The Tantra of Siddhaikavīra
Chapter 3

One should visualize oneself in the form of Lord Mañjuvajra Siddhaikavīra, white like the light of the autumn moon. In his left hand he is holding a blue lotus and his right hand is in the boon-granting gesture. He is the pure sphere of phenomena, shining forth from his primordially unborn nature.66 After twenty-one days one will obtain the speech of Sarasvatī.67 Within six months, one will accomplish Vāgīśvara. One will see Vāgīśvara right in front of oneself and remember everything one has heard.

If, early in the morning, over the period of one month, one drinks half a tola of sweet flag, incanted 108 times, with milk, oil, or ghee, one will cure dullness,68 stammering, or dumbness; one’s voice will become like that of a love-intoxicated cuckoo; and one’s speech will be distinct and sweet. After six months of practice, the treatises one has not heard will become clearly known, and those that have been learned will not be forgotten. One will be able to retain whatever one has learned.

This is the heart mantra of the venerable Vāgīśvara. One who is practicing this mantra while absorbed in the samādhi described earlier can accomplish all the tasks that were previously mentioned. One should gather 100,000 jasmine flower buds and descend into the waters of a great river flowing toward the ocean to where the water reaches up to one’s neck. Reciting this mantra, one should throw the buds, one by one, into the stream. Should any bud float against the stream, one should swallow it without touching it with one’s teeth. Then one will be granted the ability to remember everything that has been learned.

Similarly, by offering 400,000 homas of any type of flower, one will become identical to Vāgīśvara. [F.9.b]

Early in the morning, one should prepare a maṇḍala disk using one cat’s paw69 of powdered pennywort and incant it 108 times. One should then make as many offerings to Lord Vāgīśvara70 as one can, and drink the powder with ghee or fermented rice water. Within six months one will be able to remember whatever one has learned; one will be eloquent and have a sweet voice. This king of mantras will be mastered if one recites it 100,000 times for each syllable according to the procedure of the preliminary practice. Later, during a lunar eclipse or a solar eclipse, one should hold a sword wrought from fine iron in one’s hand, and recite the mantra while the moon is invisible, until it reappears. One will then become a vidyādhara of the sword. In the same way one may use the mantra to empower a wheel, a scepter, a trident, an arrow, a hammer, a noose, and so forth. After that, one should refine and empower the elixirs of long life. One should prepare the substances for an eye ointment, a tika ointment, an ointment for the feet, a salve of enthrallment, etc., and empower them.

One should fill up a dish with either milk or yogurt mixed with rice, together with ghee and sugar. One should recite the mantra while covering it with one’s hand [S16] and then eat it. Then one will live for five hundred years.

One should put some beans in one’s mouth and recite the mantra. If sprouts come forth,71 one will become eloquent, learned, skilled in writing, and able to remember all that one has learned.

If one offers 100,000 homas of lotuses, the lord will clearly appear before one. With 100,000 homas of bilva fruits, one will obtain the kingship of the triple universe. If one offers 400,00072 homas of whatever kind of flowers may be available, one will obtain mastery of speech.

With 400,000 homa offerings of five types of grain smeared with ghee, one will be able to summon a yakṣiṇī or a girl from the pātāla. In the same way, one should offer five types of wood.

Practiced continuously, the mantra will even lead to the state of awakening in this very lifetime.

This king of mantras will grant the same result.

This heart mantra of the venerable, noble Tārā accomplishes all actions. Reciting the mantra “Oṁ, all phenomena are pure by nature. I am pure by nature on both the outside and inside,”73 one should meditate that everything animate and inanimate, as well as oneself, is pure by nature. One should visualize a white lotus seven hands in diameter, on top of it a moon disk, and in the center of the moon disk the goddess in all her splendor, one hand holding a lotus and the other displaying the boon-granting gesture. The nature of the Blessed Lady’s body is great compassion. She is there solely to benefit others. She delights in granting practitioners the siddhis they desire. She is white like the rays of the autumn moon, anointed with cream of white sandalwood, and beautifully adorned with flowers.74 She is dressed in white garments; pearl necklaces, white and so forth,75 gleam on her chest, and many jewels adorn her body. She illuminates the endless and limitless world sphere with thousands of flashing light rays. She has the form of a twelve-year-old girl, her body in all the fresh beauty of budding youth. One should visualize oneself thus in the form of Mahāsarasvatī, with Prajñā in front, Medhā to the right, Mati behind, and Smṛti to the left‍—each goddess beautiful, with the same characteristics as just described.

