Toh 440Glorious Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra

Summary

Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra consists of a dialogue
between Mahākāla and the Goddess on a broad range of topics including the consecration
rites, deity generation practices, and rituals for attaining various siddhis associated
with the deity Mahākāla. The opening section of the tantra focuses on topics related to
the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras (yoganiruttaratantra, bla na med pa’i
rgyud kyi rnal ’byor), such as how one generates the deity, how the
consecration rites are performed, and how the advanced practitioner manipulates the vital
winds of the subtle body to attain perfect spontaneous union as Mahākāla. The conversation
then turns to ritual instructions for the attainment of siddhis as it integrates mastery
of the two-stage union practices associated with the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras with those
rituals more commonly associated with the Action Tantras (kriyātantra, bya ba’i
rgyud) and Conduct Tantras (caryātantra, spyod pa’i
rgyud).

Acknowledgements

This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000:
Translating the Words of the Buddha.

The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team.
Adam Krug produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Ryan Damron edited the
translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the text.

We would like to thank Paul Hackett for providing copies of the two Sanskrit
witnesses of the Mahākālatantrarāja held at the
University of Tokyo and Péter-Dániel Szántó for providing a copy of the twelfth-century
Sanskrit manuscript discovered in Tibet by Rāhul Sāṅkṛtyāyana and for pointing us in the
right direction to access additional Sanskrit witnesses located in the Royal Asiatic
Society’s Hodgson Collection and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Thank you also to
Wiesiek Mical for kindly sharing his list of materia medica from his translation of The Tantra of Caṇḍamahāroṣana (Toh 431).

The generous donation that made the translation work on this text possible was
dedicated to DJKR, HH Dodrupchen IV, Khenchen Pema Sherab, Choje Togdan, Gyalse Tulku,
Dagpo Tulku, Dorje Bhum, Khenpo Hungtram, and Gakar Tulku by the sponsors Herlintje, Lina
Herlintje, Hadi Widjaja, Ocean, Asia, Star and Gold Widjaja.

Introduction

Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra consists of a
dialogue between Mahākāla and the Goddess on a broad range of topics, including the
consecration rites, deity generation practices, and rituals for attaining various
siddhis associated with the deity Mahākāla. The introductory line of the tantra notes
that this dialogue takes place while the Blessed One, Mahākāla, is surrounded by an
array of goddesses. While the primary Goddess who directs most of the dialogue in the
tantra is never identified by name, she should perhaps be understood as the goddess Umā,
who in this text is Mahākāla’s primary consort. The dialogue throughout this tantra is
not restricted to these two parties, and several goddesses and other beings also pose
questions to Mahākāla.

The topics discussed by Mahākāla and his interlocutors in this text are, for
the most part, focused on the meditative and
ritual applications of Mahākāla and his maṇḍala of yoginīs.
The tantra’s dialogic structure does not always adhere to a clear organizational scheme,
but it is possible to divide the general subject matter in the text into a few topical
categories.

The dialogue in chapters 1 through 7 outlines instructions for the generation
and completion stage yogas, constructing the various fire pits, reciting the mantras for
all the forms of Mahākāla and the goddesses in his maṇḍala, performing the consecration
rites, and practice instructions for the fully initiated advanced practitioner.

In chapters 8 through 14, the dialogue focuses primarily on instructions for
making various collyria, pills, salves, and alchemical preparations of mercury that
grant siddhis such as being able to locate subterranean chambers containing hidden
treasure, rendering oneself invisible, and flight.

The dialogue in chapter 15 turns to Mahākāla’s account of the rise and fall of
past, current, and future royal lineages across the Indian subcontinent and beyond. It
then returns in chapters 16 through 25 to a discussion of the application of Mahākāla’s
mantras for the performance of a number of ritual actions such as enthralling or
paralyzing a target, making and halting rainfall, and controlling and repelling
celestial deities.

Chapters 26 to 50 cover a broad range of topics. These chapters are all
relatively short, with the exception of chapter 33, which occupies five folios of the
text and discusses a number of different rites for making offerings to the seven kumārīs
and the goddess Sarasvatī. The tantra concludes with a short chapter on the goddess
Atharvaśabarī’s mantra.

The tantra’s chapter on mantras (chapter 2) contains mantras for eight
different forms of Mahākāla (the two-, four-, six-, eight-, ten-, twelve-, fourteen-,
and sixteen-armed forms), while chapter 7, the main chapter on the deity generation
practices, focuses on six forms of the deity (the two-, four-, six-, eight-, twelve-,
and sixteen-armed forms).

There is significant variation in the identity and number of yoginīs or
goddesses who are said to accompany different forms of Mahākāla throughout the tantra.
Chapter 1 provides the following list of eight goddesses:

Carcikā

Kālikā

Kulikeśvarī

Khaṇḍaruhī

Dantotkaṭī

Pracālī

Maheśvarī

The goddess mantras included in chapter 3 reflect a different list of seven
goddesses:

Caṇḍeśvarī

Kulikeśvarī

Maheśvarī

Kālikā

Carcikā

Khaṇḍā

Umā

Finally, in the description of the goddesses that accompany the sixteen-armed
form of Mahākāla in chapter 7, the tantra provides the following slightly different set
of eight goddesses:

Caṇḍeśvarī

Carcikā

Kālikā

Kulikeśvarī

Caurī

Lañjanī

Mahānandi

Nandeśvarī

The number of goddesses or yoginīs who accompany Mahākāla can vary depending
on the particular visualization practice, but one core group of four
goddesses—Caṇḍeśvarī, Carcikā, Kālikā, and Kulikeśvarī—is fairly consistent across the
various forms of the deity. These goddesses are located to the east, south, west, and
north, respectively. Some exceptions to this configuration are the four- and two-armed
forms of Mahākāla, which are flanked by a set of unnamed goddesses, and the
sixteen-armed form of Mahākāla, which is surrounded by the core group of four goddesses
in the inner circle of the maṇḍala and the goddesses Caurī, Lañjanī, Mahānandi, and
Nandeśvarī in the east, south, west, and north of the outer circle, respectively. In
those instances in which Mahākāla’s primary consort is mentioned, she is identified as
the goddess Umā.

The Tibetan Kangyurs contain three tantras related to the deity Mahākāla: one
in eight chapters (Toh 667), one in twenty-five chapters (Toh
416), and the text
translated here, which consists of fifty chapters. All three works appear in the Tantra
Collection (rgyud ’bum) of the Degé Kangyur. The
current work, Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra, and the
twenty-five chapter Vajramahākālatantra are found in
separate volumes among other texts of the Unexcelled Yoga Tantra genre, while the
eight-chapter Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla appears in the
Action Tantra section. All three of these texts are products of the later translation
period and do not appear in the Denkarma (ldan kar
ma) or Phangthangma (’phang thang ma)
Tibetan catalogs of translated works. They were each translated by a different team of
Indian (or Nepalese, in the case of Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra) and Tibetan translators, and their style and content reflect three
separate textual lineages of the deity Mahākāla. In addition to these three tantras, the
Tibetan Kangyurs also contain two Dhāraṇī texts devoted to Mahākāla, The Dhāraṇī of Glorious Mahākāla
and The
Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses. Finally, the Tibetan Tengyurs contain no fewer than twenty-seven
works devoted to Mahākāla that consist of different sādhana instructions and praises,
and at least one extensive commentary, the *Rudrakalpamahāśmaśānanāmaṭīkā attributed to Aśvaghoṣa, on a separate and presently
unknown Mahākālatantra. None of the three tantras
devoted to Mahākāla in the Tibetan Kangyurs appear to have been translated into
Chinese.

Of the three tantras devoted to Mahākāla in the Tibetan Kangyurs, Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra demonstrates the greatest
correlation with Śaiva tantric literature. Unlike the other tantras and dhāraṇīs
associated with Mahākāla, the introductory material in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra follows a dialogical format between Mahākāla and several
goddesses that finds close parallels in those Śaiva texts that belong to the Mantrapīṭha (Mantra Corpus), which are
structured as dialogues between Śiva in his form of Bhairava and the Goddess or a host
of goddesses. Mahākāla is referred to as Mahābhairava several times in Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra. In the following passage from the
opening of the Mantra chapter, the tantra also directly addresses the fact that Śiva, in
the form of Mahākāla, is a protector of the Buddhist teachings:

Now I will present the chapter on the mantras. Of the two types of mantras,
the system of mantras related to Śiva are identified in this tantra by the syllable
oṁ. These mantras represent
Śiva’s delight as a protector of the Buddha’s teachings.

Later, in the ritual instructions for the mercury siddhi in chapter 13,
Mahākāla states that any yogin who consumes a particular alchemical preparation of
mercury “will become Śiva’s equal” (śivasamam, zhi ba dang mnyam par
’gyur).

In his dissertation on Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, George Stablein identifies twelve extant Sanskrit witnesses to the
text.
The majority of these Sanskrit witnesses preserve a version of Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra that contains just over twenty-nine chapters of
material, and it is this version of the text that was known to the Newar vajrācāryas
Stablein consulted throughout the Kathmandu Valley. Stablein also notes that he witnessed a rite at the main
Mahākāla temple in Tuṇḍikhel, Kathmandu, in which the text of the Mahākālatantra was worshiped and used to bless
devotees.

Six of the seven Sanskrit witnesses consulted for this translation belong to
versions of the twenty-nine-chapter recensions of the text. The oldest among this group
is ND 44-5, which is held by the National Archives of Nepal
and dated to c. 1633 ce (Nepal Saṃvat 754) in the
manuscript’s colophon. The Sanskrit witness in the Hodgson Collection at the Royal
Asiatic Society (RASH 47) is dated to c. 1800 (Nepal Saṃvat
921), and the colophon to BnFS 84, the first of two Sanskrit
witnesses in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, provides a date of 1829 ce (Nepal Saṃvat 950).

The oldest known Sanskrit witness for Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra is a palm leaf manuscript of Indic origin that was
photographed by Rahul Sāṅkṛtyāyana in Tibet in the 1930s. The colophon to this Sanskrit witness notes that
it was “completed in the fifth year of the reign of His Majesty the glorious emperor
Madanapāla, a devotee of the supreme Sugata and the supreme venerable ones.” The years of Madanapāla’s reign (c. 1143–62 ce)
during the Pāla dynasty are known based an inscription from Valgūdār that identifies the eighteenth year of Madanapāla’s reign
as the Śaka-era year 1083 (1161). This allows us to locate the beginning of Madanapāla’s
reign in the year 1143, and the date for the completion of this manuscript in the year
1148.

The colophon to the Tibetan translation of Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra tells us that the text was translated at the Ramoché temple
in Lhasa by the paṇḍita Samantaśrī, who was from Nepal, and the Tibetan editor and
translator Ra Gelong Chörap, both of whom were active during the eleventh century. The
Tibetan translation preserves a fifty-chapter recension of Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra, but this it demonstrates a rather inconsistent
degree of correlation with the fifty-chapter recension preserved in the twelfth-century
Sanskrit manuscript witness. Our preliminary observations have found the Tibetan witness
corresponds much more closely to the twenty-nine-chapter Sanskrit witnesses, with the
material in this witness demonstrating direct and approximate parallels to the material
in the first twenty-nine chapters of the Tibetan translation.

Two important conclusions can be draw from these observations. First, the
translation of Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra in the Tibetan
Kangyurs is undoubtedly part of the same textual lineage as the twenty-nine-chapter
Sanskrit witnesses, which places it within the same textual lineage as the contemporary
Newar cult of Mahākāla. Second, the high level of divergence between Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s palm
leaf manuscript and the Tibetan translation suggests that there may have been two
separate textual traditions of a fifty-chapter recension of Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra by the twelfth century. The twenty-nine chapter
and fifty-chapter Sanskrit texts are not entirely unrelated, and we do find material
that is shared across all the available Tibetan and Sanskrit witnesses. In some cases,
to make matters more complicated, the Sanskrit fifty-chapter version preserves readings
that are closer to the Tibetan translation than corresponding passages in the
twenty-nine-chapter recensions. The relationship between the Tibetan and Sanskrit
witnesses for Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra is undoubtedly
more complex than the few observations made here, and it is our hope that this
translation might provide some support for further research on this textual tradition.

The English translation that follows is based on the Tibetan translation of
the text preserved in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the versions in the Stok
Palace Kangyur, Phukdrak Kangyur, and the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur. Seven Sanskrit manuscript
witnesses were consulted for the translation, and Stablein’s Sanskrit edition of the
first eight chapters of the text provided an extremely helpful introduction to working
with these sources.

While this translation relies primarily on the Tibetan witnesses, the Sanskrit
sources were often an invaluable resource, and it would not have been possible to
accurately translate a great deal of the Tibetan text without them. Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra contains an enormous number of references to
various substances that are used in its ritual instructions for attaining siddhis and
performing various ritual actions, and in many cases the Tibetan translators chose to
transliterate rather than translate these terms. Many of these transliterated terms in
the Tibetan are corrupted readings of Sanskrit terminology or, perhaps, were derived
from other Sanskritic dialects or entirely different languages. In many cases (but
certainly not all), the readings in the Sanskrit sources contained important corrections
to the Tibetan transliterations of the hundreds of different ingredients featured in the
ritual instructions throughout the text. Interestingly, there were also instances in
which the Tibetan transliterations of these terms were closer to their classical
Sanskrit spelling than the readings in the Sanskrit witnesses. Where possible, we have
attempted to identify these ingredients based on available resources, but these
identifications should be regarded as tentative.

Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra also contains a
handful of passages composed in Apabhraṃśa. Two of these passages were reproduced and
translated in Stablein’s dissertation on Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, and his translations are included in the notes to this translation. In
the translation itself, however, all these passages have been rendered in their original
language (or languages) following the transliteration given in the Degé Kangyur.

The Translation

Glorious Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra

Chapter 1: An Elucidation of Ultimate Reality

Homage to Glorious Mahākāla.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in the company of
the goddesses. The Goddess asked him, “What method saves beings who are drowning in the
ocean of cyclic existence, and how does the deity liberate them from cyclic existence?”

The Blessed One replied, “I will address those points in terms of the means by
which wisdom is present during the generation and completion stage yogas. Listen
well, Goddess. The generation stage leads one to abide in cessation and reveals the
correct path that grants the result. Then one should perform with certainty the type of
consecration that involves the use of a consort. One should then practice the
elimination of movement and then focus on that. The generation stage is
endowed with the correct path through correlation with the physical person.

“Blessed One,” asked the goddess, “what is required to generate the vajra
being, and why are the individual vases necessary?”

The Blessed One replied, “The fact of arising refutes nonexistence; this is
the space vajra. It is utterly devoid of self and is the moment of bliss. It arises like
the expansive feeling of happiness that arises when the entire population of a city that
has been oppressed by force is released from bondage.”

“Blessed One,” asked the Goddess, “why is it necessary to stabilize the
body? Is it not the case that it is no longer present after the blood and
bodhicitta have combined in the pathway and one has been liberated from false
appearances? Does it grant the result, or did you describe it in terms of practical
application for those who wish to reveal it?”

The Blessed One replied, “The body is called ‘vajra.’ This is similar to the
correlation between the illusory being and the physical person. ‘The blood after it has
combined in the pathway’ means that blood has combined in the vajra’s pathway at the
time that understanding of complete equality dawns through the movement of blood in the
five aggregates via the lalanā, rasanā, and avadhūtī. ‘The functional body’ refers to
the body that moves, lacks endurance, and is subject to impulses. That is the functional
body. I spoke of having performed a function for those who are confused about
functionality.”

“What is the Dharma?” asked the Goddess. “What teachings have you given from
the collection of Dharma? Was this done for the happiness and welfare of human beings,
for a specific purpose, or so that they might gain the desirable result of
eliminating disease?”

The Blessed One replied, “I will explain how beings who have taken a human
birth can easily attain the siddhis for whatever Dharma they practice. The eight great
siddhis are the sword, collyrium, pill, and swift feet siddhis, together with
rendering medicines effective, competence in mantras, and mercury and alchemy. In
addition to attaining the eight great siddhis, a person can attain any other siddhi
using the tantras of Mahākāla, and they will surely do so with ease.”

The Goddess requested, “Please speak, however briefly, about binding the
target when it is employed for the collyrium siddhi.”

The Blessed One replied, “Its concealing is widely described as an excellent
means of protection and the proper way to conceal oneself, even from the drumming of
horse hooves.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “how many channels are there in the vajra
body, and how many moments of inhalation and exhalation are there?”

The Blessed One replied, “There are thirty-two channels. There is restraining
inhalation and exhalation and releasing the breath that has arisen within the body,
which is set in motion by the sun and the moon. To express the exact calculation, there
are twenty-one thousand six hundred movements of breath, with a moment consisting of an
inhalation and exhalation.”

“Blessed One,” asked the Goddess, “did you sanction what Kāmadeva revealed,
the conditions that ensued when Nārāyaṇa, the fulfiller of
desire, took on an illusory form and, for the sake of Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī, became a
protector deity who delivered the destitute from darkness?”

“Goddess,” the Blessed One replied, “as the beings of Jambudvīpa cycle
through cyclic existence, they give rise to delusion, desire, jealousy, and slander.
Since that is the case, and since they have faith in what glorious Mahākāla has taught,
like Nārāyaṇa, I have taught the practice of generating Kāmadeva and his
retinue of sixty-four ḍākinīs.”

