Upper-Status Tantrism: Individually Centered Practices and Initiation

The aims of the Tantric tradition for the achievement of mukti , "spiritual emancipation," or bhukti , "domination," as the quotation from Gupta, Hoens, and Goudriaan (1979) at the beginning of the chapter epitomizes it, are aims to be achieved by individuals, not by groups of Tantric followers, and certainly not by traditional Hindu social units. This is the aspect of Tantrism that is emphasized in popular books directed toward the West and toward modern South Asians. Tantrism,

so conceived, is a practice that is supposed to alter the relation of the individual practitioner of Tantrism to the ordinary social, religious, and logical reality in which he or she lives. Able through Tantric practice to see that reality as maya , illusion, an individual achieves liberation from it.

Thus, as put in a passage typical of such books (L. P. Singh 1967, 2):

In an esoteric sense Tantra means "the spiritual cult by which divine knowledge is unfolded." . . . The mystic definition of Tantra is that It is the spiritual cult which liberates from the bondages of crudeness and ignorance. . . . Tantra is a process . . . which relieves one from the fetters of crudeness. Thus Tantra is an intuitional science which stands for the progressive realization of the divine. It liberates one from the cimmerian darkness and leads unto the divine effulgence. It is a path of salvation. It is a science of the soul. The authoritative definition of Tantra is, that which brings liberation, emancipation from the bondage of Maya.

This particular path to salvation among the several offered by Hinduism, a salvation centered on the nature of the individual, his or her personal and private effort and transcendence of maya , links Tantrism to those South Asian practices such as yoga, meditation, and social renunciation, which are based on temporary or permanent withdrawal from social relationships and modes. Such practices, like bhakti , devotion to a personal god, are antithetical to Hinduism's and Bhaktapur's dominant emphasis on submission to—and salvation by means of—the sacralized forms of social life, a submission phrased as adherence to the dharma . It is the very density of the familial and larger social world regulated by dharma that gives renunciation its special oppositional force and motivation in South Asia. In Bhaktapur the "reality" that is being seen through includes in large part the symbolically constructed mesocosm itself and the self that is to be dissolved is the socially constructed self. The salvation produced by escape from moral reality, the salvation of mukti or moksa^[*] , is, on the face of it, quite different from and subversive of the idea of salvation produced by adherence to the moral and religious system of the city.

The technique for achieving mukti and its consequences is, like the goals of Tantric practice, typically described in effulgent terms even in the scholarly literature. Thus Gupta, in a discussion of nyasa and the associated practices of bhutasuddhi in Tantric puja s, describes the sequence in terms that are typical of Tantric commentary (Gupta, Hoens and Goudriaan 1979,136):

Using his yogic technique and his highly developed powers of Imagination and concentration, the Tantric practicer envisages all the ontological realities that go to make up his personality. He then proceeds to envisage within himself the process of cosmic creation . . . in reverse order. . . . He follows every single step, imagining the dissolution of each element into its preceding cause, until in the end he is ultimately dissolved or immersed m his cosmic source. He then envisages his own resurrection, retracing each step of cosmic creation. Only now, having burned away with cosmic fire and blown away with cosmic air all his human imperfections and limitations, he experiences bliss and, permeated with it, remains immersed in the cosmic source. . . . He now has a body made of pure substance . . . identical with that of the deity's and he is free to invite her to descend into it—to invoke the divine ego to descend on to his ego.

What is the relation of such ideal transcending procedures—these techniques for a blissful escape from self, family, and city in Bhaktapur—to the actual individual uses of individual Tantrism there? As we did in the yogic references in familial Tantric puja s, we will find echoes of these antistructural, reality-transcending, and self-altering programs in the goals and forms of individual practice and symbolism, transformed and tamed, as all Bhaktapur's Tantrism is, by a careful fitting into in the civic system.

Individually centered Tantrism is presented to upper-status males in conjuction with a sequence of initiations, dekha (sometimes dikha , both deriving from diksa in Sanskrit), which are conducted by the family's Brahman guru , the same Brahman who is also the family's purohita , or family priest. In the course of each initiation certain information is passed on by the guru to the pupil or initiate (sisya^[*] in Sanskrit). There are three significant levels or stages in relation to Tantric knowledge for the upper-status thar s: (1) the initiation to "caste," the Kaeta ("loincloth") Puja (app. 6); (2) the initiation into the worship of the Aga(n) God; and (3), an initiation in preparation for dying, death, and "salvation," the moksa^[*] or mukti initiation.

