Siddhi in This World

Upamanyu said

Krishna, I have told you of the karma that brings siddhi in this world and the next, a great gathering of kriya, austerity, japa and meditation. Now I will tell you of what bears fruit in this world for people devoted to Shiva, the great gathering of worship, oblations, japa, meditation, austerity and gifts. One who knows the meaning of mantras will first try to secure success through mantras. He will see that such karma yields siddhi; nothing else yields fruit. When a learned person witnesses the powerful siddhi a mantra ensures, he will not rashly undertake any karma that works against those fruits. If in this world he does something contrary, it is possible to be saved from it; after examining its power, he should undertake an atonement. If, out of delusion, a man does not undertake karma that yields fruit in this world, he fails to gain the fruit and becomes an object of ridicule. Having seen the fruits, a person who lacks trust should never undertake the karma; he is deceitful and lacks faith, and one who lacks faith gets no fruit. It is not the divinity's fault that the karma is fruitless, since it is plain that those who do it properly gain fruit. A practitioner skilled in mantras can counter the obstacles, and one who trusts and has faith gains the fruits.

To gain the fruits he should practise brahmacharya and eat havishya, sweet milk rice or fruits at night. Even in thought he must not commit forbidden acts like violence. He must always smear himself with ash, be pure and wear fine garments. Having practised good conduct in this way, he seeks out a favourable, auspicious day and a spot with the features described earlier, decorated with flowers and other things. The ground, one hasta in size, is smeared with cow dung. He draws an auspicious lotus blazing with its own energy, with eight petals and filaments of molten gold, the pericarp in the centre ornamented with every kind of jewel and a stalk in proportion. In the same way, following the rules and using gold, he makes the root. In his mind he again carries out the whole resolve, anima and the rest. By the norms he sets up a lingam and its pedestal of jewels, gold or crystal with the required features. With Amba and the ganas he invokes the divinity there and worships him. The embodied form of Maheshvara is also pictured there, four-armed and four-faced, adorned with every ornament, in a tiger-hide garment, his face seeming to smile slightly, his hands in the boon-giving and fearless gestures, holding a deer and an axe. Or, as the meditator wishes, he can be pictured eight-armed, with a trident, a battle axe, a sword and a vajra in the right hand, and a noose, a goad, a club and a blazing snake in the left. Each face has three eyes and is like the rising sun. The eastern face is gentle and has a radiance fitting the form. The southern face is terrible to see, like a blue cloud. The northern face is like coral, adorned with blue locks. The western face is gentle, like the full moon with all its phases. The supreme Shakti Maheshvari sits on his lap, known as Mahalakshmi and as Shyama, who charms everyone. Having pictured the image in this form, he gradually unifies it. In this embodied form he then invokes the supreme cause and worships him.

For the bathing he thinks of the five products of a tawny cow, and especially the five nectars and the seeds, which must be complete. He draws a mandala in front and ornaments it with crushed gem powder. He again does nyasa of Ishana and the other pots in the pericarp, then pictures the pots for Sadyojata and the rest all round. Starting from the east, in order, there are eight pots for Vidyesha and the others, filled as before with water from holy places and tied with strings. With mantras and by the rules, sacred articles are sprinkled. In every direction this is covered with silk cloth. All this nyasa is done with mantras, the mantra of the tattvas being the chief. When bathing time comes, Maheshvara is bathed with the five products of the cow and other things, with auspicious sounds. Kusha, gold and jewels are sprinkled in the water. In order, fragrances, flowers and other articles consecrated with mantras are offered, and with mantras they are lifted and Maheshvara bathed with them. Worship is done with fragrances, flowers and lamps. The unguent should weigh more than one pala but not more than eleven. Gold, jewels, and auspicious, fragrant flowers are used: blue lotuses, lotuses and many bilva leaves, and if available red and white lotuses. The incense is mixed with black aguru. The ghee is mixed with camphor and guggula, and the consecrated ghee in the lamps must be from tawny cows, with wicks soaked in camphor. The five brahmanas, the six limbs and the enclosures must be worshipped. The food offering is a great charu cooked in milk with ghee and molasses. Drinking water is perfumed with patala flowers, lilies and lotuses. The betel leaf is prepared properly with the five fragrances. In particular the ornaments offered must be of gold and jewels, with colourful new, fine garments, beautiful to see, offered with singing and instruments. Japa of the basic mantra must be done at least a hundred thousand times. A person who wants fruits does the worship once, twice or thrice, and for every object the number of oblations must be between ten and a hundred.