“Blessed One,” asked the Goddess, “what is the significance of the term
mahākāla?”

The Blessed One replied, “The term mahākāla
refers to the long duration of time that it takes to
visualize and remain as Mahākāla, as well as the fact that one performs this every day
and at the best time for doing so. Alternately, the term mahākāla refers to something that requires a long time, namely,
performing the rites for Mahākāla in their entirety.”

“What do the syllable ma and
the syllables hā and kāla signify?” asked the Goddess.

“There are eight yoginīs who appear in this tantra and are respectively
identified as the queens of the yogas of paralyzing, expelling, paralyzing an army, and hostile rites.
They are generated through the visualization of Caṇḍeśvarī, Carcikā, Kālikā,
Kulikeśvarī, Khaṇḍaruhī, Dantotkaṭī, Pracālī, and Maheśvarī.

“Someone with insight into grasping, for whom time is essential, seeks liberation. For
them, there is no meditator and no object of meditation. The visualizations are not
produced by anything. Then, through mastery over the afflicted mind, the mind is freed
of imputation. They can assume the form of Vetāli without generating it, and, when moving among
the five families, they can accomplish any rite just as it was taught. They can pursue
one after the other whether or not it is the appropriate particular lunar day,
guaranteeing the attainment of any siddhi. Such are the fruits of this Dharma
instruction.”

This is the first chapter in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “An Elucidation of Ultimate Reality.”

Chapter 2: The Features of the Fire Pits

“Now I will present a chapter on the features of the fire pits.”

“My Lord,” the Goddess asked, “how should one accomplish, for the sake of
beings, the rites associated with the eight siddhis that eliminate suffering?”

The Blessed One replied, “The exhalation is blocked as it flows in the lunar
channel and then held. By doing this one will undoubtedly attain the eight great
siddhis. When someone intent on bringing this to fruition does this, they will attain
siddhi.

“For a killing rite, one should perform a fire offering with dark-blue flowers
in a square fire pit that is one cubit wide. For a paralyzing rite, the pit should be
circular and two cubits wide. For an enthralling rite, one should build a triangular
fire pit one cubit high in a hole one cubit deep that has been excavated from purified
ground. The fire offering, made using red flowers, should be performed by well-trained
officiants who are seated on a bearskin.

“The explanation of the specifications for the fire offering pit used to
attain the foot salve siddhi are to purify the ground for a
circular pit measuring one cubit high and then excavate to a depth of five cubits. The
explanation of the fire offering for the collyrium siddhi are to purify the ground in the shape
of a snake’s head measuring two and a half cubits and excavate to a depth of seven
cubits. This is the fire pit for the collyrium siddhi. The instructions for the pill siddhi are to purify the ground measuring the size of an elephant’s foot and excavate to
a depth of ten cubits. This is the fire pit for the pill. For the alchemy siddhi, one
should purify an area of ground measuring two and a half cubits and shaped like an
earring and then excavate to a depth of three cubits. This is the fire pit for the
alchemy siddhi. The fire pit for becoming a king is one cubit high and circular in
shape. Once the ground has been purified, one should excavate to a depth of eight
cubits. This is done to accomplish the siddhi. By following these procedures, the
siddhis are certain. If one uses white flowers for any of the fire offering rites
described here, one will gain the results related to each of these siddhis.”

This is the second chapter in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “The Features of the Fire Pits.”

Chapter 3: The Mantras

“Now I will present the chapter on the mantras. Of the two types of
mantras, the system of mantras related to Śiva are identified in this
tantra by the syllable oṁ. These
mantras represent Śiva’s delight as a protector of the Buddha’s teachings. He pronounced
the following mantras of great wisdom as part of his promise to the Buddha:

“The mantra for the two-armed form is oṁ mahākāla
hūṁ phaṭ svāhā.

“The mantra for the four-armed form is oṁ hrīṃ hrīṃ
hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ.

“The mantra for the six-armed form is oṁ
mahābhairava sarvasiddhidāyaka ḍaṃ hūṁ kuṃ dhvaṇṭaḥ.

“The mantra for the eight-armed form is oṁ āḥ hūṁ
phaṭ hrīḥ haḥ.

“The mantra for the ten-armed form is oṁ hī kaṃ hūṁ
kīla kīla mahānādākārālavikarālakṣīgṛīhaḥ daha daha paca paca siddhidākāya
svāhā.

“The mantra for the twelve-armed form is oṁ
daṃṣṭrotkaṭabhair avāya saṃ saṃ saṃ ru ru ru ru hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ svāhā. It can be used for any rite, is revered by all the buddhas, is
effective throughout the threefold world, and will accomplish whatever one wishes.

“Present a bali offering every day with this mantra of the fourteen-armed
form to attain any siddhi: oṁ yama jagatakṣobhaya kṣobhaya
tāla patāla khāhi khāhi gṛhṇa bali grahāḥ grahāḥ | oṁ maṁ caṁ mahābhairavāya
svāhā.

“The mantra for protecting oneself is oṁ maṁ maṁ
raṁ hūṁ hūṁ maṃ rakṣa pālāya hūṁ vajra phaṭ.

“The mantra for the sixteen-armed form is oṁ hrāṃ
hrāṃ yaṃ maṃ karāla virālākṣa vaṃ karāla mahāyogeśvara sarvadāyaka svāhā.

“One should thoroughly cook black gram, fill it generously with alcohol,
meat, and blood, and present it every evening as a bali offering while reciting the
following mantra:

oṁ śrīṃ kṣīṃ gṛhṇa baliṃ hūṁ phaṭ |
madyamāṁsapuṣpadhūparaktatalapātale aṣṭanāgadevayakṣarākṣasa gṛhna idaṃ baliṃ hā hā hā
hūṁ khāhi khāhi kha kha hūṁ jaḥ pheṃ pheṃ haṃ haṃ mahāḍadharahāsa garjja garjja
kṛṣṇavarṇī ehe hūṁ svāhā.

“If one does this for twenty-one days, an auspicious sign will appear. If one
does this for one month, siddhi will be granted. If one does this for a year, one will
be granted whatever one wants.

“All one’s misdeeds will be exhausted by simply reading the king of mantras
oṁ hrīṃ hrīṃ hūṁ phaṭ, and if one continually
recites it, one will easily attain any siddhi. If one recites it five thousand times, one will accomplish the
pacification rite. If one recites it ten thousand times, one will enthrall a woman. If
one recites it one hundred thousand times, one can enthrall a king. If one recites it
five hundred thousand times, one can undoubtedly enthrall any of the gods and yakṣas. If
it will attract them, it goes without saying that one can use it on a man or woman. This
is the enthralling mantra.

“The general mantra is oṁ mahākāla hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ
phaṭ svāhā.

“The fire mantra is
oṁ mahānandeśvara hūṁ phaṭ svāhā. If one visualizes
the target in the mouth of the flames, they will die.

“Kulikeśvarī’s mantra is oṁ lāṃ kaṃ kulikeśvarī he pheṃ svāhā.

“Maheśvarī’s mantra is oṁ māṃ maheśvarī hūṁ śrī heṃ
pheṃ.

“Kālikā’s mantra is oṁ kili vikarāla śrīḥ kṣīṃ kṣīṃ
hūṁ phaṭ svāhā.

“Carcikā’s mantra is oṁ caṁ carcaya carcaya hūṁ
hrīḥ.

“The goddess Khaṇḍā’s bali-offering mantra is oṁ camuṇḍe daha daha paca paca idaṃ baliṃ gṛhṇa gṛhṇa hūṁ pheṃ heṃ
phaṭ svāhā.

“The Goddess Umā’s mantra is oṁ hrī hāḥ hūṁ śrī
phaṭ svāhā.

“The mantra for consecrating body, speech, and mind is oṃ āḥ hūṃ.

“The mantra for paralyzing an enemy is oṁ maṁ jaṁ
kṣaṁ.

“One should incant a mouse’s tail seven times with the mantra oṁ jaṁ hūṁ hastistaṃbhaya phaṭ. An elephant will be
paralyzed when struck with it.

“One should incant the flesh of a cow with the mantra oṁ khaḥ haḥ phaṭ ghoṭakastambhanam. A horse will be
paralyzed when struck with it.

“One should incant tiger skin with the mantra oṁ
muḥ hāṁ sarvapaśūn
staṁbhāya mohāya hūṁ phaṭ. Buffalo, dogs, elephants, cows, jackals, tigers,
and bears will undoubtedly be paralyzed when struck with it.

“The snake-paralyzing mantra is oṁ mahānanta hūṁ
haḥ. If one incants silver with this mantra seven times and hits a snake with
it, the snake will be paralyzed.

“The mantra for paralyzing swords and the like is oṁ hrīḥ maṁ raṁ camuṇḍa haḥ śrī hūṁ phaṭ.

“The mantra for paralyzing a dice player is oṁ
mahilala bhilala bhilala ha hoḥ.

“The mantra for bewildering a woman is oṁ ghaṃ
hūṁ.

“The great bali offering mantra that subdues enemies is oṁ haḥ kaha kaha malinimukhe prasādhaya prasādhaya mahākāla
buddhajñāṃ prahitosi māraya māraya kāraya kāraya sarvaduṣṭāṃ praduṣṭān gṛhṇa gṛhṇa
mara mara kha kha khāhi khāhi śīghraṃ daha daha paca paca hūre hūre maṃ raṃ hūṁ phaṭ |
idaṃ baliṃ graha graha śrī svāhā.

“This is for hostile and contentious people who act in opposition to the
Buddha’s teaching. One should incant a bowl make of a human skull and full of food with
this mantra and present the bali offering on the eighth day of the waning moon, and they
will instantly die, contract a deadly fever, or be incinerated, or their head will split
open. This great bali offering mantra overcomes enemies.

“The killing mantra is oṁ camuṇḍe hana hana daha
daha hūṁ phaṭ.

“The mantra for killing enemies is oṁ hūṁ māṁ maṃ
māraya svāhā.

“hūṁ phaṭ | atha bhagavān bodhisattvā mahāsattvā
mahākāruṇikā | tadyathā | oṁ kārālavikaṭeśvara hūlu hūlu kili kili mahākaṅkālahala
kṣāṁ śrīṁ vaṁ caṁ maṁ haṁ hūṁ mahānandeśvarāya svāhā. This mantra should be
recited seven times a day while washing the face, and one will be attractive to
everyone. All one’s enemies will be pacified, all one’s actions will succeed, and
whatever one desires will be granted twofold. This is the mantra for Mahākāla, the
dhāraṇī that brings delight in every sādhana.

“oṁ mahākāla hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ svāhā. One
brings about the result by accomplishing the entire collection of ritual actions.”

This is the third chapter in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “The Mantras.”

Chapter 4: Consecration

“Now I will present the chapter on consecration. The disciple must first
recite the mantra for the two-armed form of Mahākāla ten thousand times and then receive
initiation. The sage is first consecrated with the vase following the specific set of
five consecrations in which they are furnished with a bell and vajra, sprinkled with
water, and so forth. The sixth consecration is bestowed according to the vajra stages.
The seventh consecration is the specific point at which they unite with an insight
consort. The disciple copulates with the yoginīs during the eighth consecration, during
the ninth semen is produced, and during the tenth they are consecrated with sky water.
Accomplishing the sequence of these eleven consecrations in the correct way will give
rise to the respective states. Just like those slain by the tawny-colored one, the sage
should secretly maintain this sequential accomplishment of quiescent wisdom using the five ambrosias and the insight
consorts. One should perform this practice with a mother, a sister, a woman with
deformed legs, a dwarfish woman, or a hunchbacked woman. All these
designations should be understood as instructed.

“Once all that is complete, one should approach the eminent master for the
appropriate consecration. The guru should examine the disciple and then give it. Then
the disciple should say, ‘Master, since you possess the method, and since, Your
Eminence, we have acted according to your every word, please teach us the correct path
for abandoning the suffering of beings. Blessed One, please grant us the proper
understanding of the consecration rite through its specific stages so that it might
benefit beings, and so we might have the correct understanding of the time and duration
of the rite.’ ”

This is the fourth chapter in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “Consecration.”

Chapter 5: The Deity Consecration

“Now I will present the deity
consecration. First, the goddesses and the like perform the vase consecration, and the
eight goddesses grant the ambrosia. After water to drink and water to cool one’s feet
are offered and praises are made, the vases are empowered with the mantra
oṁ kalaśābhinayanaṃ
snānaṁ oṁ śūnyatādhiṣṭhite svāhā.

“The goddesses, who are given the water consecration and the five ambrosias,
will be filled with the six perfections. The goddesses will then let forth a rain of
flowers. One will smell musk and sweet fragrances. Then one will be consecrated by
Nārāyaṇa and the rest. One will be protected by all these deities’ samayas, and they
will not abandon them even if it costs them their lives.”

Thus is the fifth chapter in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “The Deity Consecration.”

Chapter 6: The Practice

At that point, the foremost goddesses such as Vajrabhūtinī and the others
experienced doubt and were disheartened. They all asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One,
please clear away our doubts. We have doubts about reaching accomplishment through song
and the nine dramatic sentiments as explained in this chapter. What is the purpose of
song and dance? What is conduct for one who is consecrated as the deity? How are they
represented by the mudrās of anger and the like? How do you explain all the seed
syllables in the chapter on mantras? What doubts have arisen about the seed syllables of
these goddesses? What power do the seed syllables of the embodied beings have? Blessed
One, how do samaya holders act?”

The Blessed One responded, “a ko yi
gha ṇa pi ṭa ṭa yi ra hā hā kā re ma hā kā la | uccha la ya yi kakko le gha ṇa ḍa ma
ru vajra ji yā yi | kā ru ṇe yā yi | na ro li yā yi | ta hiṃ ma hā māṃ sa ni ba bha re
khā hi yā yi | pi ba yi ma ya ṇā ghaṇṭe | ha re kā li jñā ja ra pa yi sa yi bā yi yā
yi | duṃ du ta ra mā ga pa i patte | ka stu ra kā ta tha ri sihla ca u sa ma lā gā bi
yā yi | si li ni | bha ra māṃ sa kī ta hi la hi yā yi | nā ṭe gīṃ taṃ e ko na mu yi |
lī lā bha ra ṇa mā lā gha ri yā yi | ta hiṃ pa ṇi yā yi | sa hā gā thi ṇa kun du ru pa
yi yā yi | ḍā ma ru nā da uccha li yā yi.

“ ‘Dancing’ means to be in union with Mahākāla, in whatever manner is
pleasing, at dawn and with a mind immersed in meditative concentration. The mind steeped
in familiarity refers to
nothing other than the mother yoginīs who are the suchness of all buddhas. These
dances and songs give rise to supreme bliss. This is precisely what protects oneself and
protects the gathering. It is the five ambrosias, and it is the mantra focused on power,
the recitation of which effortlessly performs activities in the world. One should therefore
always receive the siddhi.

“They should dance in the middle, over and over. The lord of the assembly himself first apprehends
the smell of a vulture, and second the smell of Lakṣmī and Nārāyaṇa wafting toward his
nose. Third, he enjoys the various smells of musk, saffron, and the like. This is the
stage of a lord of yoga. After that, the song’s blessings create the sounds of bees,
geese, cuckoos, and frogs. If one dances, all the sounds will be the same.

“Then there is the song’s blessing for the assembly. External beings, beginning with kinnaras and
Nārāyaṇa, should follow samaya. All the symbols should be continuously displayed at the
edge of a town, in a grove, or in a forest. The siddhis will then be certain.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “please explain how those who are
interested in benefiting the beings of Jambudvīpa and those who are interested in
practicing alchemy make correct use of the methods for enthralling rites and so
forth.”

The Blessed One replied, “One must correctly understand the four mudrās of
the goddesses. I will teach everything only after that.”

The Goddess again said, “Please give a trustworthy explanation of the
correct stages. Blessed One, will this not allow beings to gain great benefit?”

“Goddess, I will explain this beginning in chapter eight. Those dwelling
among the five families are guaranteed to attain their siddhis every day.”

This is chapter six in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “The Practice.”

Chapter 7: The Emergence of the Deities

“First, one should perform the ritual offering, confess one’s misdeeds and so
forth, cultivate the four abodes of Brahmā, and the rest. Then, using the mantra oṁ śūnyatājñānavajrasvabhāvātmako ’haṃ, one should purify
all illusory phenomena.

The Eight-Armed Form

“Mahākāla has three faces with blazing yellow hair that flows upward. His
beard and eyebrows are ablaze, his fangs are bared, and he terrifies with his
laughter. His main fearsome face is black, the face on the left is white, and the
face on the right is blue-black. He wears a tiger skin as his lower garment and is
garlanded with human heads. He is short, his belly hangs down, and he is adorned with
the ornamented hoods of the eight nāgas.

“The first pair of his eight arms embrace the Goddess. His second right
hand holds a hooked knife, his third holds a vajra, and his fourth holds a ḍamaru. His
second left hand holds a skull bowl that is full of blood, his third holds a bell, and
his fourth holds a hammer. He has a corpse for his mount and stands with his left leg
forward.

