Agamas - article from book Unto The First of H.H. Shri Kumarswamiji

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AGAMAS

H.H.

Shri Kumarswamiji

 

 

The Agamas are of

three kinds. The Shivagamas, the Shaktyagamas and the Vaishnavagamas according

as they treat of the deity Shiva, Shakti and Vishnu as the object of worship.

The Agamas are also called Tantra and there is practically no difference

between the two names specially between the Agamas of the Shiva and Shakti

schools, both of them are believed to have been delivered by Shiva to his

consort-Parvati. Generally the Shaivagamas are called Agamas and Shaktyagamas are

called Tantras. Yet Shaivagamas have an independent status and their origin is

as old as three thousand years. The Shivagamas are 28 in number. But all of them

are not available, few of them are available. Besides 28 principal Shivagamas

there are many secondary Agamas which intend to explain the subject matter of

the principal Agamas.

In connection

with the Agamas two important questions arise - the age of the Agamas and the

contents of the Agamas. As regards the first question, the age of the Agamas

can well be determined from the reference made to them in various works.

Harita, a writer of Smriti and Kalidas the world famous sanskrit poet refer to

the Shivagamas and both of them lived in the first century of the Christian

era. Various Puranas namely Skanda Purana, Sutasamhita, Brahmagita and Shiva

Purana mention the Agamas. In Kurma Purana a reference is made to the fact that

Shri Krishna was taught Agamic Philosophy by Upamanyu. In the Shanti Parva and

Drona Parva of Mahabharata, reference has been made to the Shivagamas. In

Maitrayana Upanishad Agamic literature is referred to twice. The

Swetashwetopanishad is certainly an Agamic Upanishad later followed by other

Agamic Upanishads like Atharva Shiras and Kaivalya. From all this foregoing

account it can well be concluded that the Agamas have their origin in times

almost coeval with the Aranyakas.

The Aranyakas

which form part and parcel of the Vedas and the Agamas confront each other as

two independent modes of thought. This fact is brought into bold belief, when

we take into consideration the contents of the Vedic religion and the contents

of the Agamic religion.

1. The Vedic

religion consists in the performance of sacrifices with all rites and rituals,

while the Agamic religion consists in the worship of the deity - Shiva, Shakti

and Vishnu.

2. The Vedic

deities were the forms of nature and the Vedic religion was a system of

propitiation of those nature powers. Powers by means of sacrifice offered into

fire regarded as the mouth of the deities; while Agamic deity was personal

deity that controlled the forces of nature.

3. The oblations

in the case of Vedic worship were consumed by the deities through their mouth,

the fire; while the Agamic deities took only the subtle portion of the

offerings exhibited to them as Prasad or consecrated food.

4. The Vedic

religion was polytheistic and the different deities were invoked for different

purposes because each Vedic deity has a different function in the scheme of the

universe; while the Agamic religion being monotheistic only one deity was

worshipped, that had all the functions of the universe in his or her hands.

5. The Vedas

consist of the Mantras addressed to the different deities and recited during

the performance of the sacrifices in honour of those deities; while the Agamas

contain prayers consisting of various names of the deity and salutations

addressed to the deity.

6. The Vedic

Worship consisted of the offering made to Gods, while the Agamic worship was

personal service rendered to the God, like washing, decking and feeding them.

7. The Vedic Gods

being the forces of the nature had no physical representation, while the Agamic

deities were represented by means of a visible emblem or image.

8. There is no

trace in the hymns of the temple worship, while the worship of the idols in

temples is purely Agamic. The Vedic religion is the fire cult while Agamic

religion is the deitic cult.

9. The Vedas kept

the door of religion restricted to some people while the Agamas kept the door

of religion open to all without any distinction.

10. The Agamas

treat the Yoga Philosophy and Yogic practices which are all together absent in

the Samhitas or Vedic hymns.

The contents of

the Shivagamas are divided into four parts namely Charya, Kriya, Yoga and

Jnana. The Charya and Kriya parts describe the names of worship of Shiva with

love and adoration but as the discipline of love or Shakti has to be

supplemented by some psychological discipline in the form of yoga practice, the

third part of every Agama deals with yoga. The fourth part of the Agama deals

with jnana but jnana in the sense of exposition of the philosophical principles

underlying the Agama teaching. The Charyapada represents a Marga, the path of

the servant following the master. The servantship is the discipline of the Charya-pada.