Then, in the area of one’s navel, in the center of a moon disk, one should visualize a white syllable oṁ. Now one should recite the mantra, visualizing its complete garland as the nature of speech emerging from the syllable oṁ in an unbroken stream.76 The follower of Mantra, with his mind wholly focused on this practice and his body disciplined, sitting silently in the center of a sun disk the color of red lotus,77 will obtain the speech of Sarasvatī within one month. Within three months he will succeed even in the slaying of Brahmā. Within six months, he will become equal to Sarasvatī. [S17]

This heart mantra of the Great White Goddess born from a lotus80 accomplishes all the tasks described previously.

One should visualize oneself as the youthful lord Mañjuvajra Siddhaikavīra. He is free from the afflictions, holds a book that embodies all statements,81 and brandishes the sword of wisdom in his right hand. In front of him, one should visualize the sunlight-garlanded Mahāsarasvatī; behind him, Mahāśrī; to his right, Keśinī; and to his left, Upakeśinī. One should visualize them as white like the autumn moon and adorned with every ornament.82 While resting in this visualization one should first make offerings to the best of one’s ability [S18] and then recite this mantra 400,000 times following the procedures of the preliminary practice as already described. [F.11.a] Then, one should incant one pala of Sarasvatī’s ghee or pennywort ghee. Next, one should visualize that Sarasvatī offers this substance to oneself with her hand. Absorbed in samādhi, one should drink it. Here is the recipe for this ghee mixed with pennywort.

One should visualize oneself in the form of Vāgīśvara, surrounded by the four goddesses as described before, and recite the mantra according to the procedure previously set out. Then one will be able to perform all the rites already mentioned.

In an isolated place, one should draw a maṇḍala and make offerings to the blessed Vāgīśvara and to one’s precious guru. Then, one should sit on a comfortable seat and arouse the mind set upon awakening. Afterward, one should recite three times the mantra “Oṁ, all phenomena are pure by nature; I am pure by nature,”84 and, considering oneself and everything else to be naturally pure, bring emptiness directly to mind. [S19] One should then visualize oneself, instantaneously arisen, upon a white lotus and a moon disk; one is white in color, holding a book and a sword. [F.11.b] On the right side of oneself as Vāgīśvara is Keśinī, and on one’s left, Upakeśinī. Each of them is white and holds a red lotus. In front is Jālinīprabha,85 of white color, astride86 a sun disk and holding a blue lotus. Behind, one should visualize Candraprabha, astride87 a moon disk and holding a blue lotus. Then, in one’s heart, one should visualize the syllable a, radiating blazing streams of light, which is then transformed into an eight-spoked wheel, extremely ornate as it is the nature of the complete range of speech. One should vizualize the wheel clearly and consider that it is rapidly revolving. Practicing in this way, one will come to know all the treatises clearly within six months as regards both their meaning and composition, even if one has never heard them before. After one year, one will become equal to Vāgīśvara. This was the method of the wheel of Arapacana.

All the results mentioned previously will come to the person who recites this mantra. One should visualize, in the center of a circle, the syllable muḥ surrounded by a garland of flames. This is called the circle of wisdom procedure.

In the same order as just described, one should imagine oneself as having the nature of the five deities. Then, one should visualize a sixteen-spoked wheel with the syllable muḥ in its center. To those who visualize this or an eight-spoked wheel88 will come the results previously mentioned.

One should visualize oneself as the syllable muḥ. Then, as it transforms, one instantaneously becomes Vāgīśvara, the sole hero, who, like a blazing fire, illuminates the entire environment. In one’s heart one should visualize the syllable oṁ, which is then transformed into a sun disk that illuminates all worlds, shining with a hundred thousand rays. By meditating thus, within six months the practitioner will become equal to Vāgīśvara and will obtain all the results previously described. [F.12.a]