“He is surrounded by four yoginīs. Caṇḍeśvarī is in the space to the
east holding a hooked knife and a skull bowl. She is white, her hair is
loose, her fangs are bared, and she is terrifying. Carcikā is in the space to the
south. She is black and naked, has disheveled hair, and holds a hooked knife and a
skull bowl in her hands. She stands with her left leg forward, bears her fangs, and so
forth, and she is terrifying. Kālikā is in the space to the west. She is black, holds
a trident and a skull bowl, has disheveled hair, and is similar to all the yoginīs
mentioned above. In the north is Kulikeśvarī with arms raised, holding a skull bowl in
her left hand. She is green, and all her remaining features are just like those
mentioned above. All the goddesses have three eyes.

“The Blessed One is surrounded by the four goddesses, and he embraces and is in
sexual union with the goddess. The eight-armed form is erected by performing those
procedures.

The Twelve-Armed Form

“First, light radiating out from the syllable hūṁ invites the deities, gurus, buddhas, and bodhisattvas
present in the threefold world. Reciting the mantra oṁ
śūnyatā…, one should meditate on the fact that the entire world lacks
inherent nature. The invited beings are then drawn back in along with the light
radiating from the seed syllable hūṁ. After that,
one should visualize the vajra enclosure.

“The yogin should continuously visualize the following. The deity has four faces: his main face is
black, his right face is red, his left face is white, and the face behind is that of a
boar. He has four legs and stands with his left legs forward. His body is black and
his belly hangs down. Each face has three eyes, hair that flows upward, and a fiery
beard. The rest is as stated before.

“He has twelve arms. The first pair of arms embrace the goddess as the
Blessed One bites down on the goddess’ lip with his fangs. The second hand on the left
holds a white fly whisk, the third holds a trident, the fourth holds a skull bowl, the
fifth holds an elephant hide, and the sixth holds one of Vināyaka’s tusks. The second
hand on the right holds a hooked knife, the third holds a single-pronged vajra, the
fourth holds a hammer, the fifth holds an elephant hide, and the sixth hand holds a
vajra.

“He rides a buffalo and tramples all māras. He stands there in sexual
union with his tongue lolling and dripping with blood. The rest is as stated
before.

“He is surrounded by four yoginīs who present him with songs, offerings,
and gifts as he proclaims the great syllable phaṭ. The
deity lets forth a continual stream of laughter accompanied by the syllables kili kili that expresses the nature of
supreme joy. He possesses the garland mantra hili
kili, which indicates he is the lord of the stages of great joy for beings
so that he may bring peace to the world, and that he follows the Buddha’s teaching.

The Four-Armed Form

“The description of the four-armed form is as follows. The Blessed One
takes on a form with four arms and one face for the sake of all the siddhis and to
pacify all vighnas. His body is black, his fangs are bared, and he is terrifying. His
belly hangs, his reddish-brown hair flows upward, and he has a yellow beard. He is
adorned with the eight nāgas as ornaments and is seated on a human corpse, and his
back rests against a tiger skin.

“Visualize his four arms generated from the syllable hūṃ. His right hands hold a trident and
hammer, and the left hold a hooked knife and skull bowl. He emits the sound phaṭ
and
is flanked by a yoginī on each side.

The Six-Armed Form

“The arising of the six-armed form is explained in order to pacify all
vighnas. He has the nature of the third, supreme joy, he serves the Buddha’s
teachings, and he relinquishes misdeeds and the like.

“First, the yogin should meditate on emptiness and so forth and then
perform the initial vajra enclosure practice. At the same moment, the deity arises
from the seed syllable hṛīḥ. He is
seated on a lion and has three faces. The main face is the color of dark clouds, the
right face is white, and the left face is blue-black. His limbs are slack, his fangs
are bared, and he is terrifying. His red hair flows upward, he has three eyes, and he
is adorned with the eight nāgas. His right hands hold a hooked knife, hammer, and
ḍamaru. His left hands hold a skull bowl, trident, and sword.

“He stands in sexual union, surrounded by the four goddesses Caṇḍeśvarī,
Kālikā,
Kulikeśvarī, and Carcikā. Standing among the four goddesses, he is aroused by them all
and arises, manifesting from the five elements and enveloped by their qualities.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “how can one recognize the signs that a
person has attained siddhi by assuming the form of their own deity?”

The Blessed One responded, “The siddhis do not apply to someone
who momentarily impedes either the person who identifies with the goddess Umā or the
one who has arisen as Mahākāla and the rest. When first training, one should imagine the supreme
state of siddhi. The mantra practitioner enters meditative equipoise in a place
conducive to attaining siddhi, such as their own house, a desolate plain, somewhere
outside without shelter, or a remote location. They should perform the continual
visualization in an abandoned house.

The Sixteen-Armed Form

“One should visualize the sixteen-armed form surrounded by eight yoginīs
along with the complete retinue of beings such as Nārāyaṇa and so forth. Thinking, ‘I
will attain siddhi,’ one should dwell among the five families engaging in sexual union
with the insight consort. The yogin should always consume human flesh or the five
meats—cow, dog, human, and the rest—as well as the five ambrosias. This is the point
at which yogins who are intent upon siddhi will attain siddhi. One who dwells among
the five families should eat the flesh of a tawny cow.

“Next, the yogin should visualize themselves as Mahākāla and should declare
that they always act as that very sixteen-armed form. Meditating on the two-armed form
in any context leads to the attainment of all siddhis. For yogins who are accomplished
in mudrā practice, the siddhis will certainly be attained with effort later in this
life. One should meditate on the fact that the state that one has cultivated also does
not exist; one will permanently gain the wisdom of
the siddhis.

“How does the form of the one who has attained siddhi come about? First, perform the offering
with various perfumes and the like as well as incense, flower garlands, and so forth.
After performing the offerings and the rest while gazing at the syllable hūṁ in the heart center, one should
imagine that Mahābhairava is right there.
Then one should confess one’s misdeeds and so forth and meditate on the four abodes of
Brahmā.

“Next, one should install the syllables on the hands and so on.
The syllable oṁ goes on the right
hand and the syllable aṃ on the
left. Consecrate the sense organs with the mantra oṁ tha mu āḥ hūṁ. Install the syllable kṣi on the eyes, a on the left ear, ā on
the right ear, traṃ on the nose,
hrīḥ on the tongue, vaṃ and vāṃ on each foot, and hūṁ on the vajra. After that, one should consecrate body,
speech, and mind with oṁ haṃ hūṁ. Hūṁ goes at the heart center, oṁ at the throat, and haṃ at the crown of the head.

“Visualize a square palace with four arched gateways and a lion throne, and
then meditate on emptiness. Then recite the mantra oṃ
śūnyatājñānavajrasvabhāvātmako ’ham, and one will see it as it truly is.
Beginning with the lute, mṛdaṅga drum, flute, cymbals, dancing, songs, rhythms, Nārāyaṇa, and
so forth, one should imagine the syllable hūṁ. One should meditate on all this, including the vajra enclosure and the
rest, as previously explained.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess said, “arise and benefit beings! What is the
point of contemplating emptiness? Do not cling to absorption in emptiness. Cast your
gaze upon the beings of Jambudvīpa and grant all the various siddhis.”

The Blessed One addressed all the goddesses, “Look, great and eminent
Goddess, look at glorious Mahākāla! He has the nature of supreme bliss, his four
faces are like space, and he has been generated from the syllable hūṁ. His main face is black, his left is
blue-black, his right is red, and the face behind is that of a buffalo. His fangs are
bared, he is terrifying, and he bellows powerfully with a fearsome sound. He terrifies
even the terrifying. His beard is yellow, and his yellow hair flows upward. Each face
has three eyes and hair that rises upward. He is radiant and is wrapped with the nāga
Takṣaka. He has four legs and stands atop a buffalo.

“He has sixteen arms. The first pair of arms embrace the goddess, and he
stands with his right legs forward, trampling the four māras. The second hand
on the right holds a hooked knife, and the third holds a hammer; the fourth holds a
white fly whisk, the fifth holds Yama’s staff, the sixth holds a vajra, the seventh
holds Vināyaka’s tusks, and the eighth holds an elephant hide. The second hand on the
left holds a skull bowl full of blood, the third holds a trident, the fourth holds a
small drum, the fifth holds a vajra, the sixth holds a bell, the seventh holds the
head of a buffalo, and the eighth holds an elephant hide.

“His belly hangs down, he wears a tiger skin around his waist, and Kulika
adorns his shoulder. He is draped with a long necklace that is a garland of severed
heads. His waist, neck, and the like are adorned with Nanda,
Vāsuki, and the rest, and he is ornamented with all manner of nāgas. He is surrounded
by eight ḍākinīs who venerate him while trampling Nārāyaṇa and the rest underfoot. The
sound of the great syllable phaṭ
fills the air, accompanied by the sound of kīli kīli, the sound of thunder, and the sounds ha hā hi hī he hai ho hau.

“Caṇḍeśvarī is in the space to the east and is generated from the seed
syllable caṁ. She holds a hooked
knife and a skull bowl in her two hands and wears a long necklace made of a garland of
severed heads. She is white, bares her fangs, and is terrifying.

“Carcikā is in the space to the south. She is black and is generated from
the seed syllable kaṁ. She holds a
hooked knife and a skull bowl in her two hands. The rest of her features are just as
previously described.

“Kālikā is in the space to the west and is generated from the seed syllable
laṁ. She holds a trident and
skull bowl in her two hands. The rest of her features are just as previously
described.

“Kulikeśvarī is in the space to the north and is generated from the seed
syllable raṁ. She is yellow, raises
her right hand, and holds a skull bowl in her left hand. The rest of her features are
just as previously described.

“All the goddesses have three eyes, wear a low-hanging garland of severed
heads, and are ornamented with the eight nāgas. They stand on top of corpses with
their left legs forward. They are naked, have disheveled hair, and are terrifying.

“Caurī is in the external space to the east. She is black and holds a
fly whisk. She is generated from the seed syllable caṁ. The rest of her features are just as previously
described.

“Lañjanī is in the space to the south. She is
blue-black, arises from the seed syllable caṁ, and holds an incense censer in her hands.

“Mahānandi is in the west. She is generated from the seed syllable maṁ, is red, and holds a vajra and bell
in her hands.

“Nandeśvarī is in the north. She is perfected from the seed syllable
naṁ and is yellow, and her
remaining features are just as previously described.

“The goddess Umā is embracing the leader. She is white, has four arms, and
abides in a state of great joy. She bares her fangs, and her remaining features are
just as previously described. The consort dwells in utter joy.

“Now I will clarify the supreme mantra of the buddhas, because it grants
the various siddhis. The Glorious One is fond of all beings, so he does not deliberate
over whether or not he should benefit beings. That is why the practitioner who abides
as Mahānanda should visualize themselves in the eight, ten, or twelve-armed form. The
yogin should use alcohol, the meat of cow, dog, horse, elephant, human, and so forth, and the five ambrosias and perform
the practice. They should drink blood constantly. If they hesitate when they consume
these, nothing will happen. Siddhi will certainly arise after they have made great
effort in worship, but it will quickly be lost. That is how one should act when
secretly dwelling among the families. This should
not be done openly. If someone does this openly, they will not attain siddhi. It is
best to contemplate this privately.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “what is the esoteric language you
taught? I wish to learn it exactly as it is.”

The Blessed One replied, “Esoteric language is appropriately vast. The word
power (bala)
might refer to alcohol or it might refer to meat. People cannot understand this
exalted language, so I will provide a clear explanation in terms of the five families
so that one will understand the attainment of siddhi.

“A ḍombī is a woman from the vajra family. A dancing woman is a woman from
the lotus family. A brahmin woman is a woman from the jewel family. A woman
who dyes cloth is a woman from the action family. A kṣatriya woman is a woman from the
body family. These consorts bestow their own respective siddhi. These women possess
the white vajra, which the mantra practitioner should always worship and drink.

“Hey Goddess! You, compassionate one with strong devotion, should
accept what was explained in its entirety. Anyone who has not been initiated into this
wondrous alternate language but uses it, or who uses it to speak to a person who has
not been consecrated as Mahākāla, will die within seven days. Even if they do not die,
they will become ill, their lifespan will be shortened, and their eyes will not see
the text. The yoginīs, ḍākinīs, and gods will trouble people who have not received the
consecration, who promote falsehoods, and who lack devotion.

“Goddess, everything I have taught without exception, that which I have
carefully done, the eight
siddhis, and the opening statement of all tantras is stated in this tantra. Thus, a
person who has been consecrated will attain the siddhis by reading it or writing it
down. An honorable person should write it down. It should be sixteen finger widths
long, and the ink should be made of black or red lac mixed with various fragrances.
The pen should be made of a neem stick, and it should be written on birch bark. The
copy should be made correctly on red cloth or cloth from a cremation ground while imagining that one’s hand has
been blessed on so forth. One should also constantly maintain the proper state of mind
when fashioning the neem stick.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess said, “please arise and listen while I invoke
Mahākāla:

u ṭa thi ya | bha rā ṭo | kā ru ṇa
ma nya | nā cā mi ha vuṃ de vi | i thi ta kī sa ka ri va ma yi ja ma yi tu hūṁ
puccha si kā ja ja ta ga kha ṇe ho yi sarva yā rā hā saṃ ṇa ca ca yi | e ka la vi ra | ti ṇa ṇī bhu ya ṇe ka ka ri yā kha ḍā ru ha ye | acchan te kā lī bo lī |
caṇḍe sa sa rī ku li kī nī bhi ri lā a ge ta yi kiṃ pūrṇṇa puccha si lo bho li | a ī
na an ta na na hi to he ka | e kā nai ka ri ya si stta bā thā | ed bhu ta su ma hi
ya ka ri hi si jo yi.

“Blessed One, arise perfectly this very moment, just as invoked.

“Now that the sixteen-armed form is clear to the mind and thus compete, the
two-armed form should be explained. For the sake of dispelling the suffering of
beings, reflect on the type of deity whose appearance you think is most beneficial for
addressing all kinds of suffering.”

The Two-Armed Form

The Blessed One said, “First, one should imagine the letter hūṁ. Then, those intent on siddhi should
perform the offering, worship, and so forth followed by the visualization. Visualize
him with one face and two arms, holding a hooked knife in his right hand and a skull
bowl in his left hand. His body is black in color, and his yellow hair flows upward.
He is seated on a corpse and is ornamented with the eight great nāgas. He has a big
belly, is short, and is flanked by two yoginīs. His lets forth a thunderous roar like
a dark raincloud, and he is reminiscent of Śaṅkhapāla because those beings present to
hear the sound all hide. O Goddess, if one does not attain this form, what is the point
of performing ritual procedures?”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “how can one wander as a
lord of yoga while dwelling among the five families? O Mahādeva, whether you have a
thousand limbs, a single limb, or four limbs, please enjoy this rain of flowers.”

The Blessed One responded, “One must certainly be accomplished in order to
succeed in the yoga of the yoginīs who comprise the threefold world.”

This is chapter seven in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “The Emergence of the Deities.”

Chapter 8: Locating Openings in the Earth

At that point the Goddess asked, “Is there some method for poor beings who
seek worldly wealth and possessions?”

The Blessed One replied, “I will explain the procedures for the various
siddhis in Jambudvīpa so that yogins who might perform them will attain all the earthly siddhis. The
mantras used should follow the explanation given in the chapter on mantras.

“At night, in a vajra dwelling, one should consume various substances such as
fish, meat, and blood and offer them as a bali to pacify vighnas.

“One who is oppressed by enemies should write the mantra on the leaf of a
crown flower with yellow orpiment. Then, while employing it, one should write the
target’s name and bury the leaf in the ground. Trample it with the left foot while
reciting the mantra and visualizing Mahākāla’s form.

“Yogins who want to pacify them should wash a metal vessel with milk while
incanting it with the mantra oṁ mahākālakāruṇika sarvaśatrūn
mukhaṃ bandhaya stambhaya mohaya hūṁ heṃ phaṭ.
They should make a finely ground mixture of the three hot spices, marking nut, fresh
ginger, and costus root, and pour it into the vessel. They should then eat this with
some honey. No enemy will be able cause bodily harm, and the body of the benefactor of
the rite will increase in size.

“When this process is repeated for twenty-one days, the weak fire in the
stomach will strengthen, at which point one should boil sap from a bodhi tree and yellow
myrobalan with the roots of scarlet leadwort, long pepper, sudarśana root, and mustard
oil and eat it with salt. When made into a pill over the course of twenty-one days, it
will restore one’s previous physical form, one’s fire will be hot, and the siddhi will
be indicated through a strong body.

“First, one should combine equal amounts of belleric myrobalan, Indian
valerian root, emblic myrobalan, and sesame oil.
Then make a large nāga, place this mixture in its mouth, and daub both eyes with owl’s
blood. An opening under the earth will appear. Additionally, after placing the mixture
in the nāga’s mouth, one should smear a mixture of mercury bonded with the sap of Indian
mallow leaves, blood, and camphor one one’s eyes. An opening under the earth
will appear.

“One should mix mahākāla fruit, bitter gourd, rosary peas, and pomegranate
seeds, combine the mixture with the three hot spices and honey, and cook it with black
sesame. It should be used to purify the body, and then following the prescription for
beans, it should be eaten. Within five days an opening under the
earth will appear. If one carefully rubs it on their body they will be able to see as
far as Mount Kailāsa and the like. If one washes with spring water, they will be as
before.