It consists in the search of God in the world and has for its aim the objective

worship of a material idol. The singing of the glories of God the extension of

the honour and hospitality to the servants of God constitute the chief marks of

the first part. The Kriyapada represents the Satputramarg the path of son

serving the will of his father. It is the higher step of worshipping God under

the mental image. In this stage the rites are indicative of purification of the

mind and heart. The worshipper behaves towards God as a son does towards his

father with a combination of purity and piety. Yogapada represents Sahamarga

which indicates the spirit of an associate. Here the worshipper behaves towards

God as an associate. The whole spirit of the worshipper is being affiliated to

God through the practice of Yoga or meditation. Jnanapada represents Sanmarga

which means the attainment of Sayujya or atonement with God. In this condition

the subject and the object become indistinguishable and the worshipper becomes

possessed of Samadhi or trance. In the Sahamarga the worshipper starts with the

idea of being similar to God and attains similarity which by the Sanmarga

expands into Sayujya or atonement.

The main three Agamic Schools,

Shiva, Shakti and Vaishnava maintain three ultimate realities, namely

1. A supreme being with male or female aspect

predominant.

2. The group of

individual souls.

3. The objective

universe as real.

These three

realities are given different names in the three different schools.

All the three

schools agree in opposing and demolishing the Mayawada or the illusion theory

of the Vedanta. Thus says Pauskaragama: "If the world is an illusion of

the conscious being the effected world will be a hollow reality. How can the

world which is established to be really existing by all methods of proofs be a

false transaction of consciousness?"

The Agamas do not

regard the world as a false show. The universe is real because, as there is

absolutely no difference between Brahma and the universe, just as there is no

difference between a pot and clay of which it is made, the reality of the

universe necessarily follows from the reality of Brahma. Intense devotion or

sincere Bhakti to deity forms another common feature of the three Agamic

Schools. The movement of Agamic devotion gave rise to the art of temple

building and the making of the images which in India,

in south India

especially has reached a higher order of perfection. It also gave rise to

devotional lyric poetry full of poetic imagery. So also music, singing and

dancing developed fast under the influence of the Agamas.

Dr. Radhakrishna

in his "Outlines of Indian Philosophy" has observed thus:

"This living

Hindu religion of today from Cape Comorin to the remotest corners of Tibet

is essentially Tantric. Even the genuine Vedic rites that are preserved and are

supposed to be derived straight from the Vedas, namely the Sandhya, have been

modified by the addition of Tantric practice."

The two streams

of thought, the Agamic and the Vedic gradually gravitated towards each other.

After running side by side for long time they acted and reacted on each other

and modified each other's practice in religion. Attempts were later made to

reconcile the differences between them and to establish the unity of thought in

Hinduism.

Historically

considered Virashaivism is a fine and full blown flower of Shaivism. For

Shaivism as well as for Virashaivism the 28 Shivagamas are the scriptures. But

Virashaivism considers the latter two parts of the Agamas as scriptural authority.

Since the end portion of the Agamas is regarded as authority Virashaivism is

known as Agamanta. Shiva is the worshipping deity for Shaivism and Virashaivism

in the form of Linga. The Shaivas worship Shivalinga in the temples while the

Virashaivas wear the miniature form of Shivalinga known as Ishtalinga. The

Linga worn on the body is made of light grey slate stone and to be kept intact

all through the wearer's life, it is coated all over with the fine durable

black paste prepared out of certain ingredient. The coating is called Kanti or

covering. The Linga is worshipped by placing it on the palm of the left hand.

This is the subjective mode of worship in which the devotee and the divine are

facing each other. Linga is three fold; Bhavalinga, Linga the ideal

corresponding to the causal body of the devotee, Pranalinga, Linga the vital

corresponds to the subtle body of the devotee. Ishtalinga, Linga the gross or

the physical corresponds to the gross body of the devotee. The devotee starts

with the worship of Istalinga and reaches by stages the Pranalinga and the

Bhavalinga with the idea of his being a part and parcel of God through all the

stages when he reaches atonement with God or Shiva.

Anatomy speaks of

the plexuses in the human body. These plexuses which are otherwise known as

Chakras, are the network of the autonomic nervous system. The Plexuses are said

to have petals as the lotus have. Physiologically the petals are no other than

the branches of nerves shooting from the ganglia in different directions for

the regular functioning of the different parts of the body. Prana runs through

these branches and activates the different parts of the body in the particular

locality in which a plexus is situated.

