The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla
Chapter 33: The Sarasvatī Ritual That Establishes Meditative Concentration

“Now I will explain the establishment of mediative concentration. Those who know how to undo the suffering of beings should use a mixture of feces, urine, and blood to draw on birch bark a circle consisting of the target’s name between the syllables maṁ and raṁ followed by hūṁ phaṭ. They should then then roll it up and roast it over a fire. The procedure will bring instant death.

“One should rise early in the morning and wash their face. Then they should anoint themselves fifteen times while reciting oṁ maṇibhadrāya mahākāla­prākriti­senapataye | oṁ mili mili māndhanām dhadadāpaye svāhā.

“One should then make a circular maṇḍala and while reciting the mantra oṁ nandīmahākālāya vajrapuṣpe hūṁ offer butterfly-pea flowers to the center.

“While reciting oṁ kālāya yakṣāya322 vajrapuṣpe hūṃ, offer them to the east.

“While reciting oṁ vidālamukhāyakṣāya vajrapuṣpe hūṁ, offer them to the south.

“While reciting oṃ asvamukhāyakṣāya vajrapuṣpe hūṃ, offer them to the west.

“While reciting oṁ krimimukhāyakṣāya vajrapuṣpe hūṃ, offer them to the north.

“One should recite the following mantra in the ordinal directions, adding svāhā each time:

“After that, one should offer flowers to the center again with:

“The dhāraṇī should be recited one hundred eight times.

“After that, one should ask for forgiveness and then request the deity to approach with oṁ sugarbha­padma­mahākālāya muḥ. [F.81.a]

“At this point, one should set up a seat under a neem tree, put on blue clothes, and present gifts to a cloth image of each of the seven kumārīs every day. One should offer butterfly-pea flowers to the Lord and then eat and drink the previously mentioned foods and drinks. When one does all this at the three times, they have worshiped all the buddhas.

“One should get up when the crows are not cawing and make this maṇḍala. The practitioner should set up an image of sixteen-armed Mahākāla at the final watch of the night, drink alcohol, and perform the consecration procedure with the dhāraṇī-mantra throughout each period of the day. Once they have done so, the lord Mahākāla will appear in a dream in three months, and they are certain to attain siddhi. He will take the form of a great meditator and give three and a half palas of gold. In six months, one will attain the siddhi of flight and gradually attain all the siddhis. One will definitely attain the mudrā siddhi. If one does not even attain one siddhi, then I will have certainly committed one of the five actions entailing immediate retribution and am the same as someone who has killed all the gods.

“This tantra contains all the core elements of the yoga rites. If one practices by closely following the procedure in this chapter, one will not experience the instantaneous, pervasive consequences of the five actions entailing immediate retribution.

“The wood used in the sacrificial rite one intends to employ should be slightly shorter than the specific dimensions of the fire pit. For pacification rites, one should use dung from an empty plain. Enhancement rites require that one construct the appropriate hearth in front of the Lord, one with a low fire pit atop a base made of fruit-bearing wood.”

“My Lord,” the Goddess asked, “please tell us which of the many types of wood selected and burned for a fire offering is the best. Please tell us so that beings will benefit from this and be happy.”

The Blessed One replied, [F.81.b] “The best wood of all for a sacrificial rite is free of insects, dry, and slightly smaller than the fire pit. The wood of the previously mentioned fruit-bearing trees used in the fire pit for enhancement rites should not have any cow dung on it. For hostile rites, if one uses wood that is bitter to the taste and has thorns, fragrant wood or wood from a cremation ground, or dried dung from a horse, donkey, and so forth, the rite will certainly be successful. Enthralling rites employ fragrant mango wood323 with flowers and fruits. For summoning rites one should use wood with thorns and so on. Each stage of the fire offering uses a specific type of wood.”

The Goddess said, “Yogins who want to attain the eight great siddhis should construct the maṇḍala, as previously described, on the eighth or tenth day of the lunar month and recite the mantra five thousand times while consuming meat and alcohol. When they go to bed, they should perform one hundred eight offerings of alcohol, wash their face, and go to sleep. The favorable and unfavorable will be revealed in their dreams.

“The mantra for these procedures is oṁ mu svapnaṃ kathaya324 hūṁ.

