessories, one should recite the vidya 1000 or 100 times.
Daily, one should do sacrifice using pure and good sesamum, rice or
ghee, then the vidya becomes successful.
A sage of controlled senses, able to perform
sacrifice, should do puja at the twilights. He should recite the vidya
100,000 times -- giving oblation of one tenth part of that. After doing
the worship and invocation, the mantra becomes successful -- if one is
compassionate, devoted to Guru, contented, patient and of peaceful mind.
If one should perform a rite for a specific
application devotedly, it gives whatever is desired immediately, giving
the favour and grace of Devi to the tireless practitioner.
One should meditate on Devi as having the body of a
girl from the throat down, resembling the colour of molten gold, her
large, fiery and tawny haired head being that of a sow.
She has three eyes and seven arms which hold a
discus, a conch, a hook, a lotus, a noose, and a club. She shows the
(mudras) dispelling fear and granting boons. One should think of her as
being comfortably seated on the shoulders of Garuda. In daily worship
one should meditate on her and her Shaktis in this way.
In particular applications, one should recall Devi
and her Shaktis as being seated on lions, tigers, elephants, horses or
Garudas. According to that which one wishes to achieve in specific
meditations, one should think of her as having a dark green, red,
yellow, black or purple body.
In rituals for subjugation, one should think of
Panchami, and recite (her mantra) as red, surrounded by hosts of
beautiful red Shaktis. In worship for paralysing, one should meditate on
her as yellow, wearing yellow garments, garlanded with yellow flowers,
wearing yellow jewels, and smeared with yellow unguent, surrounded by
yellow Shaktis.
In a difficult pass one should think of her as being
seated on a great bodied lion which is of a dark green colour,
surrounded by Shaktis similar to herself, offering recitation of the
Vidya to the central Shakti. If the mantrin should meditate on these as
his own self, he attains an exalted and wealthy status.
If one should remember Devi, with her Shaktis, on
lions, Garudas, elephants, Sharabhas, horned creatures, dogs, boars,
buffaloes and serpents with terrific teeth and cruel and crooked claws,
whether assailed by thieves, unexpected attacks, by anxieties about
being injured, by pisachas, by bhutas, by pretas, away from one's
family, or in a defile in the wilderness, or on lonely roads, or in a
forest, or on a mountain peak, then in this way one becomes free from
anxiety and happy.
Whether in wars, in fearful situations, in falls
(from status), or attacked by chariots and swords, or in difficult
passes, having remembered her one becomes supremely victorious.
If one should meditate, in states of terrible war, on
Devi as blue, with a terrible appearance, seated on an elephant, holding
a nail, a knife, a sword, an arrow, a club, a sickle, and a discus in
her right hands: and with her left making the threatening gesture, and
holding shield, skin, bow, damaru, plough, noose and conch: surrounded
by Shaktis like her; the Shaktis seated on elephants, assaulting all the
missiles of the enemy, and attacking them with maces, all moving about,
like red banners, then (the enemy) flees, pursued by swarms of blue
Shaktis howling terribly, berserk.
One should meditate on Devi in the form previously
described during great wars, as being in the centre of the sun's orb,
her body marked with red tridents. If one should then recite the vidya
with concentrated mind, after invoking her into water via breath during
rituals for a period of seven days, one's enemy will die from fever.
If one should think of Devi, surrounded by her
attendants, and recite her vidya, for three days, in water, as breaking
in pieces the body of one's enemy, which is then consumed by fierce
jackals and corpse eaters and flesh eating dogs, then, after remembering
her, one gains deliverance.
If one should think of Devi as of an effulgent purple
colour, and do recitation (visualising her) cleaving the target's
tongue, heart and feet, one slays enemies.
If, after remembering Devi as of a yellow colour, one
should worship according to the rule, the enemy experiences harm,
anxiety in speech, becomes disputatious, and is conquered in battle.