“After combining balañjarī sap, vulture meat, and black sesame oil, one should
consume it for twenty-one days. After that, one should use their own urine as a
collyrium, and buried treasure will become visible.

“One should combine equal parts honey from an underground hive, fat from a
nonvenomous snake, and cow bezoar and mix it into spring water. When applied to both
eyes as a collyrium, one will be able to see any buried treasure within five cubits with
perfect clarity.

“One should allow ambirolī sap, blood, cow bezoar, tannin, and cloth from a charnel ground to dry out and then fashion
them into a wick. It should then be made into eye-black by burning it in goat fat in the skull of a brahmin. Afterward, it
should be applied to the eyes to purify defilements. Additionally, one will still be
able to see when their eyes are blindfolded.

“During the lunar mansion Svāti, one should purify themselves with a string
of lotuses and sandalwood and daub a cloth eye-covering with saffron powder and musk. It should then be
made it into eye-black by fashioning it into a wick and burning it in
jackal fat within a human skull. Once it has cooled, it should be used as a collyrium,
and an opening under the earth will appear. Afterward, one should rinse one’s eyes.

“One should cook the fat of a cow, then human fat, and then buffalo butter in
a mixture of mercury, lead, and the three metals.
After that, one should place the pill in one’s mouth and fast for three days. Then one
should use one’s own saliva as a collyrium, and openings under the earth will
appear.

“First, one should cleanse one’s bowels and fast for one day. Cook
onions and bhūmilatā oil, make
fourteen pills, and eat them on the first day. Then one should eat twenty-one pills on
the third day, thirty-three on the fourth day, thirty-five on the fifth day, and
thirty-five again on the sixth and seventh days. Drink milk each day: goat milk on the
eighth day, buffalo milk on the first and second days, the milk of a yellow cow on the
third day, and ordinary milk through the nostrils on the fourth day. Then, during the
fifth watch of the day, one should use their own urine as a collyrium, and an opening
into the seven subterranean levels will appear.

“One should wash with water containing the three myrobalan fruits, bdellium,
and cow urine. Then one should consume a mixture of white mustard oil, honey, molasses,
the three hot spices, onions, and ghee and then drink goat’s milk. After seven days have
passed, one should cook bhūmilatā in black sesame oil. One should take an amount equal
in size to five twigs and eat it together
with sesame oil and barley for an additional seven days. For an entire day and night on
the twenty-first day, one will certainly see openings under the earth appear.

“On the eighth day of the lunar month, one should recite the mantra of
four-armed Mahākāla five thousand times, consume alcohol, meat, fish, the five
thorns, and so
forth, and then worship the goddess. Next, by applying the collyrium to the eyes one
will see terrestrial beings such as yakṣas. If this eminent procedure does not work, it
would be as if I have committed the five actions entailing immediate retribution. If Mahākāla has not arisen, it will not be my authentic collyrium.

“One should cook with joyweed,
Chinese wedelia, false daisy, bamboo shoots, the three hot spices, dhak tree bark, and
black nightshade, and then cook that mixture seven times together with kumuḍa
flesh. One should then
cleanse their bowels with black sesame oil and, while subsisting only on barley
meal, eat two portions on the first day, three portions on the second
day, five portions on the third day, six portions on the fourth day, eight portions on
the fifth day, ten portions on the sixth day, and fifteen portions on the seventh day.
On the eighth day, one should smear both eyes with honey from an underground hive, and
an opening under the earth will appear.

“One should drink milk for twenty-one days by taking goat’s milk through the
left nostril. Then one should make a collyrium with cow bezoar and honey and smear it on
both eyes. All buried treasure will then be visible.

“One should pulverize a mixture of khoṭī seeds, sesbania seeds, the juice of
waved-leaf fig leaves, the juice of water lettuce, cow bezoar, menstrual blood, datura juice, juice from the roots and leaves of
spider lily, and garlic together with medicinal
herbs, honey from an underground hive, and bile from a nonvenomous snake. It should be
made into pills and, after two days, applied as a collyrium at dusk. An opening under
the earth will appear.

“One should combine honey from an underground hive with ghilaka grains, then
muddle them with butter from a
yellow cow, cow bezoar, semen, and blood. One should then fast until hungry and then use
this as a collyrium. An opening under the earth will appear. Know that if one writes the
mantra fourteen times on birch bark, places it their mouth, and then applies the
aforementioned collyrium to their eyes during the daytime, all buried treasures will
become visible.

“One can properly employ the collyrium siddhi to the extent that these
procedures are correctly followed. Yogins should employ the procedure based on the
result they seek. They should always develop the specific intent in relation to what is
gained. They should visualize Mahākāla’s circle while residing in a charnel ground for
five days and consuming the five ambrosias to pacify vighnas.

“No matter where the treasure was permanently interred, they will see
it there as it was before. The ground should be purified and blessed by bali
offerings, offerings of attractive foods, and mantra and then carefully excavated.
Otherwise the siddhi will not be attained.”

The Blessed One replied, “The characteristics of such a place are as follows:
whatever medicinal substances that are appropriate and inappropriate to speak of are
present. All the food and provisions needed for rites of protection and so forth will be
available. Yogins who truly possesses the siddhi described in this chapter can see
whatever they are looking for day or night and can be as confident in it as if it were a
water lily or other flower, or smoke and so forth. If they hear the sound of mice in an
empty house, there is definitely a treasure in that spot. Or, if they see a cloud before
them out in the countryside that stops where flowers are scattered about, there is a
treasure. If they incant a banyan tree with the sixteen-arm Mahākāla mantra seven times
and supplicate the deity, they will definitely see the treasure while dreaming there.
Any spot where they place some of the hair of their head will contain a treasure. A
jewel can be found on the spot where the sound of a peacock is heard. It can be used to
fulfill the aims of beings.”

This is the eighth chapter in Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra, “Locating Openings in the Earth.”

Chapter 9: A Dialogue with the Goddess About the Pill

Siddhi

“Now, for the benefit of all yogins, I will
teach a chapter on the pill siddhi.”

The Blessed One continued, “The term guṭikā, or “pill,” expresses the combination of body, speech, and mind.
Gu refers to being based in the body, ṭi refers to the nature of speech, and kā refers to the mind. When all three are combined, it
spells the word guṭikā, or “pill.” This
pill, a small mass that is the single taste of all three, is the nature of the wisdom of
equality related to the two organs, the blazing fire that consumes the world at the end
of an eon. It is the primary cause of the consummate bliss of beings.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “what do you mean when you say that it is
the primary cause of the consummate bliss of beings?”

The Blessed One responded, “One should gather some Indian valerian root and
the root of utpalamadhika during a lunar eclipse and store them. Then,
during a solar eclipse in the lunar mansion of Kṛttikā, one should wrap them well in the
three metals and place them in one’s mouth. The pill siddhi will certainly be
attained.

“Following the daily sequence, one should use banyan root on the first day,
the root of a palmyra tree that has been struck by lightning on the
second day, coconut palm on the third day, rosary pea on the fourth day, menstrual blood
on the fifth day, and, on the sixth, the supreme siddhi. The Blessed One then engages
the samaya of the pill. Otherwise, the siddhi will not come about.

“On the fourteenth day of the waning moon during Puṣya, one should blend
viḍāla root and the flowers of touch-me-not. When smeared on the body in the proper
sequence the appropriate pill siddhi will be attained.

“One should make a pill at dusk using jalu root, then mix it with mercury and apply it. One will then be invisible.

“On the eighth day of the waning moon, one should take the flesh and blood of
a person who has died from a knife wound and perform the visualization of six-armed
Mahākāla. At sunrise, one should place a pill made of the five
ambrosias in their mouth and become invisible.

“On a Tuesday one should mix mahugaga seeds
with one’s own semen, then mix that with a powder consisting of the three metals. One
should then combine the mixture with the juice of pattrapiśācī, make a pill using cat’s bile, hide it in a
charnel ground for seven days, and then retrieve it at night. To eliminate any vighnas,
one should recite the mantra for the sixteen-armed Mahākāla, reciting it seven times to
effect protection while presenting a bali offering. This will pacify vighnas in the
area. When one inserts the pill into their rectum they will be invisible while traveling
on a road.

“One should take an unspoiled spotted śakula fish and some embers from a charnel ground and perform five hundred fire
offerings with menstrual blood while chanting the oblation mantra oṁ karāla vikarāla mahānanda hūṁ gṛhṇa gṛhṇa kaṭakī
svāhā. This
is the siddhi mantra. One will become invisible if they take an eye from this fish and
place it in their mouth. A person who uses this siddhi method, which is difficult to
find in Jambudvīpa, is certain to succeed.

“One should take the tongue of a child born on a Monday and leave it in sour
gruel for one day and in goat butter for two days. One should then remove it and leave
it in menstrual blood for three days, make it into a pill, cook it in human fat, and
place it in quicksilver for seven days.
One should next leave it in honey for five days and in the skull of a low caste person
for one day, then take it out, coat it with cat’s blood, and let it dry. One should
muddle it with the flesh of a bhadra bird and the flesh of a jackal, shape it into a
pill, and cook it. If one places it in their mouth they will become invisible. Goddess,
this is astonishing.

“One should crush śika, camphor, dried ginger, clear liquor, hārā, and the juice of datura leaves and form it
into a pill. This is the supreme pill.

“There is also a recipe that combines sixteen ingredients. One should take
human fat and fat from someone who died
the previous day and crush it in the skull of a
six- or four-year-old brahmin. One should then mix giṅheka fat with the juice of simbi leaves and
smear it on their body. One will certainly become invisible.

“One should make a wick from a cloth eye-covering in a brahmin’s skull filled
with human fat and cow fat that has been rendered in a copper vessel from Nepal. One
should then remove it, mix it with the juice of jantupiśācī, and use it as a collyrium and a forehead
mark. One will become invisible.”

“Blessed One, you have taught this to benefit the beings of Jambudvīpa. I
will also explain a little bit about pills.

“If one recites the mantras described in the chapter on mantras seven times
while offering supplications, one will attain the supreme pill siddhi. There is no other
way. One will be successful if everything is perfectly complete. The various
things that have been explained will lead to success.

“First, one should powder nisundara petals, mix equal parts sedakaṇḍā powder, sheep’s urine, and
human flesh, grind the mixture, and make it into a pill. One will become invisible to
the eye. Whenever one wants to be visible again, one should simply consume a
sour gruel, and one will become visible.

“One should harvest banyan root during the lunar mansion Citrā, valerian root
during the lunar mansion in Bharaṇī, soapberry root during the lunar mansion
Pūrvabhadrapadā, and star jasmine root during the lunar mansion Mṛgaśirā. Then, one
should make a pill following the proper sequence on the fifth lunar day by combining
these in equal amounts, crushing them, and mixing them with rainwater. Once the goddess’
mantra has been recited, one will be invisible. To do this on a regular basis, one
should place it in black milk until it dissolves. One will then succeed. If ones does
not have any black milk, one will be successful by performing the sādhana with the five
families, offering gifts of food and curd to a brahmin, and offering the preceptor
alcohol.

“One should crush sweet flag, costus, long pepper, dried ginger, yellow
myrobalan, emblic myrobalan, neem, vetiver root, and soapberries with the flesh of a
stork, an owl, and a man’s testicles. This should be placed
in sour gruel along with goat butter for seven days. One will become invisible. Whenever
one wants to be visible again, they should consume sour gruel and become visible.

“One should combine lotus anther pollen, earth from a termite mound, and the
dirt on a uraria plant, make a pill, and place it in their rectum. One
will then become invisible.

“If these procedures do not work, it will be as if I had committed the five
actions entailing immediate retribution. One should repeatedly maintain the five families as the
true state of the five senses. One should take the five families, coat it with the three
metals, go to a charnel ground, and embrace the consort. One should recite
the mantra aloud, and if people hear the sound filling the air and emerge from their
homes, one should apply the collyrium in order to not be seen.

“One should take fresh neem and rub it on their body. On a Sunday one should
rub sumāgadhā
on their body with the left hand and then rub their body with human fat on the eighth
day of the lunar month. If one follows this exact procedure, one will become invisible.

“On a Tuesday one should take rubies from a river. On Wednesday, one should take a jeweled sword and
sever the nāga Śeṣa’s tongue, take it, and first place it in a golden vessel. Later, one
should remove it and coat the outside with copper and the three metals. If one places it
in their mouth they will become invisible.

“One should incant śravanti root and tie it
with string. One should then retrieve it on an auspicious day, cook it with sea salt and
human fat, and eat it. One will then become invisible.

“One should incant sesbania leaves with the Goddess’ mantra seven times and
leave them in some sour gruel for one day. One should remove them and hide them in a
neem tree, then remove them again and place them in a banyan tree. After that, one
should pulverize them on the thirteenth day of the waning moon in Mṛgaśirā and rub them
on their body. One will be invisible for as long as an entire year.

“For the Goddess’ great pill, one should make twenty-one pills the size of
five soapberries out of the seven pollen flowers, coconut flowers, kaṭaka leaves,
samayagola, cobra saffron, piṇḍatagara root, the roots of tripura and datura, and the three myrobalan fruits. Then,
one should make twenty-one pills out of piṇḍatagara, menstrual blood, and sorghum and combine
them with twenty-one mahākāla fruit pills. One should crush them with honey and make
five pills. One should place the first pill in their mouth, the second in their rectum,
and the third and fourth in their right and left hands, and one should use the fifth as
a forehead mark. One will certainly become invisible.

“Then, one should pick the roots of a distilling grain on a Tuesday that
falls on the twelfth day of the waning moon and cook them with human fat. One
should make pills with the juice of a distilling root and the
juice of the bhagini plant, incant them seven times with the Goddess’ mantra, make them
into a pill, and place it in their rectum. One will become invisible.

Then the Blessed One said, “Goddess, what you have said about the power of
all siddhis has revealed them as they are. A capable person who performs them can
manifest any of the respective siddhis.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess replied, “may this be taught just as you have
said here, so that it may be of benefit and bring happiness to the beings of
Jambudvīpa.”

This is the ninth chapter in Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra, “A Dialogue with the Goddess About the Pill Siddhi.”

Chapter 10: The Foot-Salve Siddhi

“Now I will explain the various utterly inconceivable characteristics related
to the swift feet siddhi.”

The Blessed One continued, “For swift feet, one will attain the highest
siddhi if they recite the mantra of the twelve-armed form five hundred thousand times.
On the first day one should grind mercury, menstrual blood, the juice of dhak tree
roots, and śabarī, make a paste using
camel urine, and rub it on their feet. One can then move through the air. When prepared
and combined with lunar water, one will attain the eight siddhis. One should infuse it
with moonlight in the same manner and add five extra parts of grain. When one smears it on their
feet they will be able to move through the air.

“Should a lunar eclipse occur, at that time one should take one
one-thousandth and incant it until the eclipse has run its course. One should then smear
honey on their feet, and they will be able to move through the air. When worshiped by a samaya holder, the Blessed One will grant them
the unequaled siddhi.

“During a solar eclipse one should collect sea salt, salt, and kodo millet,
incant it with the mantra of the sixteen-armed form seven times, and smear it on one’s
feet. One will be able to move through the air.

“One should combine a girl’s first menses, olibanum, and boiled water and
incant it with the previously mentioned mantra. One should use this to wash their feet
as they please, and the siddhi will attained. It will gradually subside over the course
of the night.

“One should evenly mix piṇḍagolaka, dried ginger, yellow myrobalan, and
marking nut and smear it on their feet. One will be able to move through the air. If
this does not work, it means that one has committed one or more of the five acts
entailing immediate retribution.

“One should take an appropriate amount of ghee, mix it with the twenty-five
flowers, star jasmine flowers, and human fat and offer this into a fire while reciting
the mantra oṁ dhamu dhamu kṣamu kṣa svāhā. One should
then muddle cobra saffron, wet-flower, the fat of a yellow cow, and human fat
and rub it on their feet. One will be able to move through the air in relation to each
or all the flowers.

“One should rub their feet with śilapataka incanted one hundred times with
the mantra oṁ maṇidhāriṇī mahākāliṇī kha kha khāhi khahi ghana
ghana ghātaya
ghātaya cala cala hūṁ hrīḥ hrīḥ haḥ. One will be able to move through the
air.

“A person who wants to move above the surface of the earth should take bala
root, cow’s tongue root, śopagalikā, yellow myrobalan
root, and turmeric, increase them threefold, and muddle them with a mixture of elephant
musk and yellow arsenic. When one rubs the mixture on their feet with honey, one will
certainly soar above the surface of the earth.”

Then the Goddess said, “I would like to faithfully explain five procedures
that ensure success when properly given. One
should gather velvet bean juice on the first day, beleric myrobalan juice on the second
and third days, five sahor fruits on the fourth day, and banyan
leaves on the fifth day. One should pour goat urine over them and let them soak for five
days, leave them in buffalo milk for five days, and then leave them in camel
urine for five days. Then one should grind them with yellow arsenic and vetiver root and
combine the two with mercury. After that, one should add sacrifice tree to make a pill,
place it in some mother of pearl with one’s own semen, and rub it on both feet. One will
then be able to move through the air.

