WHAT IS AGAM & NIGAM CATEGORIES ETC. IN TANTRA ?TRUE TANTRA-09

18 FACTS OF THE CATEGORIES OF THE TANTRA;- 1-Knowledge can be divided into two levels.

A-AGAM

B-NIGAM

DESCRIPTION OF AGAM & NIGAM;-

1-1-AGAM ;-

Agam is based on Tantras while Nigam is based on Vedas. Tantra is secret knowledge while Ved is ultimate knowledge.

1-2-NIGAM ;-

Tantra can be explained as spreading of knowledge and to establish ways to achieve worldly or other worldly goals up to Moksha. Agam is a special knowledge which was being shared among sadhaks for achieving Anand and moksha.

2-NAME THE CATEGORY OF TANTRA;--

2-1-As per Shakt tantra, sadhaks were divided into three categories depending upon the bhav, namely, Pashubhav (Dual), Veerbhav (Dual-Non-dual or Oneness,) and Divyabhav (Non-dual). 2-2-After Bhavas further categorization was done by Achaar, which are seven in number, namely---

1- VEDACHAR

2-VAISHNAVACHAR

3-SHAIVACHAR

4-VAMACHAR

5-SIDHANTACHAR

6-KAULACHAR

7-DAKSHINACHAR

3-NAME THE VIDYA OF TANTRA;-- 1-In Shaktagam two vidyas are followed, one is called Kaamraj vidya called KADI vidya while other is called Lopamudra vidya or HADI vidya. Another SADI vidya is also mentioned.

4-NAME THE TATTAVS OF TANTRA;--

4-1-Three tattvas are important in Tantra and they are Shiv, Shakti and Bindu. As per Kashmir tantra, there are 36 tatvas but still it is non-dual (Advaita). 4-2- As tantric literature is very vast, it can be roughly divided into three parts depending upon the area. A tantra sadhak should know all of them in detail.

Namely---

A-VISHNUKRANTA (from Vindhya to Chattagram, N-E India),

B-RATHAKRANTA (Vindhyachal to Tibet)

C-ASHWAKRANT (Vindhyachal to southern tip of India). Each of these streams comprises of 64 different tantra shashtras some of which are available and some are destroyed. 5-This 64 tantra shashtras can further be sud-divided on the level of thought trains, namely;--

5-1-Brahman tantra

5-2-Baudh tantra

5-3-Jain tantra

5-4-Brahman tantra---

It can also be divided into THREE PARTS;-

A-Vaishnav Agam

B-Shaiv Agam

C-Shakt Agam

All three of them have abundant literature in them but still Shakt agam is considered to be the most important. Shaiv agam has two very important parts called Veer Shaiv and Kasmir Shaiv. Veer Shaiv is also called Lingayat.

6-Shaiv agam came from the five faces of

Panchvaktra i.e.;--

6-1-Sadyojaat (Lord of earth)

6-2-Vamdev (Lord of water)

6-3-Aghor (lord of fire)

6-4-Tatpurush(Lord of air)

6-5-Ishan(Lord of space)

Thus in total 25 Shaiv agams came into being. 7-Further five AMANAYA came from the five faces of shiva;-

7-1-Poorvamnaya dealt in mantra yoga or creation. Poorvamanya is Agyan avanstha, one establishes owner and servant bhav.

7-2-Pashchim amnaya dealt in karmyog and annihilation.Pashchim Amanaya represents non-dual bhav between Upasak and Upasaya.

7-3-Uttaramnaya dealt in Gyanyog or anugrah. Uttaramanaya represents the complete stage of knowledge

7-4-Dakshinamnaya dealt in Bhaktiyog or sthiti.As per Dakshin Amanya Gyan is the starting point;

7-5-Uradhavamanaya represented pinnacle of knowledge . & represents the highest state of knowledge that can ever be achieved 8-In tantric sadhana, to achieve the ultimate- four main PEETH’s were established. They were;-

1- Jallandhar peeth

2-Kamakhaya peeth

3-Poorngiri peeth

4-Udiyaan peeth

Peeth represents a place where shakti is established. A place which is connected with realm of divine in subtle. 9-Udiyaan peeth is considered important and modern day Orissa state in India is Udiyaan peeth, which was a very popular place for Shakti sadhan in olden times. Shakti peeth, yogic peeth and Matrika peeths were there in Orissa. Two sixty four Yogini peeths can be seen there even today, one at Heerapur near Bhuvneshwar and other at Bolangir. The time of Tantra popularity in Orissa dates back to 5th -6th century.