The lowermost

Chakra is the basis plexus called Muladhara. It has four branches or petals and

the shape of a triangle. The second Chakra is Swadisthana which is situated in

the pelvic region and it has six petals. The third Chakra is the Solar plexus

with ten petals and its location is in the region of the navel. The fourth

Chakra is the Anahata which has twelve petals and is located in the region of

the heart. The fifth Chakra is Vishuddhi situated in the region of the throat

and it has sixteen petals. The sixth is Ajna Chakra which has two petals and is

situated between eyebrows. This is called plexus of command.

In the process of

Yoga the centres have a fixed physiological use and a general function. The

Muladhara governs the physical down to the subconscient. The abdominal centre

the Swadisthana governs the lower vital. According to Virashaivism these two

Chakras represent the domain of Ishtalinga and are respectively occupied by the

sub-forms of Istalinga -- Acharlinga in the Muladhara and Gurulinga in

Swadisthana. This is the place of Tyaganga. The navel centre or Manipura

governs the larger vital and the heart centre or Anahata governs the emotional

being. These two form the vital or the intermediate plane. According to

Virashaivism this is the plane of Bhoganga and is the domain of Pranalinga or

the vital because the vital force of consciousness functions here. The throat

centre or Vishuddhi governs the expressive mind, here consciousness assume

concrete form of the sound. The centre between the two eyebrows governs the

will. According to Virashaivism this is the plane of Bhavalinga - the higher

intellectual plane.

The human body is

identified with Tyaganga with Ishtalinga working behind it. The autonomous

nervous system with Bhoganga with Pranalinga working behind it; the central

nervous system or cerebrum with Yoganga with Bhavalinga working behind it. The

bodily mechanism is Tyaganga because it is to be directed towards the higher

and in performance to the demands of matter. Here the Istalinga aids the soul

when it becomes conscious of the higher end. Full faith in the divinity in the

spirit of submission is the means to that end. The faith in relation to Shakti

or the devotee is Shraddha which develops into Nishtha or singleness of purpose

of Mahesha. In the first stage Acharlinga, the practical and in the second

stage Gurulinga, the perceptive are aroused for giving the soul and an insight

into the spiritual truth. This is the first process of sublimation in the

upward march of the soul. Here the soul is purified and divested of the

thoughts of the worldly life. Acharlinga and Gurulinga are connected with

Adhara Chakra and Swadisthana Chakra with the corresponding awakening of the

powers in them.

The intermediate

plane is the plane of Bhoganga, the soul in the stage of enjoyment. This is the

psychic plane, the plane of Pranalinga. In this stage the soul has the

co-operation of Pranalinga, for his further development. Here the soul has the

enjoyment of material world in so far as it is necessary for the substance of

the body which is the basis of all life - temporal or spiritual. In this plane

the truth that material enjoyment and spiritual experience are in no way

inconsistent but are mutually helpful, is demonstrated. The enjoyment of the

soul is in company with Pranalinga so that everything that the soul takes or

enjoys is in the first instance dedicated to Linga and is then taken as Prasad

or consecrated food. Here conscious aspiration is the means to the objective of

atonement of the divinity, with its two sub-division of Avadhana, the undivided

attention fixed on the divinity in contemplation and Anubhava or partial

experience of the divine life. The two forms of Shakti invoke the aid of two

modifications of Pranalinga - Shivalinga the gracious and Charalinga the

itinerant. Prasadi is the third modification of the soul which strives with

undivided attention to earn the grace of God in his aspect as Shivalinga. So

also the Pranalinga - the fourth modification of the soul attentively meditates

on divinity and attains the stage of partial experience of the divine life.

Here the form of Shakti is called Anubhava Bhakti, the experiential stage of

the spiritual life. The two modifications of Pranalinga, Shivalinga and

Charalinga are connected with Manipura Chakra and Anahata Chakra with a

corresponding sublimation of their powers.

The third plane

is the plane of the highest intelligence. This is the plane of Yoganga to which

the soul rises up gradually step by step. Here the soul is in the stage of

regaining his oneness with the universal consciousness. Here he secures the

help and co-operation of Bhavalinga, the ideal. Yoganga in its two

modifications, Sharana and Aikya strives for regaining his essential oneness

with the divinity. The two forms of Bhakti, Anandbhakti and Samarasabhakti

invoke the aid of the two forms of Bhavalinga - Prasadlinga, the peaceful and

Mahalinga, the great. Prasadalinga and Mahalinga are connected with Vishuddhi

Chakra and Ajna Chakra with a corresponding awakening of powers in them.

 

 

 

Article from book: Unto

The First, by H. H. Shri Kumarswamiji

 

Branko Ivatovic ©

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10410 Velika Gorica - Croatia

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Mahatapasvi Shri Kumarswamiji ©

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