“One should combine lunar water with spider lily, two phaṇikiraṇa leaves,
śilapataka juice, a fragrant and extremely bitter plant, a pleasant-sounding plant, hiraṇyaparikara, and
sugatramutramukhi and soak them in white mustard
oil. If one smears them on their entire body, one will move through the air for a single
watch.

“If this fails during a lunar eclipse, one should collect a black cat’s bile
on the fifth day of the waxing moon during Puṣya and the saliva and bile of a peacock
and a ram’s blood on the seventh day and rub them on the big toe of each foot. One will
move through the air for a single watch.

“If nothing happens, then the person pursuing that practice has harmed all
the teachings, and I myself will have spoken deceptively.

“One should take spider lily root and sarvadhalī,
crush them with cow meat, rub the mixture on their feet, and then rinse it off with
vetiver root. One will then move through the air.

“One should combine purple fleabane, vetiver root,
cutch tree sap, sukhaṭa, castor oil, and Siamese rough-brush and pulverize them with the
three metals, indarī, bilva fruit seeds, vatava seeds, neem seeds, and satani root and leaf
and rub the mixture on their feet. One will then move through the air. If it does not
work, then the practitioner has committed one of the actions entailing immediate
retribution. I will also have committed a
violation due to attachment to the entire Dharma and the tantras, and I will have spoken
falsely and been deceptive.

“Additionally, one should sit on a hilltop and recite the Goddess’ mantra
seven times. One should crush realgar powder, daub tree leaves, and royal jasmine leaves
and seeds and rub them on their feet. They will then move through the air.

“Also, if one rubs on their feet a pill made from a juice made from seven
roots and camphor water on their feet, they will certainly move through the
air.

“This supreme means of bestowing the various siddhis was composed for the
sake of those people who understand ultimate reality. Such a person has been adorned
with various verses.

This is chapter ten in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “The Foot-Salve Siddhi.”

Chapter 11: Adorning the Goddess with Power

Then the dialogue turned to the topic of having power over all phenomena.

The Goddess asked, “If all phenomena are like space, does one produce the
nature of a respective siddhi in the same way that a goose, the king of birds, moves on
the ocean, or does it come about through remaining in the form of the tutelary deity?”

“Goddess,” the Blessed One responded, “those who, through their white light,
bestow the desired stainless siddhi on those who would otherwise seek pure siddhi
through the momentary presence and absence of thoughts should practice on the first day,
and while so doing they should gain stability through repetition until it becomes
easy.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “is it possible for a person who is
momentarily confused through the presence of thought to be successful by correctly
engaging with the five families and the like? How is it possible for realms to be
protected by a single mantra? Does this allow for accomplishment of the resultant
siddhi, the final great siddhi?”

The Blessed One responded, “Goddess, why do you say that? Swift feet
indicates familiarity with the great meditation practice that is definitive for all
siddhis. The pill siddhi indicates the union that is a great assembly. The collyrium siddhi indicates
the characteristic qualities of samaya. The sword siddhi indicates union with the
supreme state. As long as there is no conceptual thought, it is not the peace associated
with proponents of existence. That would be confusion. The stainless mantra surely leads
to the attainment of siddhi. The mercury siddhi indicates the state of supreme joy.
Because people seek them, the rest, including the siddhis of moving through the sky and
on the earth, also come about. One can also attain a long life. One who makes effort in
the practices from this chapter will become a king. The king among subtle channels is
the avadhūtī.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “how does consuming everything and
perceiving it in conformity with suchness lead one to attain siddhi?”

“Goddess,” the Blessed One replied, “I will explain how the meeting of the
two is the cause for attaining the corresponding bliss. The sign of sexual arousal is
nothing other than the sexual arousal that comes from the two organs conjoined. This
bliss is bestowed upon someone when their mind is in equipoise.

“The sovereign tantra should be written down by yogins bearing the sign of
being consecrated through visualizing the sixteen-armed form and by those who are drawn
to the five families. The head of anyone who doubts what I have said will burst open
like the top of a wild basil plant, or they will contract many illnesses, have a short
lifespan, and become blind.”

This is chapter eleven in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “Adorning the Goddess with Power.”

Chapter 12: The Collyrium Siddhi

“Now I will present a chapter on the collyrium siddhi. The collyrium is said
to be the single taste that follows the union of the vajra and lotus. Externally, the collyrium allows one to fly like a vulture.

“One should gather the bones of a rat on the eighth day of the waning moon.
Then on a Sunday one should make them into wicks in an earthen bowl using the cloth of
an eye covering. After that, one should
use dog fat in a brahmin’s skull to decoct the collyrium. When one rubs it on their
eyes, they will move through the air like the eye of a raven.

“Next, one should make two pills from high-quality iron. Once that is complete, one should consume them on a Tuesday
and then lead a black bull to a designated place and strike it until it cries out. One
should then ride the bull while eating food, and at dawn one should recite the mantra
for the sixteen-armed form. Apply the collyrium and dismount from the bull, and one will
certainly move through the air and dwell among the families.

“On the fourteenth day of the dark half of the lunar month, one should
gradually crush sulfur, lead oxide, saffron, musk, sandalwood, jamun, and olibanum on a
stone mortar and make the mixture into a pill. Combine it with honey to make a
collyrium. One will then drift about anywhere like a cloud.

“I will explain. Yogins who have spots on their heart and throat, are devoted to Mahākāla, and have a long nose are certain to possess the collyrium siddhi. This is
the supreme siddhi for those beings with inferior or middling faculties.”

Then the Goddess said, “One should grind up śabarī root and honey, mix them
together, and smear them on their eyes. This results in the siddhi that allows one to
drift through the sky like a cloud and move about as desired.

“One should gather some datura root on a Friday, sunflower on Saturday,
sesbania root on Sunday, and the bile of a black cat on Monday. One should then muddle
them with yellow arsenic and honey and use the mixture as a collyrium on the eyes. One
will drift about like a cloud.

“On a uniformly colored stone, one should muddle jayara fruit extract with sunflower, bilva flowers, black salt, peacock bile, and honey and apply the mixture to both
eyes as a collyrium. That person will soar through the air like a vulture. Goddess,
this is like the swift feet siddhi, except that it is the easier siddhi.”

This is chapter twelve in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “The Collyrium Siddhi.”

Chapter 13: The Mercury Siddhi

“Now, for those in Jambudvīpa who seek the supreme joy,” the Blessed One
continued, “I will explain the mercury siddhi that liberates beings. One should use
mercury that is highly potent and productive. The secret use of clear language, as well
as esoteric language, coarse language, and signs, expresses the attainment of the great
joy of supreme bliss. Yogins who understand the science of mercury will fully generate
its immeasurable power. It has potency as a mercury pill when it has been collected
together. The two syllables of the term rasa, “mercury,” are received during the stage in which the two are
unified.

“First, a person preparing mercury should grind it in goat’s milk and combine
it with the juice of datura leaves, sea salt, salt, and cow urine. Add starfruit juice,
let it sit in the sun for three watches of the day, and then rinse it with rainwater and
spring water. Take human blood and pomelo juice, one portion of gold dust, twenty-four
portions of quicksilver, and leave them in a juice made from velvet bean leaves for one
month. Then grind it and rinse it again in the same way.

“One should place the letter in the middle of the second consonant group
before the first letter of the name. At what is identified as the end, place the first
letter of the fourth consonant group and ornament it with the fourth vowel. One should
then write the first letter of the sixth consonant group at what is identified as the
middle, and the final letter of the fourth consonant group at the end of that.
Ornament the two previous syllables with the vowel a, and it spells jayantī.

“After heating the juice from that plant’s leaves over hot coals, the adept
should prepare one pala and three portions of white mica powder, stabilize it, and mix
it so that it increases fourfold. Skilled yogins should refine it for one month while
observing it each day. They should then add the mica to copper. If it has transformed
into gold by the twenty-first day, then it is fit for human consumption.

“If one has abstained from leafy vegetables, sour foods, and women for the
entire twenty-one-day period
during which it is consumed, then any food one desires will come to them. Their wrinkles
and grey hair will clear up, they will live for one thousand years, and they will avoid
all lower rebirths. One will have a healthy body and an extremely sharp intellect.

“If one adds tin, it will become silver following the above procedure.

“The mantra to recite during this procedure when performing the bali offering
is:

“A large bali offering should be performed three times every day for seven
days using black gram and rose apple, human flesh, alcohol, fragrances, incense,
garlands, lamps, powders, parasols, bells, banners, and the like along with blood and
rice. Then one should recite the mantra for the sixteen-armed form while performing this
mercury rite, and the siddhi will undoubtedly be attained before long.

“One should take mercury and add the juice of chimili leaves and the juice of
boiled oṣaṇa leaves. One
should then take some alambu and progressively combine it with snake’s tongue, gorakṣataṇḍula leaves, and sunflower and then grind all of it with
black mica. It should be all be covered well, above and below, in a vessel, placed on a
fire pit the size of an elephant’s foot, and allowed to harden in the vessel.
One should take individual palas of hardened white tin and add them to each of the
portions so that they turn into silver. The adept should then consume all of it.

“One should take mercury, combine it with cat’s bile, and then rinse it with
the juice of a plantain. It should be crushed with powdered red ocher, plantain tree,
alkali, and the saturated earth beneath a burned corpse. One should then rinse it with
the fat of a jackal and rosary pea juice, place it in sour gruel and vetiver root, and
let it sit for six watches over the course of a day. After that one should remove it,
rinse it with hot water, and leave it in rose apple juice for two days. It should then
be rinsed, first in human fat and then in a solution of water from a rain-fed spring,
and left for one watch of the day. Know that this is how it is properly prepared.

“Now for the preparation of firewood: Between the light and dark halves of the lunar month,
one should take a single leaf and leave it in a mixture of sour gruel, buffalo curd, and
goat’s milk for one day. Then one dips it in a mixture of liquified cow dung, fluid
excreted from an elephant, and sour gruel and removes it. One should grind it with
rohita carp bile and a dog’s bile and let it dry for five full days. Kardoñjana should be added, and the mixture allowed to dry for one day.
An adept should then use it to refine mica, and they will master what has been described
in this tantra.

“Someone who has purified it through these two refining procedures and is
well equipped with all requisites should take one pala of powdered mercury and four palas of powdered tin
and place them in a vessel with double the amount of mica. They should add the juice of
kurchi root and then take raja juice, juice from sesbania leaves, and sweet flag and let the mixture
break down over a fortnight until it becomes granular. Next they should light a fire and
infuse one portion of that granular powder into one pala of tin. It will then transform
into mercury.

“A yogin who takes that same prepared mercury and consumes it each time he
has sex
will, by following the aforementioned procedure, perfect the corporeal siddhi.

“One should cook the juice of pomelo leaves with black sesame oil in a copper
vessel, apply mercury, and allow it to dry out for three watches of the day. It should
then be muddled with the juice of velvet bean leaves and poured into a vessel with the
roots of boswellia and coconut palm, bhadrapatralatā, lodhra, mung bean, and gagana. One
should next pour these ingredients into a vessel, apply clay to the top and bottom, and
cook the mixture in a hole the size of an elephant’s foot until it solidifies. Yogins
who eat this will become Śiva’s equal and be unrivaled, and they will be
successful within one month. If it does not work, then I am not Mahākāla. One can also
infuse the preparation with a portion of copper following the above instructions, and it
will certainly turn into gold.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “there is some doubt regarding the day on
which the siddhi and mercury will be produced. In that case, Blessed One, if someone
considered exalted such as myself is indifferent to kakkola and adopts the
conduct of wandering the earth, are they certain to attain the mercury siddhi?”

“Goddess,” the Blessed One replied, “the mere fact that you are a goddess
means you will always clearly understand. To the extent that someone lacks that
capacity, they cannot ward off virulent disease, nor prevent being stricken with ocular
distortions, liver diseases, and bone marrow diseases. That is why people who carry out
this practice should also focus on the eight siddhis.

“When someone brings about liberation from the horrors of the great ocean of
cyclic existence while regarding it as an illusion and thus acts free from plurality,
they abandon their previously accumulated wicked behavior and effortlessly attain these
various siddhis here on this earth.”

This is chapter thirteen in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “The Mercury Siddhi.”

Chapter 14: Mercury Sādhanas

The Goddess said, “Based on what you said, how can the full complement of
obstructing beings be overcome, so that skilled yogins can perform this practice in its
entirety from the start? They should make a single leaf that contains the black and
white substances,
grind it with sour gruel, and again divide it into two portions with sona juice.
Then they should use the juice of dhak tree leaves, the juice of white Chinese hibiscus,
cow urine, and rohita carp bile that has been refined nine times, followed by karuli and pomelo. If this is
completed by the end of the day they will certainly attain siddhi.

“A person with faith should mix together samudra, datura leaf juice, earth
from a cremation pyre, yellow orpiment, and malabar nut and place it in the sunshine.
They should then repeatedly immerse it in a mixture of lemon juice that has been soaked
in mercury for one night. Whatever one desires will come to pass. This should be
performed by an adept.

“If, when undertaking a mercury procedure, an obstacle suddenly arises and
creates problems, or if an obstructive person with brown or white hair disrupts the
process, then at that time one should perform a bali offering to the best of their
ability. One should offer meat, alcohol, flowers, incense, perfumes, garlands, and the
flesh of domestic fowl to the incarnation of a protector deity that has arrived. If a
person with a dark complexion manifests, they are an incarnation of a yakṣa and should
be given the previously mentioned bali offering as well.

“If they arrive within seven days to contaminate the mercury, one should call
to mind the following mantra:

“This mantra will protect one from any manifestation. Yogins who know it and
use it at that time to subjugate the obstructing beings will definitely attain siddhi.

“If incarnations of yakṣiṇīs manifest before one’s eyes when undertaking the
procedure or manifest suddenly, they can be recognized as a woman with a dark complexion
and red eyes, one who is slight, short in stature, eloquent, and has a sweet voice. One
should respectfully give her some jujube and perform the bali offering to attain siddhi.

“If the one who is present has a yellow complexion, is tall, has long calves
and limbs, is very attractive, and has features such as eyebrows that flow upward and
are of two colors, she will create obstacles, disrupt the mercury procedure, and act
violently.

“If a woman taking the form of one’s mother or wife or likewise the form of
one’s niece, paternal grandmother, mother-in-law, mistress, and so forth appears at
night, one should protect oneself with the mantra oṁ kaṭī me
jaḥ hūṁ. One should touch the mercury with chalk while incanting it with the
mantra seven times, pierce it, and continue speaking the mantra to the extent desired.
Using one’s perfect vision, one should check one’s dreams and then, based on that, make
the mercury correctly and perform the practice of receiving it. If there appears a
negative sign or one indicating not to do it, one will know that it will not work.

“One should grind menstrual blood, bottle gourd, and mercury. One should then take one pala of
that mixture, add a sixth of a portion of gold, place it in a stone vessel, and mix in
black-cat bile and mercury. Later, the thin mixture should be poured out and muddled
with buffalo urine on the third day, human flesh on the fourth day, a droṇa of emblic
myrobalan on the fifth day, marking nut on the sixth day, and the three myrobalan fruits
on the seventh day. After that, one should rinse it with human urine, add lemon juice,
and leave it in the sun for one watch of the day. Next it should be removed and placed
on a stick along with juice made of velvet bean, three-leaved caper, kurchi,
himaraṅga, Indian leadwort, and mung bean. One should rinse it with velvet bean and
sesbania juice and let it dry out for three days. One should then take four
palas of white mica that has undergone the aforementioned purification, process it every
day for twelve months, refine it for a month in juice made from emblic myrobalan and
sudarśana leaves, and finish it by stirring it to the right for as long as possible. At that
point Brahmā and the gods of his realm will grant the incomparable siddhi. If one eats
it every day and night for fifteen days, one can invariably turn the eight metals to
gold simply by touching them. If both the sun and moon disappear, at that very
moment one will produce whatever one desires. Moreover, one will be able to enthrall
women from within the midst of a great army.”

This is chapter fourteen in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “Mercury Sādhanas.”

Chapter 15: An Account of Royal Lineages

“Blessed One,” the Goddess said, “please describe those places
where people live and are reborn, and those places where the mortal and immortal lords
and yoginīs dwell.”

The Blessed One replied, “North of Mount Sumeru there is a city called
Bālabhañja, where in this eon there is a nāga king named Bogadhiga, who has attained the mahāmudrā siddhi.
The nāga line in that city will continue through a thousand of his descendants. He
performed ten million recitations of the venerable Mañjuśrī’s heart mantra, and he will
attain siddhi after a series of rebirths as numerous as the needles of
the sarala pine. After that, the city will fall into the sea.

“An asura king named Andra will be born on the island of Varika. A rākṣasa named Gardhava will be born
seven generations after him and live for one hundred twenty thousand years. After that,
it is taught that an incarnation of the noble Avalokiteśvara will assume all the various
forms through which the Dharma can be taught there.

“North of that, on the island of Uttarāṅkura, the power of samaya,
meditation, and complete understanding will result in an eon of renowned activity that
will last for ten million two hundred twenty thousand twenty-seven years. Then,
periods celebrated for being joyous will pass for one hundred ten
million, one hundred seventy-one thousand, twelve thousand, and one hundred one years,
followed by one hundred fifty-one velas and then a period of
one million six hundred thousand years. During all these times, it will be known as
Uttarāṅkura.