There are many kinds of initiation in Bhaktapur. They all entail the transmission of some esoteric knowledge by the guru , or his equivalent, and a solemn and sacred pledge of secrecy by the initiate. When, for example, a new wife comes to a household, or a new Acaju is employed, they are told the names and some of the mantras of the particular form or forms of the household lineage gods they must deal with, in a ceremony in which they pledge secrecy. Such initiations are sometimes called ba dekha (or "baga dekha ") or "half-initiations" by those familiar

with more advanced Tantric initiations. There are also many special initiations within those thar s that have a craft profession, such as the playing of some particular musical instrument, the making of masks, or the making of metal images. These initiations initiate and make sacred the teaching relation between guru and initiate, introduce the appropriate mantras and procedures of worship to the deity who will give effectiveness to the studies, and may introduce technical instructions or esoteric knowledge.

At all levels and in all thar s, now including the Po(n)s, there is an initiation of boys into their thar , the Kaeta Puja . All thar s have Kaeta Puja ceremonies that are associated with the idea of a radical change of status for a boy, his entry into his thar 's secrets, and his becoming fully morally responsible for following the dharma . The Kaeta Puja is a samskara , one of Bhaktapur's rites of passgage (app. 6) derived mostly from the Hindu tradition. In the upper thar s, the boy receives not only a loin cloth symbolizing his maturity but also the jona or sacred thread. For these upper-status boys this is the first in a potential series of initiations. For boys of other thar s it is the last (with the exception of craft initiation, which is sometimes given in conjunction with the Kaeta Puja ). During the Kaeta Puja boys are told something about their lineage god and are given some mantra s to use in worship. These mantra s, given by the guru (who in lower-status households may be a family member), like the mantra s given in more advanced initiation, are those shared by the larger phuki group and are thought by the phuki members to be their particular and special mantra , although they may, in fact, like the name of the phuki Aga(n) God, be common, not only to other groups that have split off from the lineage, but also to much larger groupings.

The next level of initiation, possible only to the upper thar s, is the one that is usually designated by the unqualified term "dekha ," the initiation to the phuki 's Aga(n) God practices. In previous times almost all men in the upper thar s took this initiation as young adults. Now, except for those Brahmans and Acaju priests who need this and other initiations for their priestly duties, many upper-status men delay taking this initiation until after the active years of their education and professional life—and some may never take it. Once having taken the Aga(n) dekha , one has time-consuming obligations in the ceremonies for worship of the Aga(n) God. In this second dekha the initiate enters into the secret Aga(n) religion of the phuki , is told the name of the god and its proper mantra , and can see it—or in those thar s where noninitiate family

members are able to see the Aga(n) God wrapped and hidden in cloths on some occasions, see it uncovered—for the first time. The initiate is now also told the proper procedures necessary in the worship of the Aga(n) God. He is introduced to japa meditation, where he repeats the same mantra for some given number of times, while counting off the repetitions by means of the beads of a special necklace. The new knowledge and practice is taught to the initiate over several days (depending on the student's quickness and ability) by the family guru , who has now become his guru . In the context of this initiation the phuki 's Aga(n) God is referred to as the student's istadevata , the student's own tutelary god.^[24] The initiate is also told something about cakra meditation, the idea that the Goddess can be brought into his body, or resides in his body, and can be moved through a series of internal cakras or centers. The meditative practices he is introduced to are not for his private purposes—for either power or for penetrating illusion in a quest for salvation—but as instruments in the worship of his lineage deity. These introductions to yogic procedures in conjunction with the remainder of the esoteric information he is given moves him into the group of initiates which constitutes his phuki in their focal shared relation to their secret lineage deity.

The third possible initiation is often called Nirban (Sanskrit, Nirvana^[*] ) initiation. This is available to men in the upper thar s who had the previous initiations and who would typically take it in their forties or fifties. For Rajopadhyaya Brahmans, the techniques learned at this level of initiation are considered necessary for the really powerful forms of Tantric worship, particularly those associated with the Taleju temple,^[25] for conducting Brahman-assisted Aga(n) God worship of upper-status families, and for undertaking the role of guru to members of these families in their middle- and upper-level dekha s. Brahmans, like other upper-status men, also may undergo this stage of initiation for their own "salvation," for mrban , or mukti . Not all practicing Brahmans have this level of dekha ; some will undergo it later in life, while others—those with middle-level clients or temple pujari work—may never have it. Even fewer of the non-Brahman upper-status men now undergo it. Many of them do not even undergo the Aga(n) initiation, which is a necessary prerequisite to this one. However, for those men who are especially interested in continuing Tantric studies—either from interest in Tantrism in itself, or for the specific salvation promised by the initiation—this aristocratic option is available.

During the third-level initiation and studies, the initiate learns more

about his Aga(n) Goddess and her secret connections with the other Tantric deities in the city. He is instructed further in meditation technique, particularly cakra meditation. This is often in a limited form in comparison with the way this kind of meditation is known and used by Tantric practitioners and yogi s elsewhere, but is more elaborate than the initiate's previous meditation. It is considered to be a kind of Kundalini^[*] Yoga for the purpose of moving the Goddess into the cakra located in the "heart," for meditation and worship. The instruction at this level requires daily study with a guru during a period of about one month. Following Nirban initiation, the initiate may now also read esoteric books, often in the possession of families, which deal with meditation, with Kundalini^[*] Yoga, and with the secret connections and relations of Tantric deities in the city. It is said that the unauthorized reading of such books without initiation leads to insanity or blindness.