For the harsh rites of the kind that aim to kill or drive someone out, Shiva is pictured in his terrible form. For everything else, Shiva's lingam and fire are pictured as pleasant. Shambhu's rite must bring peace and nourishment. In the harsh rites the ladles are of iron; for everything else, such as peaceful rites, they are of gold. The text then sets out which offerings go with which aim: durva with ghee, cow's milk and honey for conquering death; sesame, ghee, milk or lotuses for calming disease; jati flowers with ghee for removing great poverty and gaining prosperity; and for the rites of attracting, driving away, paralysing and setting at odds, other substances such as karavira flowers, oil, honey, mustard and the seeds of the rohi, each with its own use. The rites of the cruel kind, it says, are for the cruel and angry, and even then only when there is great misery with no other remedy, and only against an assassin. They must never be used against the ruler of one's own kingdom, nor in thought, word or deed against a believer, a revered person devoted to dharma, or one who has taken refuge with Shiva. A man who does so falls at once. A person who wants his own happiness must never use such rites or any other violence against his ruler or against Shiva's devotee. If rites of the killing kind are directed at anyone else, they must be accompanied by repentance and rites of atonement. Milk calms fever and gives the fruit of good fortune. Oblations with honey, ghee, curd, milk and rice, or with charu alone, yield every kind of success. For peace and nourishment oblations are made with seven articles, kindling and others. Bilva leaves are especially used for winning over, attracting, bringing prosperity and defeating an enemy. For rites of peace the kindling is from palasha and khadira; for cruel rites, from karavira and arka; for rites of war, kindling with thorns. A calm person will especially do rites for peace and nourishment, and a cruel one with an angry heart the harsh rites.

Whether a person has riches or not, he must worship a Bana lingam, a Svayambhu lingam, one set up by a rishi, or one that agrees with the Vedas. If these are not available and he cannot earn gold or jewels, he can use similar articles or worship in his mind. If he is able in some parts and not in others, he should worship according to his capacity if he wants fruits. When the karma is done and the fruits are not seen, the rite is done twice or thrice, and in every case the fruits will be seen. In addition to the dakshina, whatever fitting, excellent articles were used in the worship, gold and jewels, are all given separately to the guru. If he does not want them they are given to Shiva or Shiva's devotees and to no one else. If one wants to accomplish the rite on one's own capacity without looking to a guru, the procedures are the same, but he should not accept the objects himself. If a foolish person driven by greed takes for himself the excellent objects used in the worship, he does not gain what he desires. But he may keep the new lingam used in the worship; if he does, he must worship it daily himself or have others do so.

If one performs the karma in the stated way, the fruits cannot fail to come, so why should there be any pull to stray from it? Still, I will describe the excellent siddhi taught to come from this karma. The text promises that one attacked by enemies, suffering many diseases, fallen into the jaws of death and helpless, will be freed; that a very miserly person will be revered and a penniless one become like Vaishravana; that a malformed person becomes desired and an old man young; that an enemy becomes a friend and an adversary a servant; that poison-turned-amrita turns back to amrita; that solid ground turns to ocean and ocean to ground, a mountain to a pit and a pit to a mountain, a lotus lake to fire and fire to a lake, a forest to a garden and a garden to a forest; that an inferior animal becomes a lion and a lion plays like a lesser animal. Women will seek him, Lakshmi will behave toward him like a woman of good conduct, the goddess of speech will come on her own, fame will be like his courtesan, intelligence will approach him of itself, his mind will be needle-sharp like the vajra, his force like a strong wind and his strength like a maddened elephant's. Whatever the enemy side attempts will be paralysed, and the enemy's well-wishers will become his own. Though alive, enemies and their kin will be like corpses. A person in calamity will find his hardships gone of themselves, and it will be as if he were immortal. Even without rich food, it will be as if he took medicine daily. Everything out of reach will lie visible in his palm like an amalaka fruit, and the fruits of siddhi, anima and the others, will be available as he wishes. Why say more? As siddhi, everything desired is obtained; when this karma is complete, nothing remains that cannot be had.