Tarapith
Every question on the site tagged Tarapith, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
A major Shakti Peeth in West Bengal dedicated to the Mahavidya Tara.
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Why do sadhaks gather at Tarapith on Bhadrapada Amavasya?
The speaker says that all the sadhaks, regional tantriks and followers of these vidyas across West Bengal, Assam, Nagaland and the adjoining areas of Bangladesh come without fail to Tarapith on the Amavasya tithi of Bhadrapada Maas. They come to do sadhana in the Mahashmashan, to awaken their vidyas there, to sit and perform anushthan and Purashcharana, and to have darshan of Bhagavati Mahavidya Tara. He notes that this day is not Tara Jayanti, yet it carries great weight in Tantrokta sadhana.
Which Shakti Peeths to visit on Aghor Amavasya or Tara Amavasya?
The speaker asks that in the coming years, whenever the tithi of Aghor Amavasya or Mahavidya Tara Amavasya falls and conditions are normal, sadhaks try to go to a Shakti Peeth near them — especially one where Bhagavati's shaktis are Tantrokta or where her seva-puja and sadhana are done by the Vamachara method. He names Kamrup Kamakhya, Bhagavati Mahavidya Tarapith in Birbhum (West Bengal), Rajrappa in Jharkhand, a peeth of Mahavidya Tara in Bihar, and any other popularly known peeth worshipped by tantrokta method. Go and mark your presence there on this day, he says, and many of your stalled works will be completed.
Who is Akshobhya Bhairava, and what is his significance in Tantra?
Akshobhya Bhairava is the consort/Bhairava associated with Devi Tara Mahavidya, representing the unshakeable, undisturbed aspect of Lord Shiva — prominent shrines exist at Tarapith (Rampurhat), the Tibet/China border, and in Bihar.
Where vidveshana prayoga is chiefly used: politics, with the money reaching Tarapith
In politics, he says, all this is used a great deal. Those in the political field perform prayogas of this kind in a specific manner to break an enemy party — what we see socially, that today this leader was in one party and tomorrow he has gone to another. Seen from the tantrokta point of view, kriyas of this kind are had done somewhere in it. People comment that such and such a leader gets no puja done, but a great deal goes on behind the back, and much money goes: half the money of West Bengal and Jharkhand, he says, goes to Tarapith.
What is the third adhyaya of the Saptashati used for independently?
The third adhyaya is for the slaying of Mahisha entirely; so whenever a negative shakti goes into a house and becomes established there, then those shaktis are removed by using these mantras.
The shmashan restriction binds only ordinary local cremation grounds, not the great tirthas
The speaker says he is not speaking of the Avimukteshwar kshetra of Kashi and the like, or of the Chakra Tirtha Shamshaan kshetra of Ujjain — he is speaking of ordinary kshetras. Going to Ujjain Mahakaleshwar or to Tarapith is not covered by the prohibition; for tirtha kshetras it does not apply. It applies to the shmashan bhoomi of the ordinary areas around one's town, village and city.
Their prayoga kaal is the Aghor Navratri around this Chaturdashi and Amavasya, when Shakta and Kaul tantrics complete their sadhanas at Tarapith and Tarachandi.
The prayoga kaal for them falls on precisely this Aghor Chaturdashi, Tara Chaturdashi, Amavasya and so on. The Chaturdashi and the navratra around it are also called the Aghor Navratri, which has already begun; in Bengal especially at Tarapith, and at Tarachandi in Bihar, Shakta and Kaul tantrics complete their sadhanas within these nine days.
Living around Tarapith, Kamakhya or a Shakti Peeth, or holding such a shakti in one's kula parampara, one need ask no one — but neither preach it to another.
Yes. If you live around Tarapith, or around the Kamakhya peeth, or your region is around a Shakti Peeth — or if in your parampara, in your kula parampara, Bhagavati Tara, Bhagavati Chhinnamastika, Bhagavati Dhumavati or any shakti of this kind stands worshipped — then there you have no need to ask anything of anyone. But for somebody else to begin doing it on seeing you, or for you to preach to another that we are doing it so you do it too, is wrong.
Who used to do the veer bhav sadhanas of the shamshan kshetra?
The veer bhav sadhanas of the shamshan kshetra used to be done, the speaker says, by a king's soldiers, a senapati, one who takes part in war, a kshatriya or one who does kshatriya-related work, or one who performs tantra-related siddhis for the welfare of society; such people would go and stay in a settled manner and perform siddhi. Not as today — Shani is troubling, so off to the Shamshan Kali temple; enemies to be destroyed, everyone arrives at the Shamshan Kali temple.
How is karan offered at Tarapith, and why may it not be watched?