“South of Mount Sumeru, on the border of Laṅka, there is a mountain called
Vahura, where
a horde of rākṣasas has lived for as long as there has been a sun and moon. South of
that there is a city named Samori, where there is a king is
named Rasana. South of that
there is a city called Kāmarūpa, where there will be a king named Saptalakṣaṇa. In the
place where the king will appear there will be females with attractive forms who had not
been there before, nor would be there. Caṇḍikā was prophesied to appear
as well.

“A fisherman will be eaten by a fish, die, and then be reborn as a yogin
named Dārika. He
will live in Vadaha, where he will cause alcohol to pour forth in the Ganges River for
one ghaṭikā and bind the ḍākas and ḍākinīs as a result of his mantra practice.

“There will be a great astrologer named Varaha in that country, and King
Suvāha and his son and grandsons will also appear there. He will begin building one
hundred thousand temples by the age of twenty-four and complete them when he is fifty.
Eight years later there will be one hundred fifty thousand more, and ten thousand yogins
and one thousand buddhas will reside there over the course of three eons.

“To the east there is a king of mountains, one that has been flooded by the
ocean and reemerged three times, where a yakṣa named Dhṛta will reside for two yugas.
After that, he will be born as the wife of a leader of the Baṅgala tribespeople
and make offerings to the goddess Cundā. Eight lives later, she will be born as the king
of Kāmarūpa. He will have four hundred queens, nine palaces, abundant grain harvests,
and an abundance of black aloeswood.

“There will be a market town to the south named Magandhari that will remain
for one hundred thousand years. Later it will be known as the market town Śrī. When he
goes there, one-fifth of the town will see its cow dung, white kuśa grass, and fresh
black aloeswood increase a hundred thousandfold over the following three thousand two hundred years.

“On the southern border of Kāmarūpa is a mountain where Hanumān lives called
Kuhara, which has been there for as long as there has been a sun and moon. To the south,
after Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa’s father Daśaratha, along with Ajati’s sons Vālin and Sugrīva
and their followers, have brought desire, delusion, and anguish to the
bhujaṅgapodadhikas, there will be a king named Samarthin.

“To the west of that location will be an emanation of Vāsudeva named Pāṇḍu
who bears the five insignia and is able govern without wielding the staff of the law. He
will be succeeded by the asura king Bali. Their country will be surrounded by ocean, and
its central region will be called Paṭṭikeraka. His sons, grandsons, and so forth will
reign there and make offerings to the Lord of Cattle as their tutelary deity for five
hundred fifty years. The kings during that period will bear the name Pāla, and there
will be fifty of them in the lineage.

“To the southwest of that location will be the royal seat of the city of
Bhaṇḍapurī, where Jambhala’s blessing will allow a king named Vikramāditya to attain
siddhi and live for four hundred years. In that city all the specific siddhis will be
attained, and one-fifth will have sons. The bhūtas and gods will protect them
for fifty years.

“One thousand years after they have been conquered, there will be a king
named Kūrma, who will live for two hundred years. He will rule over Baṅgala for one
hundred eighty years, and his dynasty, which will be known to be like the prominent
teeth of a tawny-colored divine bull,
will reign as the kings of Āvalakā. His son, grandson, and so forth will reign, and
during the reign of those kings there will be five yogins and two yoginīs who attain
siddhi. That country will rival the country of Oḍra. The people born there will be
extremely diligent, and it will be like the tale of the Rāmāyaṇa. One lord of yoga whose name begins with the first member of the
first consonant class ornamented with the first vowel (ka) and the fourth member of the seventh consonant class (ha) will attain the eight great siddhis. There has never
been one like him in Jambudvīpa in the past, nor will there be in the future. The six
yogins who are his disciples will attain mahāmudrā free from corporeality.

“Then a royal dynasty with the name Candra will become the guardians of that
kingdom. When that lineage declines, a brahmin’s son named Candra and a śūdra named
Nāmbhapālita will become king. Then a disciple whose name is spelled with the second
member of the first consonant class ornamented by the third vowel (khi) and the first member of the fourth consonant class
ornamented with the thirteenth vowel (tau) and with the name Candra at
the end will become king. That
will be the result of his twelve million recitations of the honorable Mañjuśrī in a
previous lifetime.

“Varmāsana will be king after that, and then
his son, grandson, and great-grandson will be yogins. Another with the name
Pāla will follow, and he will have a single male heir. After he is gone, Datta,
Ghoṣa, Dama, Siṃha, Nandi, Ambara, Āditya, and Senā will all rule in succession for a
time. The kings that follow them will have little merit.

“There will be a sea to the north of Paṭṭikeraka that will later become a
desert. In that country, there will be a place called Maḍa with a king named Kamboja.
His son named Kośāmba will be king, and there will be a city named Kauśāmbi. Later in
Paṭṭikeraka there will be one named Sārabhū, and his son will become king. In the middle of that country is a
place called Vikramapūri, where yoginīs will come and attain siddhi. A yoginī will serve
as queen over the middle of that country, and due to her merit, the lineage of her son,
grandson, and so forth will purify Baṅgala.

“It is said that when the earth there is depleted it will be the Kaliyuga.
Once it passes, the buddha known as Lord Maitreya will appear and teach by means of his
intellect, which sees the inherent nature that is non-existent. The nāga kings will
bring timely rains to the lands of Oḍra, Coḍa, and Siṁhaladvīpa. In the land of Radhā a
line of men named Pāla will continue for thirty generations. The last descendant of
that dynasty will conquer Saphala, the king of Oḍra, along with his divine retinue, and
conquer the yoginīs. He will then attain the state of a preeminent yogin, a lord of yoga
whose vow equals that of the buddhas, and he will perform twelve million mantra
recitations. He will have two disciples, and his two disciples will have three
disciples, and those three will also have yogin disciples. They will have a
disciple, the renowned Dharmakīrti, who is preeminent among yogins and scholars. He and
six other people who benefit the teachings and have adopted the spiritual life will
attain siddhi.

“Later, protectors named Matila, Pāgara, Bhavyaghoṣa, and Sahāsrakārṇa will
attain siddhi over the course of thirty years. The Kūrma lineage will conclude with the
yogins Sarma, Hastin, Garmuka, Pacana, Samveda, Buddhahāsa, and Patela.

“Farther west will be a city named Mālavī, a place where siddhi is
attained. After the time of the renowned Bhojyadeva, two sage-kings named Khotika and
Pālita and their courts will rule there for one thousand years.

“West of that city there will be a city called Sambuka, where a line of kings named Govardhana will rule for five
thousand years, followed by Kale and Mala, both of whom will attain siddhi.

“To its south will be a city called Ajarayoginī, where the yogin named
Nāgārjuna will give his kingdom to Gopāla, who will have climbed a sala tree. After his
son dies, that line of kings will proceed from Vahna’s grandson, who will reach
perfection as a glorious lord of yoga and attain the eight great siddhis associated with
being king of the threefold world. That king’s son, Kaivartaputra, will be killed by a member of the merchant caste, and those
among his sons and grandsons who travel west will reach Vajra.

“Even farther west is a temple called Tripāṭana, to the south of which one of
his sons, named Ārka, will reside. At its southwestern border is a city named
Bhaṭakunire, where the intelligent citizens are ruled by a king named Bandhadeva.
Following his sons and grandsons, the next in line will move to Sindhu, and
upon his death the line will appear in a place named Gar. For the
next seven generations they will be recognized yogins and will not be associated with
any country. After that, the next in line will leave that city for a place named
Bhandani, where he will unite with Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa and become king. He and his entire
court will attain the fruit of buddhahood in that lifetime.

“To the south there is a town called Sarṣibhañjikā, where the blessing of the buddhas is always
present. A venerable buddha will rule there for one thousand years, surrounded by a
court of people who have all attained siddhi. The lord who sits upon the vajra
throne fashioned by the gods will live to the north, and the venerable noble
Avalokiteśvara will appear in the land named Khasarpāṇi along the eastern
frontier.

“In the west there will be a city called Mahābhañjapuri, where a king named
Vasubhadhana will rule. It is said that the line of his descendants will last for eight
generations, and then the entire town will fall into the sea.

“Countries such as Lāṭa, Coḍa, Gauḍa, Baṅgala, Oḍiyāna,
Jālandhara, Paṭṭikeraka, Kāmarūpa, and so forth will be continually blessed by the
buddhas. In these lands, renowned as Jambudvīpa, every desire will be available, and the
kings, royal courts, yogins, siddhas, and the like will fulfill their aims.

“To the east of the ocean is the mountain Hura, which is home to an
unfathomable number of asuras. To the south is the home of the crow-faced people, who
are all known to be eminently skillful. To the south of the ocean live the
triangular-faced people, rākṣasas, kinnaras, asuras, and the like, monkeys and
other animals whose cries sound like laughter, and Hanumān. To the west of the ocean
live people with faces shaped like half-moons, and to the west of them live the gods and
the like.

“The home of the people who live around the ocean is called Godānīya. The
people there have circular faces, and the king who lives there rules over the entire
region. He is not subject to the process of death, transmigration, and rebirth.

“To the west is a city called Rasalandhi, where an asura king will reign
during its initial period. He will be followed by a king named Devāṅgana, and when he
dies he will be followed by his son Kāmpisiṃha and by his grandson. After that, seven
generations of men with the surname Bhaiṣajyasena will rule, followed by a king named
Pāla. After that, a king called Sahadevakaivartaputra will enter the town to the
west.

“There is a city named Maṇḍa to the east of Kāñcana, where the original
inhabitants were people with broad faces adorned with peacock feathers. They completed
the accumulation of merit and wisdom by reciting the mantra oṁ
sumukhinī sarva and consuming only saliva as food. Their king will be the
serpent who beautifies the four directions, and a rākṣasa will rule after him. After the
line of his sons and grandsons comes to an end, everything will fall into the sea.”

The Goddess asked, “Blessed One, why have you not described all the places
there are? And in those you did describe, why did you leave out the bodhisattvas
associated with them? Is there anything about what you have said that is false?”

“Listen closely, Great Goddess,” the Blessed One replied. “Each of
the places I described has been blessed by buddhas. There are other places that have
been created by deities who are not buddhas, and all such places have been named after
someone who has attained siddhis. A samādhi exists in each of these places that brings
about the purification of every wicked deed. There are places where the three vases and
the like are known to be the body wherein the five aggregates are present. Kings, kingdoms, yogins, and yoginīs are purified with each exhalation
and inhalation, as exemplified by the sense faculties and sense objects.

“Any being who goes for refuge in those connected with the path of the
sugatas will accomplish everything they have set out to accomplish in this lifetime, and
anyone who recites this account of royal lineages will receive its hidden wisdom.

“In chapter thirty-six I will explain the wisdom of calculation, which will correctly
engage the knowledge of the past, future, and present. In chapter twenty-five and
elsewhere, Goddess, I will explain the names that have the capacity to engender
omniscience, and I will explain the wisdom that arises on that occasion. In this way, no
one will ever be deceived by Māra.”

This concludes chapter fifteen in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “An Account of Royal Lineages.”

Chapter 16: Sādhanas for Acquiring a Servant

The Blessed One continued, “If someone is interested in attaining kingship,
they should focus on kingship; if someone is interested in attaining the mercury siddhi,
they should focus on the mercury siddhi; if someone is interested in attaining the
corporeal siddhi, they should focus on the corporeal siddhi; if someone is interested in
attaining ultimate reality, they should focus on ultimate reality; and if someone is
interested in attaining the sense objects, they should focus on the sense objects.
Goddess, once they have attained one of those goals, they can easily be successful in
all of them, while those who attempt to succeed in other goals without them will find
their efforts fruitless.

“At a solitary liṅga, a cremation ground, or a riverbank, one should sit on
top of an intact corpse that has not begun to decompose. After the mantra has been
recited one hundred eight times, the corpse will stick out its tongue at the end of the
mantra recitation, at which point one should cut it out and hold it in their right hand.
One will then attain the sword siddhi.

“I will explain some other procedures.

“One should take some salt and hit the corpse with it. It will spit out six
or eight pieces of gold.

“On the eighth, tenth, or fourteenth day of the lunar month, one should take
their own catuḥsama and anoint their body with it. They should then take a seat on a brahmin’s skull
and light lamps to the five goddesses and so forth along with mutaka and olibanum and recite the mantra one thousand times within a vajra dwelling.
The king of mantras that one should recite for this rite is oṁ
mahācaṇḍa hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā.

“Then, on the eighth day of the waning moon, one should go to a riverbank and
make a maṇḍala using butterfly-pea flowers. Then, on the sand at that riverbank one
should make an image in the likeness of the yakṣa Kelīkīla and smear its body with
various perfumes. Next, one should recite the mantra oṃ suḥ
ṣaḥ hūṁ five thousand times while sitting in that maṇḍala. The yakṣa will
approach and say, ‘I am going to eat you,’ but the practitioner should not be afraid and
should say to him, ‘Servant, you must do my bidding.’ When offering water is poured on
his head he will give five hundred palas of gold every day, as well as the mercury
siddhi and alchemy siddhi. If this does not happen, one should take sulfur, mica, and
suparṇamakṣī with the left hand and slap the top of his head three times, and he
will surely come. If he does not come, his head will burst open like the flowering top
of a wild basil plant. If the practice was performed following the proper procedure, he
will do whatever one wants. The eight yakṣas will also come if one performs that
practice.

“The yogin should go to edge of a city and recite the mantra for the
four-armed Mahākāla five thousand times. After that he should set up Mahākāla’s maṇḍala,
grind rattleweed root, jataka bark, and timira root, and rub it on the body.
After Mahābhairava arrives with a great roar, he should present offering water that has
been infused with sandalwood and rainwater. The yogin should not be afraid when he sees
him. This practitioner’s assistant should be seated in the north and addressed as
‘son.’ Once the yogin issues a
command three times, he will do whatever the yogin
wants.

“Alternatively, one should go to a park and take a seat on a tiger skin under
an aśoka tree, naked and with their topknot undone. One should perform everything up to
the self-protection rite as before and rub their body with a juice from the leaves of a
sūpāśimbī tree. They should then recite the mantra of the two-armed Mahākāla one
thousand times and perform a bali offering that is well supplied with ghee, honey,
cooked grains, black gram, beleric myrobalan fruits, alcohol, and meat. After that, they
should brandish a sword and utter ‘approach’ three times. Mahānanda will clap his hands
and approach. A yogin who seeks siddhi should look at him without being frightened, and
he will grant one thousand palas of gold.

“One should go to a solitary liṅga, face east, and recite Mahākāla’s mantra
one thousand times or more while rubbing their body with the five ambrosias. After
reciting the mantra one hundred more times, one should rub their body with sūpāśimbī
juice. While seated on a corpse, one should recite the mantra oṁ muḥ hūṁ jaḥ vaṃ hīḥ for three watches, and a yakṣiṇī taking one among a
number of forms will arrive bearing an excellent offering of various substances. She
will become one’s companion and no one else’s, will provide five palas of gold every
day, and will protect one as if one is at the foot of a protective tree or at the foot
of a flowering tree.

“I will now thoroughly explain another rite. To summon Candra and Sūrya,
one should go to a place where there is an image of the Buddha and make a large bali
offering. One should then smear their body with lac mixed with water and sandalwood,
sit on a corpse while facing east, smear their body with the five ambrosias,
and recite the mantra in a loud voice five thousand times. Sūrya will come, and once he
has arrived the practitioner should sit in the north and offer him water infused with
cow bezoar and sandalwood. Sūrya will ask, ‘What can I do for you?’ at which point the
practitioner should say, ‘Please grant me the alchemy siddhi’ three times. If one leaves a bali
offering furnished with the seven root plants beneath star jasmine following the proper
ritual procedure and then sits on scattered lotus flowers while reciting the mantra,
Candra will certainly come and do whatever one wishes.

“A yogin should enter meditative equipoise in a vajra dwelling and rub their body with vermillion and
perfumed water. While seated on a human skull, they should recite the mantra eight
thousand times before a painting of Mahākāla, and Kālikā will come. If she does not
come, then they should perform the head-slapping mudrā, and she will surely come. She will provide
one hundred gold coins each day and become one’s servant. Additionally, in order to gain
accomplishment through Carcikā, one should use the left-hip mudrā. She will come and
provide one with gems and precious jewels.

“There are additional ways to gain accomplishment through them. Someone who
wants the two yoginīs to grant the mercury and alchemy siddhis should recite the
invoking mantra oṁ kṣaḥ hūṁ phaṭ. The yoginīs
will make the sound cha cho, and they will come with great sound of phaṭ. The practitioner should look at
them without fear, and while seated in the north they should say, ‘You should act as my
servants.’

