How and Why a Tantric Guru Binds a Disciple

The speaker describes a scenario: a person goes to someone, learns sadhana from them, and thereby has that person as their guru. Through this guru's teaching, the disciple attains siddhis and other results (त्रिवाचा इत्यादि). But over time, the disciple's divine sight (Divyadrishti) gets blocked — they gradually become unable to see or hear things they previously could, and whatever abilities they had gotten become dulled. When the disciple tries to ask the guru about this or seek guidance, the guru refuses to answer, or tells the disciple that they don't need any of it. The speaker frames the central question of the talk this way: how and why does this happen, and how does a guru bind (bandhan) his own disciple?

The speaker says gurus are gurus precisely because they will not give a disciple every vidya (occult knowledge/practice) they hold. Even if a guru gives the disciple ten vidyas, he will always keep one more — an eleventh — in reserve for himself. This reserved vidya exists so that, should the disciple ever come to walk a wrong path, the guru has the means to place a Bandhan on him. The speaker adds that the topic he is actually addressing in this talk is a more common case: a disciple who is himself righteous, sattvic, pure, and of clean conduct, yet whose guru still binds him regardless.

The speaker says the biggest underlying cause, even when a disciple is righteous, sattvic, pure and of good conduct, is dhan (wealth/money). He calls this an artha-pradhan yug — an age in which wealth is paramount. He gives a concrete pattern: the disciple has learned all the vidyas from his guru, but is not following the guru's instructions. If the guru asks the disciple to do some task for him and the disciple refuses, this refusal is what a guru is speaking of when he later says a disciple "didn't listen." The speaker notes there is a difference between a guru testing a disciple by giving such instructions and a guru genuinely expecting compliance — but says that if such a refusal happens and the guru does bind the disciple as a result, the talk goes on to explain how.

The speaker explains that the central factor in a guru's ability to bind a disciple is information: the guru knows which vidyas the disciple has attained (siddh kiya) through him, what vows (vachan) were taken in the process, by which mantra a shakti was invoked (avahan), by which mantra the disciple's vow was taken, and which specific tasks the disciple is capable of accomplishing through that shakti. Because the guru holds all of this information, when a binding (bandhan) is carried out, its strength depends entirely on the guru's own capability (samarthya). Some gurus are capable enough to bind a shakti merely by giving a vachan and through SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit. (a resolve/vow) alone.

The speaker says some gurus, because they know the relevant mantra-vidya, are also aware of that mantra's Upasanhar VidhiThe withdrawal procedure by which a vidya or siddhi that was conferred is formally taken back or dissolved. (a formal withdrawal/dissolution procedure). He notes every Guru Parampara handles this differently. Because the disciple belongs to this guru's lineage, the guru already has full knowledge of both the disciple and the mantra in question. Using that knowledge, the guru applies the binding, after which the previously attained results stop working for the disciple. Whichever devi-shakti was coming to the disciple will be given a vachan (bound by a vow) by the guru, and that shakti will then refuse to come to the disciple — she will not come.

The speaker says that besides mantra-based binding, a specific type of tantra sadhak follows another method: while the disciple is doing sadhana, they have the disciple's hair (choul, i.e. cut hair) taken and kept, sometimes a lock of hair (chutaiya), and sometimes dashang is also had cut. He gives nails as another example — hand and foot nails, and hair from the head — telling the disciple these must be handed over first, before teaching begins, and the sadhak keeps all of these items with himself. The speaker says the underlying reason for this practice is that if, over time, the disciple attains something very significant (a major siddhi) and stops heeding the guru's words, this material can be used to impose a restraint (rok) on the disciple. He states this happens quite plainly and there is no two ways about it (i.e., it is a well-established practice).

The speaker says that beyond the methods already described, when a guru needs to bind a disciple, he may do so in either of two ways. The first is that a capable guru is able to carry out the binding entirely without telling the disciple. The second approach, which the speaker goes on to describe next, involves permanently dulling the vidya itself so it can never redevelop in the disciple's body.

The speaker explains the underlying mechanism a guru targets when permanently dulling a vidya so it can never develop again in the disciple's body. He says that whatever energy or capability (kshamata) resides in our body, whichever shakti we invoke (avahan), that energy's Tattva first grows within the body. That shakti then creates balance with our energy, and with our sukshma sharir (subtle body), and it is through this balance that Divyadrishti (divine sight) is granted. Divya drishti is received by the sukshma sharir, not the physical body directly. The sukshma sharir, sukshma urja (subtle energy), and prana sharir/prana urja are connected to and joined with our physical body. When we invoke a divine shakti and gain divya drishti through it, the sukshma sharir becomes the medium between the physical body and that divine energy — meaning the development in question (of divya drishti, or of durshravan shakti, i.e. clairaudience) happens within the sukshma sharir.

The speaker says that if a guru wants to ensure a disciple never again attains durshravan shakti (clairaudience) or the ability to see, through this sadhana, in this person's lifetime, the guru targets the sukshma sharir (subtle body) for binding. He may do this through some tantra, through granth vidya (scriptural/textual methods), or by binding or corrupting (malin) the disciple's sukshma sharir through some other vidya. He describes a further method: the guru may feed the disciple an object that has undergone Abhimantran (consecration), or feed him some jadi (herb/root), so that the energy or tattva in question — whether it belongs to a Yaksha, to the GandharvasCelestial musicians and attendants in Vedic and Puranic cosmology. or kinnars, to a power of the Preta or Upadevata category, or even to a deva shakti — will no longer be able to show favour (kripa) to the disciple. He adds that the shakti in question may still wish to come before the disciple — the disciple may be doing intense mantra Japa and the shakti may draw near, appear before him, even stand in front of him — but because the disciple has been bound by the guru, that shakti will not be able to remove this vow (vachan) and will never again be able to grant the disciple divya drishti. It will come and stand before him, but he will not have the capacity to attain it again.