9-1-When Adi Shankaracharya entered Puri, at that time tantra was quite popular there. At that time Jaganath ji were prayed to as Bhairav and Vimladevi was prayed to as the female aspect of Bhairav only. Even today out of the Luxmi and Vimla mandir in Puri, Vimla mandir or temple is considered more important. 10-SIX KAMAS;--Tantra dealt in six karmas, namely, Maran, Mohan, Uchatan, Vashikaran, Vidveshan and Stambhan. It also dealt in five makars as discussed earlier. 10-1-During Divyachaar, only representative forms of five makaars are used in sadhana. Madya is taken as amrit coming from the Sahasrar, Maans is taken as sword of knowledge by which animal form ignorance is killed, Matasya means fish in the form of breath moving in Ida and Pingla, Mudra means banishment of bad company or asatsang and Maithun means joining of Kundlini with Shiva in Sahasrar. This is especially Yogic based.

11-Pashu sadhaks use only anukalpit makaars, Veer sadhaks used actual makkars while Divya sadhaks use divine makar forms in sadhana. 12-Out of the six achhar of tantra, Kaulachar was associated with Kamakhaya, while Kanchi and Kashmir were the centres for Sri Vidya. Three different ways of Tripurupasana were practised namely;-

1-Kaulmat

2-Mishrmat

3-Samayamat 13-Kaulmat was divided into two streams;-

1- Uttar Kaula

2-Poorv Kaul

12-1-While Poorv kaul included three divisions Mooladharnishth, Swadhishthanisht, Ubhyanishth. Uttarkaul included Matangi, Varahi, Kaulmukhi and tantranishtha. They indulged in the Yoni poojan. Poorvkauls indulged in the poojan of a female yoni in the form of Sriyantra while Uttar kauls did it actually with five makars. Both were the upasaks of Tripursundari. All the kauls do the poojan of mooladhar as it is called KUL, because of Kundlini shakti. 13-To raise the kundlini shakti is the main goal of all the kaul sadhakas. To raise this shakti various ways have been devised depending upon achar. Acutually the whole sadhana is a mix of yog and tantra. Some sadhaks do it in the presence of actual shakti while others may raise both the male and the female part in their own self and raise the shakti from Kul to meet the Shiv in Akul and experience the highest maithun and taste the nectar, anand coming out of this union.

13-1-As per Kauls, Purush is Parmeshwar, Prakriti is Parmeshwari, Shiv is kameshwar, Shakti is kameshwari, and these two aspects have to join together. When the male and female counterparts come together, new srishti takes birth. Male and female aspect sadhanas are explained in Vaamarg. 14-Out of their joining Shabd and Arth come forth, prvriti and nivriti shakti come into being. Shabd is chanted in jap and jap is done with our lips. Out of the two lips, one is shiva and other is shakti. Coming together of both the lips during jap is also called maithun. Hence the whole srishti is mithunatmac. 15-As per Kauls, our body is a miniature cosmos. This body is made up of five elements. Three tatvas are also there in it namel;-

1- Prantatva,

2-Jai Chehar(JAD-CHETAN) Bhavani Maha - Tatva

3-Bindu tatva

These three tatvas are the bases of all the yog-tantric sadhanas. 16-Tantra researched on whole of the poojan system in great details and came up with various steps to achieve the goal at the earliest. They talked of four different cleansings, namely Kayashudhi, Chitshudhi, Dik Shudhi, Sthan Shudhi. 17-For Kayashudhi many different kinds of baths have been suggested like Brahm snan, Agney snan, vayvye snan, Divya snan, Varunsnan, Manans snan, Yogic snan etc. While bathing in a river, always bath facing the oncoming flow.

18-Chit shudhi involves ahimsa, alms giving, yajnas, tapasya, peace, forgiveness etc. Dik shudi means while sitting for sadhana we should face East during the day and North during the night. Sthan shudhi means cleaning the place of poojan, sprinkling it with water of Ganges, smearing it with cow dung etc.

.....SHIVOHAM...........