“One should go to a charnel ground, take a seat on a buffalo skull before a
painting of Mahākāla, enter equipoise, and recite the mantra for one week. After the
third watch has passed, Mahākāla will come with his retinue. One should not be afraid
when seeing them. When he says, ‘Hey practitioner, I am going to eat you,’ the
practitioner, seated in the north, should say ‘
Hūṁ kill!’ while offering water infused with
cow bezoar and sandalwood. After that, Mahākāla will ask, ‘Great hero, why did
you summon me?’ The practitioner, seated in the north, should respond, ‘Carry out the
task I require, whenever I ask of you.’ Then he will say, ‘I will grant whatever siddhi
you wish.’ If the practitioner then displays the lion mudrā, they will obtain the form
of a lion that is so difficult to gain. Through this they will be granted various
substances and siddhis. The mantra for that practice is oṁ
āgaccha mahā hūṁ ho ho.”

This is chapter sixteen in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “Sādhanas for Acquiring a Servant.”

Chapter 17: Enthralling Rites

“Now I will explain the chapter on enthralling rites.

“Goddess,” the Blessed One said, “I will explain the medicinal substances,
mantras, and mudrās.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess replied, “please describe the most effective
medicines.”

The Blessed One replied, “On the eighth day of the lunar month, one should
follow the rites for a fire offering. Then one should take some fibers from giant
milkweed fruit and wrap them with a strip of cloth from a cremation ground. Grind cow
bezoar, the five ambrosias, and a human tongue into powder. Fashion this into a wick,
place it in a copper bowl in human fat, and it will produce a collyrium. Then one should
mix it with their own semen and use it as a forehead mark. Any girl that one looks at
will fall under one’s spell. If she does not fall under one’s spell, then Mahākāla is
not present. He will have committed an act entailing immediate retribution by abandoning
his vow to protect the Buddha’s teachings.

“One should perform five thousand fire offerings using velvet bean leaves
while reciting the mantra
oṃ hrīḥ
kṣaḥ [insert name] āgacchantu
yaṃ
, then one should meditate with an unwavering mind with their clothes off and hair
loose. The power of the mantra will surely make her come and fall at one’s feet. That
female servant will have a pleasing appearance, and she will not belong to someone else.
If she does not come, one should reverse the order of the mantra and recite it one
hundred eight times. Her head will burst open, she will die, and one will be
granted the supreme siddhi.

“On the fourteenth day of the waning moon during the lunar month of Māgha,
one should display the red form of Mahākāla and perform an elaborate offering to him.
One should face east while performing five hundred fire offerings with alcohol and red
water lilies. After midnight one will enthrall even the king’s daughter, so it goes
without saying that one can also enthrall someone else’s daughter. If this does not
work, one should enthrall her using the mantra oṁ vajra hūṁ
phaṭ svāhā, which can enthrall even the most intractable beings in
Jambudvīpa.

“One should stir lotus root, cow’s tongue, sandalwood, aloeswood, and the
five ambrosias in sesame oil and incant it twenty-one times with the mantra for the
sixteen-armed form. One should then use it to rinse their face, and, when present in the
king’s palace, even one’shostile and irreverant speech toward the king will be regarded
as agreeable.

“This astonishing method has been praised by all the buddhas. One should
combine vulture meat with cow bezoar, stir it together with their own semen, and give it
to a young girl. She will become one’s servant if one combines this method with mantra
recitation.

“This is the method for the great enthrallment rite: One should stir the fat
of a cow, the fat of a parrot, and sesame oil with kakkola seeds and hit a young girl
with the mixture. After that, the liquid will trickle down, and she will offer her body
and remain at one’s side for as long as one lives.

“One should stir together birch bark, cow bezoar, red lac, and vermillion
with emblic myrobalan juice and use the mixture to draw a circle with a triangle
consisting of three parts. In the center, one should draw the first member of the third
consonant group mounted slightly above the syllable ra and adorned with a nasal in the middle. The following mantra should be
arranged outside of it:

Wrap it in cloth from a charnel ground, place it in water infused with
sandalwood, and leave it there for one watch of the day. At that point the target will
certainly be enthralled, and they will do whatever one wishes. One can also incant the
seeds of a bundle of datura every day with this mantra five thousand times and hit her
with them, and in five days she will be coerced into marriage.

“A yogin should perform five hundred fire offerings on the eighth or eleventh
day of the waning moon with a mixture of dark blue water lilies, ghee, honey, and
molasses while chanting the mantra oṃ strī kṣīḥ [insert name] asyā pitā vivāhena mahyaṃ dāpaya
svāhā. Within a week, the yogin will enthrall
that girl. If she is not enthralled, he should recite the mantra one hundred more times,
and she will definitely be enthralled.

“One should stir soil from a charnel ground, realgar, barley potash, and molasses
with their own semen and rub it on their body. This will certainly enthrall any
animal.”

This is chapter seventeen in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Enthralling Rites.”

Chapter 18: Counteracting an Enemy’s Ritual

“Now I will present a chapter on counteracting an enemy’s ritual. One should
gather some amuha —an
extremely potent medicine that will kill anyone who acts as an adversary—dry it, and
scatter it. The ritual will certainly be counteracted. If one scatters realgar, it will
certainly be counteracted. If one scatters a woman’s blood, the ritual will certainly be
counteracted. And if one wears the clothes of someone who is recently deceased, it will
certainly be counteracted.”

This is chapter eighteen in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Counteracting an Enemy’s Ritual.”

Chapter 19: Paralyzing Rites

“In cities such as Trikāmadevī, where the those who bear the marks of a
buddha are in a state of paralysis, this is what should be done. At such times one should visualize the wrathful
form of Mahākāla, who contains all buddhas. His single face is white and extremely
terrifying. He stands with his right leg forward and is trampling a black asura
underfoot. He holds a hooked knife and a skull bowl, has three eyes, and is adorned with
all his ornaments. The mere act of visualizing him will paralyze anything.

“When one has performed the visualization practice to the point of
exhaustion, if it is followed by reciting the mantra
oṁ maḥ jaḥ [insert name] stambhāya hūṁ phaṭ
ten
thousand times as the preliminary practice, anything will be paralyzed.

“On the eighth or fourteenth day of the lunar month, one should draw the lord
of the deities on a piece of cloth stained by menses. One should then place the
five ambrosias in its mouth every day and imagine the paralysis. Using this, a person
who practices another sādhana may paralyze four-legged creatures and the like. The wise
practitioner should make a concoction by pulverizing rat meat, tortoise meat, and snake
meat. Any animal they strike with it will be paralyzed.

“Additionally, if one mixes quicksilver, fruit, and the head of a tortoise
with sesbania and scatters the mixture, it will certainly paralyze any human being.

“If one combines equal parts white bdellium, a mixture of sulfur, wild
leadwort, velvet bean, and
phulaṭi and then scatters the mixture, it will paralyze a snake.

“If one hits something with a mixture of sweet flag, aloe, and velidha, it will be paralyzed.

“If one strings together a garland of velvet bean, kalaḍa, kakṣatvi, and menstrual blood and ties it to their waist, seeds will be
neutralized and clouds immobilized.

“I will explain how to release immobilized clouds: Combine equal parts
sijiṭa, betel, samaṇḍā, and tortoise, and use that mixture to release
clouds that have been paralyzed.”

This is chapter nineteen in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Paralyzing Rites.”

Chapter 20: Killing Rites

“I will explain more about this. One should meditate on Mahābhairava for the
purposes of ensuring happiness in the world once evildoers are killed. He has one face,
is black in color, and has a large protruding belly. He holds a hooked knife and skull,
is mounted on a buffalo, and is ornamented with the eight nāgas. He bears his fangs, his
blazing hair flows upward, and he is extremely terrifying. He has the features of a
sixteen-year-old, his penis is erect, and he is naked, rotund, and short. Simply
imagining the deity with these qualities radiating from the seed syllable hūṃ will destroy and disrupt any enemy and
cause their head to burst.

“The image should then be consecrated as follows. On the evening of the
fourteenth lunar day, twenty-one yogins and five yoginīs who have been purified with
samaya fluid and are committed to protecting the samaya should recite the mantra one
thousand times. After the ācārya recites the mantra seven times, an offering of one
hundred eight lotus flowers is made and a triangular maṇḍala constructed. It should be
encircled by a garland of vajras, furnished with a sword and hooked knife, and washed
with blood. Then Mahābhairava should be consecrated by being struck with the five
ambrosias while reciting the mantra oṃ būṃ āḥ bhairava
svāhā. That night everyone should drink blood and alcohol and eat
all the food until it is finished. After each of them has offered six gold pieces, they
will be blessed by Mahābhairava and should sing and dance.

“When the time comes to perform a killing rite, one should display a cloth
image on the eighth or fourteenth day of the lunar month and apply blood, alcohol, and
meat. One should supply the enemy’s name, recite the mantra one hundred eight times, and
step on image’s neck at night. This will surely cause the target to contract a severe
fever and inflict them with excruciating intestinal disease. In their dreams,
Mahābhairava will appear to them and say, ‘Beg for forgiveness, because you have shown
contempt to bodhisattvas!’ If they then beg for forgiveness, their illness will be
immediately and completely cured.

“The yogin should perform a bali offering with the five meats and so forth to
the cloth image every day while reciting the mantra oṁ maḥ hūṁ
kha kha khāhi khāhi māra māra sarvaśatravaḥ mahābhairava prayaccha tu
svāhā. The target will develop a
severe headache, a fever, and an intestinal disease.

“Then, after the first day of the month or on the eleventh,
one should smear the image with mahākāla fruit followed by a powder made from white mustard, kakali
seeds, black pepper, dried ginger, vajra milk, and the seven thorns. Then, if it is placed in a pile of cow dung, the
target will die from a complicated illness. If it is placed in a human skull, the
target will die from an
intestinal disease. If it is placed in urine, the target will die from a severe
headache. If it is placed in water, the target will die from a severe fever. If it is
hidden in a cattle pen, the target will go blind. If it is left out in the sun, the
target’s skin will crack. If it is placed in a fire, the target’s head will burst open.
It is extremely rare to encounter this procedure in Jambudvīpa.

“For those yogins who pursue such extraordinary rites, it should be performed
after first completing the pacification rite. One should take some salt, soil from a
charnel ground, Indian sandalwood, the thorns from emetic nut, and varaya fruits and place them in
buffalo milk. Then the mantra should be recited seven times during the lunar mansion
Rohiṇī. The target will die. If one immediately submerges the mixture in honey, the
target will be revived. This procedure is miraculous.

“On the eighth or fourteenth day of the waning moon, one should mix some
white mustard and cow meat, fashion it into an effigy that looks like the target, and
incant it with the mantra one thousand times. If it is pricked with the thorns of Indian
sandalwood, the target will surely die within seven days. There will be nothing that
anyone can do after their life force is gone. A person born during the lunar conjunction
Bhadrapada will be burned, and a person born during the lunar conjunction Kṛttikā will
surely die.

“On a Tuesday one should make an effigy out of feces, Indian mustard, and
radish and coat it with cow’s blood. Then one should place feces in its mouth while
reciting the mantra seven times, and the target will immediately contract mahendra fever
and die after six months. If it is rinsed with goat’s milk, the target’s health will be
restored.

“On a Sunday one should draw Āditya on a piece of birch bark using lac
liquid and feces. Hūṁ should be
drawn on his forehead, khaṁ
on his eyes, tha on his two breasts,
hṛīḥ at his navel, the target’s
name on his stomach, and the syllable hā on both his thighs. When the image is roasted over a fire made from
cluster fig, the target will first contract a fever and then surely die. If the image
is rinsed with vajra water, the affliction will be cured.

“On a Monday one should draw Soma with yellow orpiment on rattleweed leaf.
Hūṁ should be drawn on his tongue,
kṣaḥ on his forehead, and the
target’s name should be inserted in the mantra on his stomach. If this drawing is placed
in a boar’s tusk and then placed in water, the target
will contract leprosy.

“On a Tuesday one should draw Maṅgala on birch bark using cow bezoar and
blood. Khaṁ should be drawn on the
crown of his head, haṁ on his
forehead, ra on his eyes, the
target’s name on his stomach, and hrīḥ on both his feet. When this drawing is roasted in an iron kettle, the
target will dry out and die. If it is rinsed with milk, they will be revived.

“On a Wednesday one should draw Budha on a stone using red ocher. Śaṁ should be drawn on his ears, haṁ on his forehead, muṁ on his nose, jaṁ on his throat, the target’s name on his stomach, vaṁ and jaṁ on both his thighs, and hūṁ on his navel. All should be the color of fire. If the
drawing is left in the sun, the target will dry out, contract an unbearable fever, vomit
blood, and die. If one follows the same procedure as above, the target will be cured.

“On a Thursday one should draw Bṛhaspati on a flower petal using blood.
Kṣaṁ should be drawn on his
forehead, hūṁ on his neck, and the
target’s name on his stomach. When the drawing is placed in a pot, the target’s stomach
will swell, and they will die. If the pot is broken, they will be cured.

“On a Friday one should draw Śukra with semen on white birch. Hūṁ should be drawn on his mouth, he on his forehead, and ṭaṁ at his heart. When the drawing is
covered and hit with a hammer, the target will become hunchbacked.

“On a Saturday one should draw Śaniścara on the leaf of giant milkweed.
Laṁ should be drawn on his
forehead, daṁ on his lips, maṁ on his two hands, the target’s name on
his heart, and saḥ on his navel.
Then, if the drawing is roasted in a fire, the target will contract a lung disease.

“On the eleventh day one should draw a monkey on a banyan leaf using blood.
One should then draw vaṃ on both its
hands, place the drawing in a cobra saffron tree, and slap it with their hand. This will
sow perpetual discord.

“On the eighth day of the waning moon, one should draw Rāhu with lac and
yellow orpiment on a piece of birch bark. Raṃ should be drawn three times on the ground, then hṛiḥ on his forehead and the target’s name on his head. When
the drawing is roasted in a fire, the target will develop a headache and suffer from
mahendra fever for three weeks. When it is placed in water, they will be cured.

“One should draw a lion on a giant milkweed leaf using yellow orpiment.
Daṃ should be drawn four times on
its teeth, and a hūṃ followed by the target’s name and the
mantra on its tongue. When the drawing is placed in cow urine, the target will develop
pustules. When rinsed with milk, they will be cured.

“One should draw Vāsuki with rhinoceros blood on a banyan leaf. The mantra
should be drawn on his stomach, hliṃ
on his tongue, and jaṃ along with the
target’s name on his head. When the drawing is placed in a river, the target will be
killed by a snake. Someone who wants to heal them should hold it aloft with their hand.

“On the fifth or thirteenth day, one should use semen to draw an old
hunchbacked man on a banyan leaf. Trāṃ should be written on his chest and the target’s name at his heart. When
it is placed in water, the target will certainly develop a hunched back.

“The instructions provided by the Venerable One make success easy. Someone
who follows them will be successful in a manner that corresponds to what was practiced.
Why is the main subject matter the killing of corporeal beings? So that practitioners
who oppose the buddhas are more rarely encountered.

“Moreover, a yogin who continually consumes the five ambrosias and
sulfur, which challenge those who have adopted false suffering and who fondle breasts
without knowing their own purpose, should proclaim ha
hūṁ as he moves about, and he should maintain constant conviction that he is
a bodhisattva who has brought an end to transmigration.”

This is chapter twenty in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Killing Rites.”

Chapter 21: Guaranteeing Siddhi

The Blessed One continued, “Goddess, the goddess I embrace is a woman with
the complete set of all characteristics. She is the one who accomplishes bliss on this
earth.”

“Blessed One,” the Goddess replied, “On which day can one attain siddhi?”

“Listen Goddess,” the Blessed One replied, “it is the day that ensures
success for the practitioner. In this case, practitioners will surely attain the eight
siddhis if they perform the practice on the eighth day of the waning moon during the
lunar month of Māgha as it occurs in Jambudvīpa. Let there be no doubt
about this. A person who performs the sādhana on the fifth day of the lunar month of
Vaiśākha will quickly gain accomplishment. If one performs it on the fourteenth day of
the waning moon during the lunar month of Śrāvaṇa, one will attain the great siddhi, and
likewise during the lunar month of Kārtika.

“Statues, texts, and paintings should be started on the eleventh day of the
waxing moon during the lunar month of Āśvin. The yogin who makes them should also
consecrate them on that day, because blessings are sure to enter them.

“One can make use of blood, the five meats and the like, alcohol, various
types of meat, food, drink, and whatever else one wishes. All siddhis will be
received.”

This is chapter twenty-one in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Guaranteeing Siddhi.”

Chapter 22: Rites for Causing and Halting Rainfall

“Now I will present the chapter on breaking up and gathering clouds. When
there is a substantial amount rain, one should go to a charnel ground and recite the
mantra for the eight-armed form five thousand times, incant five thousand blue water
lilies, and perform the fire offering. The rain will surely subside.

“One should go to the edge of town, sit on a cow’s skull, and smear their
body with human fat. One should set up an image of Mahābhairava and focus on it while
performing a fire offering with five thousand dark blue water lilies. One should satiate
themselves with meat, alcohol, blood, drink, and food.

The mantra is:

“When recited, the clouds will surely disperse, and the rain will subside. If
one washes themselves with offering water and then recites the mantra well, all manner
of good qualities will result.

“One should go to a place with a solitary liṅga, sit beneath a tree, place
their left forefinger in their mouth, and recite the mantra of the sixteen-armed form
five thousand times while imagining a lion in their hand. The clouds will certainly disperse and depart.