After thinking of this Devi as seated on Garuda, and
surrounded by numbers of Shaktis seated on Garudas, and the skies being
thick with an array of hosts of unseated Garudas, then one becomes
victorious over an army of enemies at a distance, instantly putting them
to flight. With her eight arms holding axes, and being surrounded by a
circle of Shaktis, one may destroy the army of enemies in a battle
immediately.
If a person should meditate on Varahi as having
dishevelled hair, as being seated on a throne in a jewelled pavilion,
each of her hairs swarms of Shaktis holding clusters of red arrows, and
each of which sits on hyenas, lions, tigers and monkeys and bears and
Garudas and horses, each holding tridents as previously declared, the
hostile host is destroyed by one's own ruler.
Parameshvari, if a sadhaka should worship the yellow
effulgent one, the paralyser, with yellow flowers, using the previously
declared tongue method, for a number of days, the array of the enemies
in battle and whatever else one desires are paralysed instantly.
If one should worship the red Devi at midnight, using
red flowers, one may enslave or kill all enemies, this is certain.
If one should do puja for the number of days
previously spoken of, using black flowers according to rule, at the time
of one's enemy's death, in a visha nadi, a tortured yoga, or in a death
or destruction yoga, then Yama lords it over the enemies.
If one should worship using dark green flowers, and
various sorts of scents, it is said one becomes very wealthy, free of
disease, true minded, a lord. One lives happily on earth for 100 years,
it is said.
One should do sacrifice at night in a rectangular
fire pit, using turmeric mixed with food, sesame, beans, rice, yellow
flowers, yellow fruit, palmyra leaves, together with the letters of the
target's name, using ghee. Then one may paralyse, as previously stated.
At midnight, the enemy may be felled if one
sacrifices in fire in a yoni shaped pit, offering meat in a devoted way,
and sacrificing for the number of days previously stated. One may kill
the enemy by disease, sword, dart, serpent, water, flame, elephant,
madness, enemies, whirlwind, the fall of a tree or wall, consumed by
enemies. The enemies are unable to withstand this prayoga.
Meditating on her as being purple, and seated on a
bird, having the nail and the rest of the weapons, during (the rising
of) Virgo or Scorpio, offering goat flesh and much ghee, the rays of
light from the sacrifice slay the person, who is consumed by hot raging
fever.
If one should meditate on her as being effulgent as
the dawn sun, offering (in sacrifice) various red substances, ghee,
blossoms of the Kimshuka, Bandhuka, Japa, Pala, Karavira, Kahlara,
lotus, Patala, Ashoka and various other red blossoms, then one becomes
equal to a king, very wealthy, having great power, wafted by fly whisks
and shielded by parasols, of this there is no doubt.
If, at night, one should meditate on her as red, with
her nail and other weapons, and sacrifice in the various cardinal points
starting with the east for the number of days previously stated, then
one may subjugate man, woman or the whole world. One becomes famous, and
lives on earth for a long period like Laksmi.
One should draw a bhupura, inside of this placing the
name of the target. On the outside one should write the earth letters.
Making an eight petal lotus, one should write the six syllables of the
mantra outside of the two circles.
Outside the hexagon one should write the earth
letters, placing mantras inside the angles. As previously stated, one
should write (letters) on the rim of the two circles, placing outside of
the bhupura, in an anticlockwise direction, the letters of the matrika.
After doing this, one should then write in reverse
the letters of the root vidya. If one should worship in this, one may
paralyse the enemy and the world.
One should write the letters of the mantra six by six
in a nine angled design surrounded by two circles, outside of this there
being an octangle design surrounded by two circles, all surrounded by a
bhupura. Within the octangles, and outside of the circles, and in the
bhupura, one should write the matrikas both clockwise and anticlockwise.
One should write the name (of the target) in all the directions, and
should worship the eight armed form, Auspicious One. Parameshvari,
employing the method previously stated, the target becomes paralysed.
One should draw three circles, outside them putting a
hexagon surrounded by two circles. This is to be enclosed in an
octangular design, surrounded by a circle. In order one should place the
letters of Earth, one in each of the (six) angles, outside this writing
them in three groups of three. In the centre one should also write the
name (of the target). After reciting, the sadhaka should give animal
sacrifice to obtain whatever is desired.
