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Tantric Yoga: Mastering Tarka

The text discusses the concept of tarka or spiritual discernment according to the 10th century Tantric master Abhinava Gupta. It states that tarka is the highest limb of yoga as it leads to profound inner cognition and dissolution of ordinary awareness. When awareness reaches the twelfth level through tarka, it is considered liberation. While other yoga practices cultivate each successive limb, tarka is seen as the means to attain the ultimate goal of yoga. Tarka allows one to discern what helps and hinders spiritual progress.

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Christopher Wallis
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821 views2 pages

Tantric Yoga: Mastering Tarka

The text discusses the concept of tarka or spiritual discernment according to the 10th century Tantric master Abhinava Gupta. It states that tarka is the highest limb of yoga as it leads to profound inner cognition and dissolution of ordinary awareness. When awareness reaches the twelfth level through tarka, it is considered liberation. While other yoga practices cultivate each successive limb, tarka is seen as the means to attain the ultimate goal of yoga. Tarka allows one to discern what helps and hinders spiritual progress.

Uploaded by

Christopher Wallis
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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  • Tantric Teachings of Abhinava Gupta
  • Yoga Philosophy Terms

The great Tantric master (mahsiddha) Abhinava Gupta (10th cen.

) on tarka (spiritual discernment) and its relation to the other yogic practices:
Thus, among the limbs of Yoga, there is truly nothing that surpasses tarka. [And by tarka is here meant] an extraordinarily acute and intense cognition [that penetrates] ever more deeply within and within. As it is said in the Vrval[tantra], When the sun and the moon [energies of inhalation and exhalation] are completely dissolved, silenced, and reabsorbed, by means of the reabsorption and dissolution of the ordinary awareness into the nature of iva, which is awakened Consciousness only, and when the living sun, our very own awakened consciousness, has reached the twelfth level [of the dvdanta], then that alone [merits] being called liberation. But [if the] restraints (yama) and the other practices up to and including the meditative absorption (samdhi) have been here described as being limbs of Yoga, this is because each such preceding limb is a means to attain the next, and so on, in order to serve as a means for the attainment of the last [and most fundamental limb of Yoga] which is the perfected reason (tarka). For what burgeons within consciousness, can be transmitted by that very consciousness into the breath, the body, or the mind by means of repeated and sustained practice. But not the other way around Nevertheless, because in our system we accept the universality of the Self which blossoms clearly even within the breath, mind, and body, [we can allow that] the practices that are based on them [i.e., on the breath, mind, and body] do serve to eliminate their opposite. As it is taught in the Ancient Treatise, [the Mlin-vijayottara-tantra] where it says, Tarka or perfected reasoning is the highest among the limbs of Yoga. All eorts in its application and practice are praised, for it permits one to discern what is to be avoided (and what is to be adhered to). -- translated by Dr. Paul Muller-Ortega

Sa sk ra and adhikra: two key terms in the philosophy of Tantrik Yoga


You may be familiar with the term sa skra from Patajalis Yogastras, where it refers to the subliminal impressions of past actions. But this important term has other meanings as well that are central to yogic practice. Its commonest meanings are in fact: polishing, refining, cultivating, purifying, cleansing training, forming the mind and consecrating, rite of passage. Adhikra is a term that has several interrelated meanings, including privilege, obligation, entitlement, readiness, aptitude. In order to practice any yoga, but especially Tantrik Yoga, one must have adhikra, or the practice will not be successful. Therefore, gaining adhikra is of prime importance. This brings us to the stra (concise yet profound teaching in a single phrase) that links the two terms and will be a subject of discussion for us:

Saskra grants adhikra

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