Kapalika Tantra
Every question on the site tagged Kapalika Tantra, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
A scripture associated with the Kapalika tradition of skull-bearing ascetic practitioners.
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Not granted at initiation, and used in Yaksha, Gandharva, Veera, Bhairava and Kapalika sadhanas
It is not granted immediately upon Tantric initiation — an aspirant must progress through preliminary practices; Mundamalas are used not only for Mahavidya and fierce sadhanas, but also in Virachara practices involving Yakshas, Gandharvas, Veeras, Bhairavas, and Kapalika sadhanas.
How is food taken in the kapal on the Chandrayan reckoning?
Only food is to be obtained; and if a kapal is obtained to you, then you will have to eat in the kapal itself. And in the food obtained in the kapal too — as we hear concerning the Chandrayan vrat, in which there is a vidhi that according to the tithi there is a count of mouthfuls: on Pratipada one mouthful will be eaten, on Dwitiya two mouthfuls — in exactly the same way, after the Purnima it will go in decreasing order.
The nyasa runs by increase from Pratipada to Amavasya, and by exactly the reverse vidhi through the Shukla Paksha
In their nyasa method too, two vidhis run. The first vidhi runs from Pratipada up to Amavasya, in which the nyasa will happen sequentially by that increase; afterwards, after the Amavasya, in the Shukla Paksha it will happen by exactly the reverse vidhi. And the kapal bhojan too will then remain in that same way. It is not that if someone filled it up, you are eating the whole of it — they cannot even eat the whole.
What does the mool tantra do instead of Valmiki tantra?
The tantra that is real in the present time, the mool tantra by which kriya of this kind is done — that is a true matter. Kapal kriya and the rest, kapal tantra and the rest; the kapalika people; or those who perform kriyas of this kind. By the vidyas of that tantra they perfect the shaktis themselves, and by the siddhis of mantra they bind such shaktis and project them upon somebody.
An atma is taken into bandhan at the pyre by dhaar and kapal kriya, through mantra bal
Now such a masanic shakti — they go to the pyre of such people and, by their own mantra bal, take such atmas into their own bandhan. Nearly all of what you read and see and hear, he says, has been told from there, and happens in that same way: giving a dhaar, performing the kriya of the kapal and the rest, and by their mantra bal binding such atmas.
Rajas udbodhan makes hearers run after whatever they have heard
He says that if the whole tantratmak subject of it were discussed, and a hundred men listened to it attentively, then those hundred men would first run off in that direction. Because rajas udbodhan happens: people, once they hear a great deal about a thing and come to know it, start running there, that it is there we must go. One must not run like that, he says.
Can you do kapal-related kriya or bring shamshan earth home on your own?
For a kriya connected with the kapal done by the tantra process, he says, in the way in which all of that has to be done and what is to be obtained, you will certainly need someone. If without knowing you pick up shamshan earth and bring it home and do it, then there will be trouble; for that you need somebody to explain all the kriyas to you. You will not be able to do it by reading from YouTube, Facebook and magazines, so there you need a guru. But there is no need to go that far.
May the same silver bowl be used for kindling and for Naivedya?
No. The vessel in which you kindle and the vessel in which you offer Naivedya will be separate. You will not burn clove and camphor in the same bowl in which Naivedya is offered — that has become a small Khappar in form.
Cremation-ground sadhana with kapala and bone mala, undertaken only where a highly competent guru permits it
Viracara ("heroic conduct"), embraced within Vamacara, involves advanced sadhanas conducted in liminal spaces like cremation grounds (shmashana), using funeral objects such as a human skull (kapala) or bone malas — practice the author says carries significant psychological and spiritual risk and requires a highly competent guru to permit.
What is shav sadhana and where does it belong?
Shav sadhana is a tantric sadhana of a high order, the speaker says. Understand it this way: as when you are doing the sadhana of Bhagavati Kali, the sadhana in the veer bhaav — shav sadhana comes within that. In Shaiva sadhana too, that is in the parampara of Bhagavan Shiva, when sadhana is done in Aghor, in the Naar sampradaya, then in tantra sadhana too shav sadhana comes in. Its prominence was very great especially in the medieval period, although it has existed from the beginning.
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