Sacrifice at a Shakta Peetha and a Sacrificed Creature's Liberation

The speaker opens by saying that the complete subject of Tantra is a subject of energies. He lists its three parts: collecting any one energy, projecting that collected energy according to one's own wish, and obtaining the fruit. These three, he says, are the whole of Tantra. He then turns to how people look at the Bali of a creature. A simple, ordinary person, he says, thinks the animal is being murdered and that no deity is going to be pleased by anyone's blood or by killing. He allows that this may be one's own view, but asks the listener to take the thought further. He says the person offering the Bali is just as limited if he only thinks "may my wish be fulfilled" and hopes to please the deity through the running tradition of offering. The real matter behind it, he says, lies deeper than either of these surface views, and the rest of the talk lays it out on the energy frame he has just given.

The speaker says that in reality the matter behind Bali cannot be a subject of darshan, of philosophical doctrine. Tantric matters, he says, cannot be understood through philosophy; whoever tries will never reach satisfaction. Returning to the point later, he says that by philosophical doctrine one can never, in any way, put a check on these matters, and that such a check carries its own harm. Taking every matter and asking "this is a subject, why is it happening this way" cannot satisfy anyone, he says. The subject has its own distinction and its own harm. He says the listener should also understand where that harm falls, and moves on to explain it through the difference between an ancient Peetha and a newly made shrine.

The speaker says that if these matters feel repulsive, too harsh or cruel to someone, that person should not read about them at all. Such a person should also not go to the pilgrimage places, the Siddha Peethas and the like, where in particular the rules of the ShaktaBelonging to the stream that takes the Goddess as the supreme principle. tradition, of Shaivagama and of Aghora are kept and where Bali and similar offerings are made. The sadhaks engaged in that process, he says, whatever kind of qualities they are filled with, hold their own personal view, and that view runs according to tradition. Later in the talk he returns to the same people: those who feel a heart-rending pain on seeing such things should not go to these places for darshan of the sacrifice. His instruction is to take darshan of the Devi and not go to the Bali grounds, not watch, because that should not be their subject. If someone does make it his subject, he says, then it has its own tradition, and that tradition is what governs it.

The speaker points the listener to the Puranas. Take the Kalika Purana, he says: on the subject of Bali these matters are discussed there a great deal. There one reads, he says, why and how Bhagavati blessed Mahishasura, telling him that his worship would take place properly together with hers, that he would be worshipped along with her. He gives this as the scriptural background before explaining what the Devi's retinue is like.

The speaker says that when Bali is offered and this subject is spoken of, one thing should be known clearly: Bhagavati has a complete mandala and sits with her whole family. The other shaktis of Bhagavati and their retinue, he says, do not all have a sattvic nature. He describes the Yoginis who appeared together with Bhagavati: they drank the blood of the daityas, and to destroy the daityas they dragged out their flesh, chewed it and finished them. Those shaktis, he says, are in reality present even today in Bhagavati's Siddha Peethas and Shakti Peeths. Their satisfaction, he says, is going to come from those same things. He adds again that this cannot be a matter of philosophy, and that no philosophical doctrine can restrain it.

Having said that the subject of Bali has its own harm, the speaker explains where that harm happens. The practice of Bali at a Siddha Peetha or Shakti Peeth, he says, has been coming down from Puranic times; it is discussed already, and the tantra AgamaA body of Tantric scriptural injunction (such as Shivagama) specifying rules for worship, including where and how sacrifice is sanctioned — violating its rules for mere taste or sensory enjoyment forfeits any higher spiritual attainment.s give the subject and its directions. There, he says, everything is running as it should, and there is no issue at all. The problem, he says, is when someone independently sets up a new peetha of his own at some other place and offers Bali there for the sake of Pretas, Pishachs, Brahmarakshases or dakinis. That, he says, is harmful, and it somewhere turns into trouble and gives the person the opposite of what he wanted.

The speaker explains the rule of Bali at a Siddha Peetha. Such a peetha, he says, is a Jaagrit Peetha, an awakened seat, and the practice there has been running from before. Whichever creature is sacrificed there, he says, somewhere gains liberation from that womb, that species. He then names the animals. Goat, sheep and rooster, he says, are creatures of the Yaksha clan, whose onward passage does not happen very quickly. It is said, he reports, that after their death they are born again and again in that same species, and many times their passage is obstructed. Through Bali, he says, their passage also takes place. At the same time, he says, the retinue of Bhagavati and the helper shaktis present at the peetha, whose satisfaction comes only from blood, are also satisfied by the blood of these yaksha-clan creatures.

The speaker says the chief shaktis, through whom alone devotees receive help, whether the matter is dharma or adharma, are shaktis; the matter of energy is separate. As he said at the start, energy is collected, preserved, projected for the sake of one's wish, and after that the fruit is obtained. In the Bali being offered, he says, the energy of the JivatmaThe individual embodied soul currently animating a physical body — distinct from the formless, genderless Atman it ultimately is. is bound together with the energy of the offerer's wishes through the SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit. mantra and the rest of the rite. After the Bali, the chief working shakti of that place, the one who will accept and fulfil the wish, receives that energy, and it is projected. Whether the matter is of Shatkarma, of Paushtik Karma, or any other wish-fulfilment, he says, it is completed and reaches the person. He adds that many times people first go and make a Mannat that when their work succeeds they will offer Bali; that too, he says, is the same matter in the same way. He tells the listener to understand these matters exactly in this manner.

The speaker states plainly that Bali is mandatory at the ShaktaBelonging to the stream that takes the Goddess as the supreme principle. peethas where this tradition has been running. At those places, he says, shaktis of that kind have been established through Bhagavati, whatever her leela there was. Those shaktis are at that very spot, and by means of that spot they protect other regions. To put a stop to all of this, he says, can never be beneficial for the one who does it.