What has this to do with mukti , or nirban , that is, with "salvation"? The cosmic fire and cosmic air that the initiate experiences are considerably less freeing and transforming than our introductory quotations promised. He must await his death for their full effect, and even then his self, he hopes, will be only modestly transformed. People in Bhaktapur, like many South Asians, have various elaborate and inconsistent ideas about their fate after death. They believe, in one or another context, that it depends on their moral behavior during life (this life and previous ones), on their ritual activities and general actions at the time of dying, and on the proper ceremonies being performed by their family (particularly by their oldest son) after their death—especially during the first several days. Personal fate after death is also variously conceived. One joins the "fathers," the pitrs^[*] . One wanders around somewhere for a period forming a spiritual body, and then goes to be judged by Yama, the King of the Dead, in his kingdom, whereupon one may be reincarnated or one may go to one of several heavens. Whatever mukti or nirban means to the people of Bhaktapur and to the Nirban initiate practicing meditation for "salvation," it does not mean that "highest [stage] . . . when the soul is absorbed in the Paramatman [the supreme soul] as the river is lost in the sea . . . [and where] there is no persistence of personality . . . and there is nothing left to do, or to attain to, or to gain" (Stevenson 1920, 187f.).^[26] Whatever the highest theological speculations about the dissolving of the self as salvation, mukti , for those people with whom we have discussed this (and in their understanding of what others believe), this is neither what they believe nor what they want mukti to entail. It seems to mean, rather, the avoidance

of painful new lives, and the chance to remain in some heavenly place, usually the particular heaven of the most unproblematic of the city's moral deities, Visnu-Narayana^[*] . This implies, for many, being surrounded by their family and remmbering their present life. The main focus of Nirban studies is the preparation for the time of dying, the maran kal (Sanskrit, marana^[*] kala ) the appointed time for "destruction." Tantric discipline leads to a control of mind which can be helpful at the maran kal in two ways. At the time of death, the spirit resists leaving the body easily, the dying person will suffer for a long time. If he uses the proper mantra s and meditates on the god Narayana^[*] (never on a Tantric deity), however, the soul leaves the body more easily and the adept has a quicker and less painful death. Tantric education, sadhana , helps in this meditation. The other problematic aspect of dying is that bad thoughts during the maran kal —worries about money, angry or vengeful thoughts, a wish for alcoholic spirits, and the like, will cause a punitive distressing reincarnation. Tantric discipline allows the maintenance of a peaceful mind and thus prevents a bad rebirth, and ideally any rebirth less comfortable than in "Narayana's^[*] heaven."

However trivialized these practices and goals may seem from the point of view of Tantrism's highest philosophical ideals, and however woven into larger social practices, the underlying direction is familiar—a detachment from the realities, concerns, and passions of social inter-relatedness, a detachment that will allow the practitioner to avoid, if only at the moment of death, becoming entangled in Bhaktapur's enveloping world.

Techniques learned during the Tantric dekha s are used in the phuki worship we discussed above. These include special mantra s, hand gestures, and meditative practices. An important technique taught in these initiations is the visualization as a clear image—following some canonical description—of the deity to be worshiped and, eventually, the ability to mentally place this image within the body or within a mandala^[*] drawn on a purified area on the floor. The ability to perform a puja to a mental image, to be able to dispense with a material external image, is considered to be one of the essential achievements of advanced Tantric practice in Bhaktapur, and one of the factors separating Tantrism from the externally somewhat similar worshiping of the dangerous deities through the sacrificial offerings of noninitiates.

In the remainder of his life after his initiation, the Nirban initiate practices his cakra meditation during daily worship, which usually

takes place in the morning during, roughly, one hour in the Aga(n) Room on the back half of the civata floor of the house. This daily worship is to the Aga(n) God—(whose, most often, subsidiary image is in the Aga(n) Room)—and to the household gods, who will be represented there by secondary images.^[27] In the course of his worship through one or another meditative procedure, he is supposed to put himself in the state of concentration and ability to create an image called (both in Bhaktapur and in Tantric theory) dhyana . The imagined image has a specified form, color, number of arms, objects in its hands, significant gestures of some of its hands, a special vehicle, and so forth. Dhyana , here, is not a dissolution of consciousness, but a kind of control or concentration of it.^[28] The initiate may also come to the Aga(n) Room for silent meditation when he wishes to. He may now use japa meditation or some form of cakra meditation. Here the meditation in itself, the practice of sadhana in itself, is his goal.