The Gita’s teaching of “Patram Pushpam Phalam Toyam”, or the suggestion that one simply needs to turn towards the Divine with sincere aspiration, self-giving, love, faith and devotion, may sound beautifully simple and appealing in theory and drawing-room discussions. However, how many ordinary householders can genuinely develop and sustain such profound faith, purity of emotion and complete surrender in today’s increasingly materialistic, competitive and morally corrupted world? More importantly, how practically effective is merely prescribing such an exalted spiritual ideal in helping people overcome their difficulties and improve their circumstances?
I believe it was precisely to address the practical needs, differing capacities and worldly responsibilities of human beings that the great Rishis developed and systematised the elaborate Sadhana methods preserved in the Agamic and Tantric scriptures.
These traditions provide disciplined and systematic methods involving mantra, yantra, japa, nyasa and homa for invoking various manifestations of the Supreme Divine Power, not merely for liberation but also for wisdom, protection, prosperity, strength and favourable circumstances.
If faith and surrender alone were universally sufficient, why would such sophisticated systems of Sadhana have been developed, preserved and practised for centuries?
I also observe increasing interest among younger spiritual seekers in genuine Tantra, particularly its practical, systematic and experiential approach, rather than spirituality confined largely to philosophical teachings.
Most importantly, in Shakta Tantra, the various Devatas and Mahavidyas are themselves manifestations of the Supreme Divine Mother. If She governs both our inner being and the manifested universe, why should Her Grace not be sought for transforming our external circumstances through Her various manifestations?
My objection is not to faith or surrender, but to the assumption that these alone are universally sufficient, thereby treating centuries-old, scripturally established Tantric disciplines as secondary or unnecessary.
AFTER ALL, WHY SHOULD SURRENDER AND DISCIPLINED SADHANA BE CONSIDERED ALTERNATIVES WHEN SADHANA ITSELF CAN BE A PROFOUND EXPRESSION OF SURRENDER TO THE DIVINE MOTHER?
There is and cannot be any problem for anyone practicing any kind of Sadhana for whatever worldly or otherworldly purposes. Each one naturally follows their own line of evolution and that is how it is meant to be. But whatever path is followed, faith will always be in the background; surrender will be a basic requirement and aspiration, the moving force or the fire, as the Vedic Rishis would say. Rituals and techniques are not purely mathematical formulas nor is the Divine tied to mechanical rules of ‘you do this and I give this’. If He seems to thus respond in this way, it is because He accepts to be tied to the chains of our thought. His Love accepts our faith and responds to it. But He is equally free, – isn’t He- to accept other forms of faith, other means of worship? To denounce or exalt one form of approach or one method of sadhana may be a necessity for the ego, a device that the Divine allows the ego to use since it cannot have faith otherwise. But to bind the Divine and His infinite Grace to one or any process or method is to limit Him. In our ignorance, it may seem so. But as Wisdom grows, then we see that the Divine Grace is not bound by any formula, however great it may be. It is we who do not open ourselves to the Grace.
Here is one of Her many messages about the working of the Divine Grace that Sri Aurobindo especially lays an emphasis upon.
‘21 February 1965
Above all the complications of the so-called human wisdom stands the luminous simplicity of the Divine’s Grace, ready to act if we allow It to do so.’
(Ref. https://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/darshan-messages#p32)
And yes, surely each one is free to form their own unique relation with the Divine Mother and ask for temporary worldly goods or the permanent bliss of a constant dwelling in Her and with Her.
Love
Alok Da
