37th Chapter
This chapter relates how the things which have heen rejected by the followers of the Vedas can be used by a Tantrik worshipper in a particular manner so as to gain success in worship. It is said that there is absolutely nothing pure and nothing impure. It is the way of using it that causes its purity or impurity. What is really needed is the fixing of mind on the Brahman. It is variously described as Prakriti by Samkhyas, as Avidya by the Vedantins, as Mahavidya by Shaivas and as Mahamaya by Tantriks. Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshvara adore Mahamaya. Brahma by worshipping her obtained Savitri representative of the will-power as his consort and Vishnu Lakshmi representing the cognitive power. She is said to have two forms gross and subtle. The gross form is visible in females and the subtle in the Kundalini. It is therefore, commanded that the females should not be subjected to any cold treatment such as beating etc. Worship of the subtle form is conducted through the Kundalini Yoga.
38th Chapter
In this Shiva says that the Devi feels satisfied not so much with the mental worship as with the physical. In accounting for the same it is said how she was once praised by Brahma and how she being pleased conferred on the Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, their respective powers — creation, sustenance and destruction and how she was born first as Sati and then as Parvati and how she advised Shiva to marry her as a Vira and how he praised her expressing that all his eight forms were really her own manifestations and at the end how she appeared before Shiva in the form of the Universe.
The reader is here to see for himself how much the Tantra has borrowed from the Durga-saptashati and the Bhagvadgita.
39th Chapter
This chapter sets forth that spirit and matter are the two eternal principles. The former is represented by the male sex and the latter by the female. The latter, therefore, is endowed with the Gunas (qualities). From this view-point the question of purity and impurity attaching to the things of the world is said to be conventional for taking it for granted that the world consists of the five elements, we have to see how the same earth can be considered to give rise to the cast distinction such as, Brahmin etc, or to the distinction either as divine or as human etc. He is held to be a Brahmin who feels really that the soul is different from the body and is one with the Brahman as Supreme Bliss.
The Vedantic description of the Brahman and of the bodies of the soul, gross, subtle and causal is put in the mouth of the Devi.
40th Chapter
In this Shiva and Parvati change positions. Shiva becomes the questioner and Parvati the replier. The latter states how the world consists of the two elements Shiva and Shakti and how their simultaneous existence is essential and how she is to be worshipped through incantation, image etc. When physical worship is to be conducted the Linga is advised to be worshipped alongside. The way of worship associated with the Kulachara is fully detailed towards the end.
41st Chapter
In the above explanation of the Anuttara or the Transcendental Self comes first. It is defined as the unification between Sat and Chit, Prakasha and Vimarsha, Shiva and Shakti (being and knowing). The Bija of the Devi given here points to the same thing so far as its connotation is concerned. All the incantations are said to lead when practised to the same stage in the long run, though at first they may be helpful to the practitioner ‘s approach to Shiva or the Devi. The practitioner has to bear in mind that the objective world is in nature one with the subjective. The Transcendental Self manifests itself trebly, first as Bindu, then as Nada and lastly as Bija. The Shaivistic doctrine regarding the cosmic evolution and that of the Sanskrit alphabet is described in elucidation of the Anuttara much in the same way as Abhinava Gupta and Kshemaraja have done.
The verse frequently quoted by the writers on Shaivism comes at the end and means an individual soul out on gaining oneness with the supreme reality as supreme bliss energises to merge the objectivity in the subjectivity.
42nd Chapter
This closes the book and deals with the description of the physiological and spiritual phenomena as known to the experts in the Tantrika lore. It is given in the form of question and replies. Devi asks the following questions:
1. Whence does the speech originate and wherein does it disappear? 2. Who feels appetite and thirst and who sleeps and wakes up? 3. Who sins and is bound and who emancipated? 4. How is the etheric side of the soul to be accounted for in the body? 5. How does the soul assume the physical body? 6. Who is the soul? 7. How does the soul see? 8. How does it become Sakala (bound) and how Nishkala (released)? 9. How does it get sustenance and what accounts for its physical appearance and · disappearance?
Shiva replies:
1. Speech comes from and merges in the mind through the instrumentality of Avyakkta and the vital breath. 2. Vital breath feels desire for food and drink and bodily fire enjoys them. Wind (Vital breath) causes sleep and waking. 3. Mind is responsible for sins and bondage. When the soul being under control ceases to function, it becames free. 4. The soul has three sides, aerial, astral and etheric as breathing, digesting and speaking. 5. The soul appears in the physical form under the influence of matter as Sattva, Rajas and Tamas and it is centered in the tip of the nose and heart. It lives as embodied so long as the heart and the head continue to function. 6. The supreme reality is the soul. 7. It sees through the body. 8. It becomes Sakala when It comes under the influence of Prakriti and Nishkala when it realizes its unity with the Trancendental Self. 9. It gets sustenance through its actions and appears and disappears through the presence or otherwise of limitations caused by action. It rises and falls like a ball in the scale of life.
In explaining the above replies Shiva makes a reference to the doctrine of the Upanishads as revealed to Sanatkumara the son of Vishnu.
The last lines of the chapter like those of the Upanishads. describe the merit of reciting the Tantra.