In the Vam paddhati, when you go to Tarapith at the Ram Ram ghat in West Bengal, at the time when karan is offered there you are forbidden to watch, the speaker says. Nowadays money is taken and everything is shown, and everything there has become open; but at the time of the chief pujan, the shringar pujan, the mudras that come in Panchamakara are used to purify the karan, and by the mantras given in the guru parampara it is freed from the curse of Krishna and Shukra, and only then offered to the devi and drunk.
What follows from Kashi becoming the city of Annapurna?
When Kashi becomes the city of Bhagavati Annapurna, the speaker says, Bhagavati converts the ugrata of the mahashamshan into saumyata. This is a special reason why, when you do any sadhana anywhere in the Kashi region, Jagadamba does not let a state of disturbance arise — whereas if you go to Tarapith and make some mistake there, forgiveness is not obtained quickly. Even so, one should understand and know ones own adhikara: if a mistake is made deliberately, that becomes a separate matter.
Many fall into a ruined condition after a mistake at Kamarupa and will never speak of it to anyone
No. His image: the South Indian films where a ghost tears a man open from behind — the man stands in front fully suited and booted, and is torn open behind. Many people come to that condition, he says, and will not say so, because their self-regard is wounded.
Bamakhepa urinated upon the murti of Bhagavati Tara and Jagadamba still fed him by her own hand
If you wish to carry the Sanatan culture forward, carry it correctly; he says he will never agree with those who talk nonsense, and that too about Vedokta things. Now Bamakhepa is called Mahaguru in the tantra kshetra — he used to urinate upon the murti of Bhagavati Tara and throw the food away, and yet Jagadamba, the Mahamai, was so gracious that she would come and feed him with her own hand. Is there such capacity in his disciples, he asks; if they too were to say we will do this thing in this manner according to our guru, is there that much capacity? They will not remain fit for anything.
In the whole year these things happen only on this one Amavasya, which Tarapith claims
Things of this kind are the importance of this Amavasya, he says: in the whole year they happen only and only on this Amavasya. He mentions that a video of this Amavasya from the previous year was put in the Telegram group, and that at Tarapith the importance of this Amavasya has been held to be chief.
What gathering happens at Tarapith in these days?
It is said that just as in the Ambubachi parva a whole great gathering of tantrics takes place at Kamakhya, where people go and stay for four days, so for at least three days there is a gathering at Tarapith, in the Birbhum district of Bengal — where the famed Vamachari tantric Vamakhepa had his tapasthali, where the Panchmundi asana is present, and where it is said that Maharshi Vashishtha, the kula guru of Bhagavan Shri Ram, attained the siddhi of Bhagavati Tara by the Vam marga, that is the tantra marga.
Can an unmarried person take Tara diksha, and can the unmarried go to Tarapith?
A listener asks whether, being unmarried, he can take Tara diksha, whether Kali herself is Mata Tara, and whether the unmarried may go to Tarapith. Why can you not go, he answers — do go, certainly. And as for being unmarried, tomorrow you will marry. He then states clearly that the pujan of Bhagavati Tara is done wholly by tantrokta vidhi-vidhan, that her puja happens by the Vamachar paddhati, and that she has been said to be above the Veda.
A mahapurush of one's own region worshipped as guru before the 36-akshari
The speaker says that whatever the reason a person wants to jap the 36-akshari mantra of Bhagavati Pitambara, even having been moved by someone's video about its effect on an enemy or vichar trouble that is also in their own life, they should first do the sadhana of a worthy mahapurush of their own region who is worshipped in the form of a Guru. For Bengal he names Ramakrishna Paramhans and Maa Sarada; for going further into the tantra field without a worthy guru, Bama Khepa, whose name-japa alone is enough. He says "Jai Guru Jai Tara", which everyone in Bengal says, can itself be carried as the mantra; a mantra need not come from a mouth, one carries their kripa.
What should one do after returning from Tarapith having been insulted?
Ajay ji, having been insulted, returned — a mistake occurred. Go again to Tarapith now, he says. She is the Mother; she will relent.
Tara's name comes from a root meaning "to deliver"; she is worshipped in three forms by Hindu and Buddhist tantriks alike, with Tarapith her most famous seat.
Tara, whose name derives from a root meaning "to deliver" or "protect," is depicted in three main forms — Ekajata, Nilasaraswati, and Ugratara — and is worshipped by both Hindu and Buddhist tantric practitioners, with Tarapith in Bengal home to her most famous temple.
Permission to drink, backed by an appeal to Bengal and Tarapith, is what draws people
The more freedom you give and the more unrestrained you make people, the speaker says, the better it goes. Say that you can do mantra japa after drinking liquor, there is no difficulty, it is offered to Bhairav ji anyway so it rises — then it is prasadi, take it and carry on. Look, they went to Tarapith and the bhog is offered to Bhagavati herself. Have you seen the Durga Puja of Bengal, of Mithilanchal? Everything is eaten; nothing happens without bali being offered. Eat everything, drink everything. Does Ma stop it? Ma forbids nothing at all — she is Ma.
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