One should draw a triangle enclosed in a circle,
outside of this drawing a hexagon, another hexagon, an octangular
figure, and another hexagon. From the edges to the middle one should
write the naksatra, tithi and day (of the target's birth), also writing
all the matrika letters. In the centre of each of the seven mandalas,
one should write the matrikas in clockwise order. One should place Hrim
in the centre. If one should worship this one obtains all siddhi. One
may command bhutas, pretas, pishachas and so forth, causing disease,
attacks by elephants and other wild beasts, or pacifying them.
One should draw an octangular design, placing in each
of the corners, sides and centre a trident shape. Outside this, write
the letters of the mantra together with the matrikas, placing in the
middle compartment the named one wishes to paralyse. One should draw it
on birch bark, on cloth, on copper or on stone. One should always
worship it using flowers, beautiful perfumes, then doing recitation of
the mantra. Doing the ritual at the twilights, one may always obtain
whatever is desired.
Draw a square, inside of this making sixteen lines,
extending from the cardinal and intermediate points, which together
makes a figure of 225 compartments. One should make a symmetrical figure
of 28 compartments by rubbing out other of the angles made. In the
central three compartments one should write the target and the name of
the act the sadhaka wishes to accomplish. Starting from the east, one
should write the letters of the mantra.
This great yantra is called the vajra, giving the
totality of whatever is wished for by sadhakas. Wherever this is placed,
whether written on copper, stone and so forth, there can never dwell
thieves, bhutas, diseases, ailments, serpents, bad planets, pretas,
pisacas and so forth. In whichever house this yantra is placed on the
junction points of the homestead design (vastu), there can never exist
black magic, ailments or disease.
From the north west, south east, south west and north
east, draw 12 lines, making a vajra figure of 21 compartments. In the
centre of these one should draw the name of whatever is to be
accomplished, outside of this, in a clockwise direction, writing the
letters of the alphabet. After worshipping this and drawing it, whether
it be on copper, stone or whatever, disease, bhutas, planets, madness,
pisacas and the kleshas of the mind can never enter or afflict one.
If one should draw the previously described vajra in
a golden colour within the centre of a pot, filling it with milk, and if
one should invoke Devi in this liquid, and worship her therein, oblating
and offering flowers and reciting the vidya 3000 times, subsequently
bathing oneself with the liquid, and drinking some of it, then one
becomes free of bodily kleshas, and lives happily on earth.
After making a circle measuring four finger breadths,
one should put outside of it, two measures by two measures, eleven
compartments. From each of these two by two measures one should draw
lines. After putting tridents in the compartments, one should surround
the whole with the letters of the alphabet, and placing the named in the
centre. After indrawing the Devi via breath into this yantra, and
worshipping from the east clockwise, then reciting the vidya, one may
achieve whatever is desired.
Notes
Varahi, also known as Panchami, or the Fivefold One,
bears the relation of "father" to Lalita, although pictured as a Devi.
The mother form is Kurukulla Tara. Varahi gives four fires and Kurukulla
five Shaktis -- this forming the complex shape in the centre of Shri
Yantra.
Varahi is fivefold as water, fire, earth, air and
aether. These elements are related to lion, tiger, elephant, horse and
Garuda -- the bird-human vehicle of Vishnu. Their colours are dark
green, red, yellow, black and purple.
Her mantra vidya of 110 letters is: Aim glaum aim
namo bhagavati vartali vartali varahi varahi varahamukhi varahamukhi
andhe andhini nama rundhe rundhini namah jambhe jambhini namah mohe
mohini nama stambhe stambhini namah sarvadushta pradadushtanam earvesham
sarvabak chitta chakshurmukhagatijihvastambham kuru kuru shighram
rashyam kuru kuru aim glaum thah thah thah thah hum phat svaha.
Her yantra is a triangle enclosed within a circle, a
hexagram surrounding this, and the hexagram itself being surrounded by
two circles.