Vamachara

Vamachara
Vāmācāra (Sanskrit: वामाचार, Sanskrit pronunciation:

[ʋaːmaːtɕaːɽɐ]) is a tantric term meaning "left-hand path" and is
synonymous with the Sanskrit term vāmamārga.[1][2] It is used to
describe a particular mode of worship or sadhana (spiritual
practice) that uses heterodox things to sublimate for spiritual
growth.
These practices are often generally considered to be tantric in

orientation. The converse term is dakṣiṇācāra "right-hand path", A goat being slaughtered at Kali
which is used to refer not only to orthodox sects but to modes of Puja. Painting by an Indian artist
spirituality that engage in spiritual practices that accord with Vedic dated between 1800 and 1899.
Inscription on verso: "A Hindoo
injunction and are generally agreeable to the status quo.
sacrifice"
Left-handed and right-handed modes of practice may be evident in

both orthodox and heterodox practices of Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and
Buddhism and are a matter of taste, culture, proclivity, initiation, sadhana and lineage (parampara).
Nomenclature and etymology

N. N. Bhattacharyya explains the Sanskrit technical term Ācāra as
follows:
[t]he means of spiritual attainment which varies from

person to person according to competence.... Ācāras
are generally of seven kinds -- Veda, Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva,
Dakṣiṇa, Vāma, Siddhāṇta, and Kaula, falling into
two broad categories -- Dakṣiṇa and Vāma.
Interpretations vary regarding the nature and grouping Puja at the temple of the left-handed
of the ācāras. It is generally held that those who goddess Kamakhya
participate in the rituals of Five Ms belong to the
category of Vāmācāra.[3]
Vāma means "pleasant, lovable, agreeable" and dakṣiṇa means "south". Facing the rising sun towards east,
dakṣiṇa would be the right side. For this reason, the term vāmācāra is often translated "left-hand path",
while dakṣiṇamārga is translated as "right-hand path". An alternate etymology is that it is possible that the
first word of the expression vāmācāra is not vāma or 'left', but vāmā or 'woman'. N. N. Bhattacharyya
notes that a main feature of the tantras is respect for the status of women as a representation of Adi Shakti,
and that if this was the original conception underlying vāmācāra, the opposing term dakṣiṇācara may have
been a later development.[4]
An alternate term vāmamārga ("left path") is also used.[1] In this compound the ambiguity between vāma
and vāmā is not present because the final -a is clearly short.
In the Brahma Yamala

The Brahma Yamala, a right-handed Vaishnava tantric text, says there are three currents of tradition:
dakshina, vama, and madhyama. These are characterized by the predominance of each of the three gunas:
sattva, rajas, and tamas. According to this text, dakshina is characterized by sattva, and is pure;
madhyama, characterized by rajas, is mixed; and vama, characterized by tamas, is impure. The tantras of
each class follow a particular line of spiritual practice.[5]
Practices
Vamachara is particularly associated with the panchamakara or
"Five Ms", also known as the panchatattva. In literal terms they
are: madya ('wine'), mamsa ('meat'), matsya ('fish'), mudra ('grain'),
and maithuna ('sexual intercourse').[6] Mudra usually means ritual
gestures, but as part of the five Ms it is parched grain.[7]
Vamachara traditions place strict ritual limits on the use of these

literal forms and warn against nonsanctioned use. If so used they
encourage the person to sin.[8] Practitioners of vamachara rituals A depiction of the Goddess Bhairavi
may make symbolic substitutions for these literal things, which are and Shiva in a charnel ground from a
not permitted in orthodox Hindu practice.[9][10] The fact that tantric 17th-century manuscript
practices can be done without involvement with the literal
panchamakara is emphasized by Swami Madhavananda, and said
to have been practiced by numerous saints.[11]
Aghori
Barrett discusses the charnel ground sadhana of the Aghori practitioners in both its left and right-handed
proclivities and identifies it as principally cutting through attachments and aversion in order to foreground
inner primordiality, a perspective influenced by a view by culture or domestication:
The gurus and disciples of Aghor believe their state to be primordial and universal. They
believe that all human beings are natural-born Aghori. Hari Baba has said on several occasions
that human babies of all societies are without discrimination, that they will play as much in
their own filth as with the toys around them. Children become progressively discriminating as
they grow older and learn the culturally specific attachments and aversions of their parents.
Children become increasingly aware of their mortality as they bump their heads and fall to the
ground. They come to fear their mortality and then palliate this fear by finding ways to deny it
altogether. In this sense, Aghor sādhanā is a process of unlearning deeply internalized cultural
models. When this sādhanā takes the form of shmashān sādhanā, the Aghori faces death as a
very young child, simultaneously meditating on the
totality of life at its two extremes. This ideal example
serves as a prototype for other Aghor practices, both
left and right, in ritual and in daily life.[12]
See also
Kaula – Religious tradition in Hinduism
Left-hand path and right-hand path – Dichotomy between
two opposing approaches to magic
References
Citations
1. Bhattacharyya (1999), pp. 81, 447. An Aghori with a human skull,
c. 1875
2. Saraswati (2010).
3. Bhattacharyya (1999), pp. 368–69.
4. Bhattacharyya (1999), p. 113.
5. Bagchi (2017).
6. Bhattacharyya (1999), pp. 294, 296–7, 423–25.
7. Mahanirvana Tantra of the Great Liberation (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=oZRGodG_PJkC&pg=PA71&dq
=panchamakara+cereal)
8. Tripurā Upaniṣadbhāsya, v. 15.
9. Bhattacharyya (1999), pp. 86–7.
10. Brooks (1990), p. 113.
11. Madhavananda (2017).
12. Barrett (2008), p. 161.
Works cited
Bagchi, P. C. (2017). "Evolution of the Tantras". Studies On the Tantras. India: Ramakrishna
Math. ISBN 978-8187332770.
Barrett, Ron (2008). Aghor Medicine: Pollution, Death, and Healing in Northern India.
University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25218-9.
Bhattacharyya, N. N. (1999). History of the Tantric Religion (2nd rev. ed.). Delhi: Manohar
Publications. ISBN 81-7304-025-7.
Brooks, Douglas Renfrew (1990). The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu
Shakta Tantrism. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-07570-2.
Madhavananda, Swami (2017). "The Tāntrika Mode of Worship". Studies On the Tantras.
India: Ramakrishna Math. ISBN 978-8187332770.
Saraswati, Kaal Ugranand (2010). "Questions & Answers" (https://web.archive.org/web/2011
0713134552/http://www.kapalika.com/qanda.html#4). Kapalika.com. Archived from the
original (http://www.kapalika.com/qanda.html#4) on July 13, 2011.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vamachara&oldid=1217998752"

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Vamachara

Vāmācāra (Sanskrit: वामाचार, Sanskrit pronunciation:

These practices are often generally considered to be tantric in

Left-handed and right-handed modes of practice may be evident in

Nomenclature and etymology

[t]he means of spiritual attainment which varies from

In the Brahma Yamala

Vamachara traditions place strict ritual limits on the use of these

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