“If that does not happen, one should recite the mantra while immersing the meat of a jackal and the like in alcohol and then perform ten thousand fire offerings in a fire that has been kindled with wet wood. Then, when one goes to sleep, they should recite the mantra one hundred times over ghee from a lamp and then smear it on their feet. Once asleep and dreaming, they will clearly know what will and will not happen.

“The procedure to observe while awake is as follows. One should recite oṁ maṇidhāriṇī nandaya nandaya svapnaṃ kathaya kathaya hūṁ phaṭ svāhā fifty thousand times, wash their face with their urine, and concentrate on their goal. Once asleep, the good or ill that will or will not come to pass will be revealed.

“Additionally, one can seek accomplishment by applying that mantra and the correct ritual sequence to first gather together camels and the like, cows, or buffalo and incant them with the supreme mantra given above. One will undoubtedly be successful.

“One should go to the outskirts of a town, an orchard, a solitary liṅga, or a charnel ground [F.82.a] at any time and feast on alcohol and meat with a group of three or five yogins. One should then go home, perform sexual yoga, make a bali offering using whatever substances one’s wealth allows, prepare themselves mentally, and go to sleep. Mahābhairava will surely reveal a favorable or unfavorable dream and will directly bestow the pill siddhi, an auspicious state, and medicines that allow one to live for five hundred years.

“If one is overcome by fever, they should recite the syllable hūṁ while eating sesbania root. The fever will undoubtedly be cured. One can also recite the following mantra:

They should then take a half breath,325 tie a knot on twined threads, and fasten it in their hair. The virulent illness will be cured.

“To reach accomplishment by reciting the seventeen-syllable great king of mantras, oṁ mahākāla śuciraspura­bandhana326 hūṁ phaṭ svāhā, one hundred thousand times, a yogin should acquire the following forty ingredients:327 galarṭa, supalana, mahāntara, ikkharayava, samaṭiraṇa, alawu, nīrakala, kāṇṭāhāvīkaja, bananas, honey, ṭasurī, mutiri, sapta, bell metal, aṅgavalī, raṇasāsura, pheṭavāra, ghaṇṭaka fruit, sumuri, candramasuri, ubhaktaci, laṭakī, tenaha, carṭapri, pukṣayā, caraṭa, madira seeds, sumbhā fruit, haghoradravyanehara, suddhamuṇiprācārya fruit, mango, prahari, kundhalicilī, jalacaraḍivva, māgaṭa, bumalaha, [F.82.b] ayanta fruit, kañjaru, betel, amugala, and ghanpāramānasā.

“Then, during a lunar or solar eclipse, the yogin should combine them in equal parts and swallow them on an empty stomach, reciting the mantra until they are gone. At that very moment the yogin will no longer be subject to death and will gain the siddhi of flight. If that does not work, the practitioner should repeat it during the half-moon. They will live for one thousand years and gain any of the eight great siddhis they want.

“Someone who performs the above rite after a lunar or solar eclipse will undoubtedly attain the omniscient state of the buddhas. If one does not attain this siddhi, it means one has debased the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha.

“There is thus no need for me to say more. One should know that the person who observes this rite among the others but does not follow it will be like a heap of wickedness and will not be able to attain liberation in this lifetime.

“One should not openly explain this chapter to those who have little faith. If someone openly explains it, that ācārya will have defiled the five thus-gone ones. Just seeing this chapter is extremely rare.

“If one eats bhandu, kīra, makira, sumita, and prabhaṇḍaṃ during a lunar or solar eclipse, one will become a lord of speech.

“If one consumes punala tree root, sagara leaves, and parada with warm oil during an eclipse, one will gain the ability to learn something just by hearing it, the ability to learn something just by reading it, and, undoubtedly, the ability to compose verse.

“If one drinks a concoction of prahmicuṭa, bhoṭārālā, and sarala pine sap, one will become a paṇḍita. If one combines sweet flag, mārgani, [F.83.a] ginger, cumin, and kardavajramali with honey and eats it, one will instantly become a great paṇḍita.

“During an eclipse, one should place some badara in their mouth and recite the mantra oṁ māṁ hrīḥ until it is gone. One will then be able to learn hundreds of verses every day. If one recites the mantra one thousand times while performing worship, crushes the badara in the palm of their hand,328 and drinks it with a handful of water, one will attain the goddess Sarasvatī’s siddhi and learn anything simply by hearing it. If one performs ten thousand fire offerings with this mantra, one will gain a loud voice and clear pronunciation.”