Essay name: Svacchandatantra (history and structure)
Author: William James Arraj
The essay represents a study and partial English translation of the Svacchandatantra and its commentary, 鈥淯ddyota鈥�, by Kshemaraja. The text, attributed to the deity Svacchanda-bhairava, has various names and demonstrates a complex history of transmission through diverse manuscript traditions in North India, Nepal, and beyond.
Page 101 of: Svacchandatantra (history and structure)
101 (of 511)
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implied by the ritual in its external and institutionalized forms.1
For grace, they believed, always came mediated through the
master for ordinary human devotees. 2 In their circles then, ritual
and lower means persisted revalued and tolerated as propedeutics
for the higher means, or heuristically sanctioned for those
otherwise incapable of access to liberation. 鲁 Similarly, transhuman
powers, now devalued as ends in themselves, were totally
repudiated by a mileiu that came to see them as fundamentally
incompatible with the seeking of liberation.4
3 For K峁mar膩ja岣�, and the monistic Saivas, liberation could
not be produced by an action, but could only become manifest in
an unmediated knowledge, or recognition of the true nature of the
self. 5 This view entailed a rejection of any mechanical and causal
1 On the relation of bhakti岣� and knowledge in the
Sivaj帽膩nasiddhiy膩r, v. Mariasusa Dhavamony, Love of God according
to Saiva Siddhanta (Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1971), pp. 235ff.
2 V. Schomerus, Arunantis Sivaj帽膩nasiddhiy膩r 1: 290ff, on
vs.2, and 319ff, on vs. 28, which asserts the mediating role of the
master not only in the various forms of initiation, (294ff, vs. 3) but
also for knowledge: "Wie das Brennglas Feuer hervorbringt, wenn die
hell strahlende Sonne darauf scheint, so wird, wenn der edle Guru
erscheint, in den 膧tman das wahre Wissen entstehen.鈥�
V. the conclusion of bk.10, (p.557, vs.1278-1279b) where the
same role of the master may be implied: "gurvaktraprayoge峁嘺
tasminyojyeta 艣膩svate parame tattve."
..
鈥�
3 V. Schomerus, Arunantis 艢iva j帽膩nasiddhiyar 1: 295ff, 317ff.
4 On the later 艢aiva-siddh膩ntins complete rejection of siddhi岣�,
v. Schomerus, Arunantis Sivaj帽膩nasiddhiyar 1: 337ff.
5 For the programmatic rejection of all action, including
reasoning, as a means to liberation, and the reinterpretation of all
means as unmediated knowledge of the self, v. M.K. Shastri, ed.,
Tantr膩loka岣�, 2, esp., vss.7-11: ("tatra ye nirmal膩tm膩no
bhairaviy膩m svasamvidam/ nirup膩y膩m up膩s墨n膩stadvidhi岣�
pranigadyate// tatra t膩vatkriyayogo nabhyupayatvamarhati/ sa hi
tasm膩tsamudbh奴ta岣� pratyuta pravibh膩vyate// j帽apt膩vu峁嚹亂a eva