The speaker says that at no point here is the subject of Bali being connected with eating and drinking or with the taste of the tongue. There are people, he says, who look at it through taste: "oh, there will be meat to eat." For them he says the matter is also clear: those who eat the meat of the Bali with that attitude take birth in that same species at the next animal sacrifice.

The speaker turns to MadiraLiquor, offered in certain Bhairav and vamachara rites and disallowed in others.. Where it is used for the TarpanaA libation offering of water or other substances made to a deity or ancestor, typically performed alongside Havan and Marjan. of Bhagavati or of the devatas in tantric worship, he says, it is first purified: the purification is done through the PanchapatraA traditional purification method and vessel through which alcohol is first purified before being offered as Tarpan to the Goddess or a deity in Tantric worship. and the method of patra sadhana, and only after that purification does the tarpan and the rest take place. Those who do that, he says, are doing something dharma-yukt; it is for the tarpan of that shakti, for her worship, for her pleasure. Taking a small portion while calling it PrasadWhat returns from the deity after an offering, and is then eaten rather than discarded. is a separate matter, he says. But drinking for the sake of drinking, "come, let us drink four bottles ourselves; one bottle went up to Bhairava ji, four bottles we put down ourselves," going to excess under the name of prasad and keeping that kind of attitude — that attitude itself, he says, becomes the cause of their destruction. Such people, he says, can never attain gati.

The speaker lays down a general rule. The things whose use the tantra shastras prescribe for the purpose of becoming free, he says, if a person uses them for the satisfaction of his own taste, for the satisfaction of bhoga, then somewhere he is violating the rules and orders given in the AgamaA body of Tantric scriptural injunction (such as Shivagama) specifying rules for worship, including where and how sacrifice is sanctioned — violating its rules for mere taste or sensory enjoyment forfeits any higher spiritual attainment.s and the shastras. By such a violation, he says, that person's SadgatiThe good onward passage of a departed being, the aim of pitr karma and tarpan. can never happen; on this one may remain certain. He adds that in today's time, in the present context, this is indeed happening, and people are simply bringing durgati on themselves.

The speaker says that when people bring durgati on themselves in this way, the rest of the people see it and worry: "this is happening, this is a wrong matter." But for one who moves according to the real matter, he says, this never arises. That, he says, is precisely why the subject of Tantra has been called secret, and why the peethas of Tantra have been kept hidden. The path of the ShaktaBelonging to the stream that takes the Goddess as the supreme principle.s, he says, is a path of staying calm, gentle and inward. They are not extroverts; they do not display. Because if they are seen, then the more people come to know, the more they will condemn, and the loss will be greater for those people. The Shaktas' own loss will happen, he says, but the people's loss will be even greater. For that reason he tells the listener to keep away from these matters of condemnation.

The speaker says that no one has the right to snatch away anyone's food, anyone's diet. The main matter, he says, is this: humans should offer tarpan to the devatas, worship them and satisfy them, and the devatas should fulfil the wishes of humans. The vidhan for this, he says, differs according to each one's rules and each one's tradition, and one should walk according to that tradition and its rules. In this there should be no opposition from anyone to anyone, and no ban. On a ShaktaBelonging to the stream that takes the Goddess as the supreme principle. peetha, he says, the authority should be that of Shaktas: not of Vaishnavas, not of Buddhists, and not of any other adharmis either. Wherever a matter has been running in a certain way, he says, it should keep running there in that same way.

The speaker addresses those who are very fond of philosophical doctrine and who say, "we want to bring reform inside people in today's time." First look at the mentality of such people, he says; test their matters. They will themselves appear to you as durbuddhi and malbuddhi, of bad and dirty intellect; what will they do for others? One cannot go on, he says, having heard half a matter from here and taken half a matter from somewhere else. In that case, he says, the shaktis of all the peethas of the whole of Bharatvarsh, with all their capability, will somewhere make you the object of their wrath for stopping all these things. Nothing good will come of it. He gives a comparison. Where the abhishekaA ceremonial bathing of a deity’s image or symbol, usually with water and other prescribed substances. of Bhagavan Shiva is done with milk, it is not as if someone can now say "no, we will do the abhisheka with blood"; do that with your own blood if you have the capacity, he says. In the same way, where a Bali pavilion has been built and has been running for a long age, explained in the Puranas, described in the AgamaA body of Tantric scriptural injunction (such as Shivagama) specifying rules for worship, including where and how sacrifice is sanctioned — violating its rules for mere taste or sensory enjoyment forfeits any higher spiritual attainment. texts of Tantra, with paddhatis running and akharas running, no one should interfere. It is not proper, he says, and one has to become the object of the wrath of the shaktis, of one's own lok devatas, and of one's own kula shaktis.

The speaker closes with the case of the private shrine. Any person, he says, who learns tantra vidya independently and on his own siddhas some paishachik shakti, some tamasik shakti, a Masan shakti, and then, for the sake of that shakti, has Bali worship done at his own place, calling it Kali Mai, or whatever baba calls it so, that too is going to be abhorrent. Through it, he says, there will be trouble in that person's own family tradition, and those who give puja there can also come into trouble. Everyone's matter may be their own, he says, but there, trouble will come. For Bali at such places, he says, "we too forbid it": do not offer bali and the like at such places. The peethas are a different matter, the Siddha Peethas and the ShaktaBelonging to the stream that takes the Goddess as the supreme principle. peethas are a different matter. But where such bali is being done at someone's private place, where someone comes into your house, offers bali, and then sits and eats, that somewhere ends up drowning you.