“One should go to a pavilion, sit on a lion skin, and fill their mouth with
blood from their calves. If one incants dung one
thousand times with the mantra for the sixteen-armed form, the deluge will certainly
cease.

“One should mix dark blue butterfly-pea flowers, molasses, and sesame and
perform five thousand fire offerings as before. The mantra is:

oṁ mahājñānā samaya hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ
phaṭ phaṭ meghaṃ sphoṭaya hūṁ phaṭ.

“After reciting only this, this procedure for dispersing clouds, which is
wondrous in the human realm, will certainly end the rain.

“When there is a drought, one should go to an empty house, dig a pit one
cubit deep in the middle of a square maṇḍala, and offer one thousand flowers as a fire
offering. The mantra is:

oṁ hūṁ pravarṣaya pravarṣaya jaḥ jaḥ jaḥ haḥ haḥ haḥ phaṭ.

“After reciting only this, it will surely rain.”

The Blessed One next taught an advanced procedure: “On the outskirts of town,
one should take a seat on a monkey’s skull, rub their body with human fat, and drink
alcohol according to the proper procedure. A yogin who craves food and drink will
undoubtedly succeed. One should perform five thousand fire offerings with
butterfly-pea flowers, or otherwise visualize themselves in the form of a lion and
aggressively recite the following mantra after an initial roar:

oṁ muḥ haḥ
pravarṣaya pravarṣaya ha ha hīṃ svāhā.

“One should then cup their hands and say, ‘Rain on me,’ while imagining the
rain spreading from their own dwelling to fall on the entire vessel-like world.”

This is chapter twenty-two in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Rites for Causing and Halting Rainfall.”

Chapter 23: Bringing Relief to All Beings Encountering Difficulties

“Now, to benefit all beings, I will present a chapter on expelling
Śaniścara. During difficult times,
yogins should visualize themselves in the form of Mahākāla and perform one thousand fire
offerings using bilva fruit while reciting the mantra oṁ khaḥ
hūṁ vajrāgraye svāhā. Things will then
become easier.

“If one uses the mantra oṁ cītili hili hūṁ
mahāśanaiścaraṃ kha kha hūṁ phaṭ while smearing kadalasundala with cow fat and performing one hundred fire offerings, this will cause
Śaniścara to flee, and things will get easier. If he is killed permanently, the entire
city will have an abundance of food and wealth.

“One should set up an image of the twelve-armed form and worship it by
supplying it with alcohol. One should then recite his mantra five thousand times and
perform one thousand fire offerings with pomegranate. Śaniścara will surely flee or die.
If this does not happen, one should perform an additional mantra recitation, and he will
surely flee.

“In the evening of the eighth day of the waning moon, one should take a seat
on a tiger skin and recite the mantra oṁ ketu khaṃ hūṁ
phaṭ with five yoginīs. Ketu will then flee. If one recites the previously
stated mantra one thousand times on the fourteenth day while consuming various types of
food and alcohol with five yoginīs, Rāhu will surely flee.

“During a plague of insects, one should perform a fire offering with alcohol and five thousand datura
flowers, and the insects will flee and die. The mantra for the rite is oṁ hṛīḥ hūṁ pataṅga nu cchedaya kṣiḥ phaṭ. When these steps are complete, all
calamities will be pacified.

“One should go to a water source and first incant milk from a red cow one
thousand times with mantra oṁ jala ham jaḥ. One
should then perform a fire offering with five thousand jasmine flowers. The milk will
surely restore the water.

“When an entire crop of grain has been lost, one should perform a fire
offering with five thousand dried emblic myrobalan fruits and alcohol and then offer
food, drink, song, and alcohol to the goddess. The grain crop will be restored by the
mantra oṁ stuṃ vaṃ śāntim prakuru svāhā.

“If that does not work, then I will have committed the five actions entailing
immediate retribution and lied about the entire Dharma. Therefore, yogins must be
consistent in reading and listening. If they do not read and listen, yogins will not
have the slightest success in relation to the dying, the crippled, and the
hunchbacked. If they act exactly as the Blessed One taught, they will quickly
accomplish anything.

“When a meteorite falls on the residents of a city, one should recite this
mantra before a painting or statue of four-armed Mahākāla while performing five hundred
fire offerings with datura seeds. One should offer food and drink to the five yoginīs,
followed by a bali offering. The effects will be mitigated through this sequence, and
none other.

“If there is an outbreak of a severe fever, one should recite the mantra
oṁ hrīḥ sarvasattvānukampayā hrīḥ hūṁ phaṭ
while making five thousand fire offerings with jasmine
flowers. The five yoginīs will pacify it so that things are as they were before.

“In the case of boils, dysentery, or jaundice, the five yoginīs should eat
and drink as much of the five meats as they like. Then, one should recite the
preceding mantra one thousand times and perform five thousand fire offerings. They will
surely be pacified.

“All that has been taught in this tantra is not taught anywhere else. Even
the most trifling explanation has been presented here just as it was taught.”

Chapter 24: Interpreting Signs of Whether or Not One Will Be King

“Now I will explain omens that indicate whether or not someone will become
king if they perform the sixteen-armed visualization and recite the mantra one thousand
times in order to become king. The signs of whether or not kingship will be achieved are
as follows:

“If a brahmin with a dark complexion approaches, asks for alms, and wants to
create an obstacle, he will surely grant the siddhi. After the obstacle is correctly
pacified, the process is complete, and success will follow.

“If an old woman repeatedly approaches and begs for four cowrie shells, she
is an emanation of Vajrayoginī. This means one will undoubtedly be successful.

“If a butcher approaches holding a flower, one will face a terrifying
obstacle.

“If one sees a vulture eating intestines in a dream, it is a sign that one will become king. The same is true if one
sees a vast plain.”

Chapter 25: Rites to Become King

“There is more to say about this. When a person who desires accomplishment
using methods, such as are given here, to attain what they seek first sets out on the
road, Goddess, people will recognize them and declare them a king upon the earth.
Should one ask about this when traveling on the road or at another time, if they
practice continually on the eighth, tenth, or fourteenth day at the end of the lunar
month of Vaiśākha, the outcome is certain, without any doubt.

“One should go to a mountaintop and perform the previously mentioned
visualization of Mahākāla, recite the mantra five hundred thousand times, place the
three metals in their mouth, and then perform a fire offering with five thousand
lotuses. Success is ensured.

“A yogin should go to a charnel ground and sit on a corpse while holding a
sword. They should first scatter golden fragrances, flowers, and other beautifully
colored items and then leave the sword on top. Through this the yogin will undoubtedly
succeed in whatever they wish.

“One should set up a painting of Carcikā in an empty house and recite the
mantra five thousand times. After that, one should recite the mantra oṁ vaṃ khaṇḍālini svāhā while offering eight thousand blue
water lilies into a fire and then drink milk infused with the eight medicinal roots. One
will certainly become a king.

“On the fifth day of the lunar month of Bhādrapada, one should paint
the four-armed Mahākāla and perform an elaborate offering to it. One should then make a
pill out of gold and the eight metals, place it in their mouth, recite Mahākāla’s
dhāraṇī one thousand times, and consume meat and alcohol. When all that is complete,
recite this dhāraṇī: oṁ sumukhī suparva dehi dehi hūṁ hūṁ caṭa
caṭa riṭa riṭa rāṃ kuṭa kuṭa hūṁ phaṭ svāhā. If one applies this practice for
six months they will become king, and not otherwise. If one spends a year pretending to
have the major marks of a universal ruler, one will come to possess the major marks of a
great universal ruler.

“If one mixes soil from a riverbank, pulverized conch shell, and pork
together into the shape of a lion, imagines the syllable vaṃ on its mouth, and recites the mantra ten thousand times,
one will become a king. If that does not work, one should perform a fire offering using
one thousand lotuses. One will then succeed and will undoubtedly achieve everything in
this lifetime.

“If one goes to a place with a solitary liṅga or a charnel ground, sits on
top of a corpse, and while holding a sword in their hand strikes the three
saline substances, one will become a king.

“A wise person performs these rites in order to use insight to pursue what
they desire. One should perform the pacification rite mentally and then perform the
bodily rite.”

This is chapter twenty-five in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Rites to Become King.”

Chapter 26: The Consort Maṇḍala

Then the bodhisattva great being Prajñābala and the Goddess both asked,
“Please teach us, Blessed One. Help us understand the nature of desire and delusion.”

The Blessed One responded, “A person who has received the consecration for
the five goddesses should adopt the following rite. On the eighth or fourteenth day, one
should pulverize one pala of gold, sprinkle it on a square maṇḍala, draw the Goddess within the four corners, and
perform a fire offering. One who is well-versed in insight and wisdom should unite with
the consort and indulge in food and drink. They will surely be successful—this is
guaranteed, venerable noble Prajñā!”

This is chapter twenty-six in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “The Consort Maṇḍala.”

Chapter 27: Guidelines for Training

“Now I will present a chapter on training. One who wishes to train in a way
that illuminates training should, at all times while training, maintain the use of
alcohol, meat, and the insight that the guru is Vajrasattva. By doing so, the water
sprinkled on their crown is called insight, and a
yoginī is explained as being oriented toward the benefit of self
and other. When addressed by the ritual officiant, there is no doubt she is called
mudrā, the vajra state, and noble
lady. Training refers to the mind being free of
movement.”

This is chapter twenty-seven in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Guidelines for Training.”

Chapter 28: Ultimate Reality

The Blessed One continued, “Ultimate reality is the nature of the mind
engaged in the pursuit of sameness. It unfolds when there is no mental engagement.
That which has those qualities is nonexistent.

u ṇu a ra nā
hi tatta ha lu e he ṇi ja hi ka ha vi nā saṃ ho | ci a ra go ca ra i citta ta ha thaṃ
vi na su ha la pa ri bhā si o mha re kha ṇa pi na thakka | o ujja ṇi e le kha sa ṇo |
bha ṇa i bhe o sa va ratta ka hi vi ṇa cchi ṭṭhi o.

bhaṃ bā lo a
go a ra cintā gha raṃ gha ra gha re ṇi he ṭa mu kṣa hi o | ma hā ja nan de vi a so hi
ṇa bha ṇi o | bi ha ha da te pa ri bha vaṃ te | ka ha vi na ja
i.

“These lines explain ultimate reality in a base language.”

Chapter 29: Those Born from Sacred Spaces

“Now I will describe those born from sacred spaces. A woman who is born into the
brahmin caste and who is tall, has large eyes, and either a pale or dark complexion
should be dignified as a yoginī.

“A woman born in the śūdra caste who has crooked legs, whose complexion is
bluish, pale, or dark, who has curly hair, and who has a raspy voice is a ḍākinī and is
likewise in the vajra family.

“People with the complete set of features of one born from an untouchable
caste and who are born during the lunar mansions Pūrvabhadra, Citrā, Svāti, Ārdrā,
Pūrvāṣāḍhā, Punarvasu, Bharaṇī, and Kṛttikā will attain the siddhi of Mahābhairava, as
will those born during Rohiṇī, Mṛgaśirā, Maghā, and Āśleṣā.”

This is chapter twenty-nine in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Those Born from Sacred Spaces.”

Chapter 30: The Arising of Protector Deities

“Now, I will discuss the protector deity. One should go to the location where
an obstructing being is present and perform the appropriate generation practice. First,
one should visualize the syllable hūṁ, perform the various offerings, confess their misdeeds, and so forth. One
should then imagine that a hooked knife emerges from the syllable hūṃ at the heart and that one is empowered
by the syllables kṣaṃ and hūṁ. From these transformations one should
visualize themselves as the protector deity with two arms. He holds a hooked knife and
skull and stands with the right leg forward, trampling a dog. He shouts phaṭ and bares his fangs. He has a
blue-black complexion, three eyes, and upward-flowing, reddish-brown hair. He wears a
tiger skin, drinks blood, and is flanked by two yoginīs.
Continue reciting the mantra after the visualization.

“One should make a mālā with clay from a riverbank strung on rattleweed fiber
and use it to recite the mantra oṁ hūṁ caṃ
sarvasiddhidāyakāya
svāhā. A yogin will achieve whatever he desires.

“One should prepare dough balls made of black gram that have blood, alcohol,
and fresh meat in them, and use them every day as a bali offering at the base of a tree,
in a charnel ground, or at a riverbank. Three pale protector deities will emerge from
the seed syllable caṃ. The yogin will
always be able to perform any virtuous or nonvirtuous action and attain siddhi.”

This is chapter thirty in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “The Arising of Protector Deities.”

Chapter 31: The System of Channels

“Now I will discuss the system of channels. A great bodhisattva who acts as
an ācārya who has mastered mixing the three and trains in relinquishing selfish desires should summarize the
avadhūtī, lalanā, and rasanā. An enumeration that has the capacity to demonstrate the
sixty-four channels is as follows: the lalanā is understood as the nature of insight,
the rasanā is understood as equivalent to the nature of physical bliss, and the avadhūtī
is understood as including the nature of great bliss. This refers to the production of
semen and of the three realms.

aṭṭha u hā nā
hā i a | sa a la saṃ mo he | ca ca ci u ha rā ja ne tāṃ bhānti o | nā ha ha nā dha saṃ
ku la bha va i sva ra ha bha na i kā la | kā la ha ka ri ci a naṃ pa i svā
hā.

This is chapter thirty-one in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “The System of Channels.”

Chapter 32: Describing Virtue and Nonvirtue

Then, the blessed Bodhicittavajra addressed the Lord, saying, “The inherent
nature of the mind, which arises in sixteen moments, is the inherent nature
that is the cause of great wisdom. It subsumes the two legs of consciousness and its
object. Thus, to long for the girl who cuts them off—a girl who bears the sixteen
moments—is like something hot to the touch and something cold to the touch.

a ha ka ha re | i ṇi bud dha sva bhā ve | citta va ḍanti bo | bha vā na si la u pa lakkha ma ja jheṃ | cī a pa la vi pa phā ra ṇā kāṃ ti ma ṇā | bhanti ka tha naṃ.”

This is chapter thirty-two in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Describing Virtue and Nonvirtue.”

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.

“While reciting oṁ kālāya yakṣāya 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.

“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, “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 wood 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
kathaya 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 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:

oṁ
amogharitimahākāla hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ kili kili māra māra kāraya kāraya sama sama cama cama
dama dama jvara me kāhi kaddhyahi kaddhyahi kaṃ caturthakam māsikam madhāmāsikam
paittikaṃ kleṣmikaṃ hūṃ tajaṃ grahajaṃ vaitāḍāṃ hana hana śāntiṃ [insert
name] kuru ha hā hi hī hu hū he
hai ho hau haṃ haḥ.

They should then take a half breath, 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 śuciraspurabandhana hūṁ phaṭ
svāhā, one hundred thousand times, a yogin should acquire the following forty
ingredients: 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, 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, 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, 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.”

Chapter 34: Prognostication Using Young Girls

“Now I will present a
chapter on prognostication using young girls.

majjhe ha ri
pu ha u ra ha r io | ante a ru ju u ra pa si o | ja jā ja ta tha ma jā i o ta kgha ṇa
ho | i ṇu pā vi o ka ha nam | a ra vā ra ṇi utti a nā hi o | su ti o pa i ṭi u se sa
vakkā na te sa ka khu sa hi o | jaṃ ha u dā tha a ha o | ka ha ka ha ta ga kha ṇu ka
hi o.”

This is chapter thirty-four in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Prognostication Using Young Girls.”

Chapter 35: Combination

“Additionally, the two movements of the nose should be gradually combined as one,
because when woven together, even the gods will die. For example, this is like ignorant
citizens who break laws and flee the country. They run away out of fear and anxiety and
eventually lose their lives.”

This is chapter thirty-five in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Combination.”

Chapter 36: Complexion

“Additionally, if one
combines equal parts cow bezoar, sāṣṭa, coṇa, and
preta, places them in their mouth, and recites the mantra, one will surely come to
perceive past and future events.

“If someone who adopts difficult practices mixes equal parts cow bezoar,
sukhadāyī, parasodhānī, hapuri, and arudūni,
makes them into pills, and swallows them, they will instantly know past and
future events.

“Or, if one smears a fluid comprised of turmeric, sena, and raṇapaṇa on both
eyes, they will know and see everything present in the threefold world.

“During a lunar or solar eclipse, one should grind ākāśamūli, sesbania root, and
piṇḍatagara root into a paste,
make all the ritual preparations, place it in one’s mouth, and recite the mantra. After
that, if they place it in their mouth or rectum, they will surely
know past and future events. If they do not, then I have committed the five actions
entailing immediate retribution.

“If one grinds various tree roots with dew and smears it all over their
body, they will have an excellent complexion.”

This is chapter thirty-six in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Complexion.”

Chapter 37: Mantras for Paralyzing Rites

“Now I will explain the mantras for paralyzing rites.

“If one recites the mantra oṁ jalayavanā
hūṁ one hundred thousand times, they will know past and future events.

“The mantra for the summoning rite is oṁ pravara
hraḥ.

“The mantra for the expelling rite is oṁ pāsugayali
hūṁ.

“The mantra for the killing rite is oṁ khaṭ pacatra
hraḥ.

“The mantra for the bewildering rite oṁ
ruasvāsavidupaḥ.

“The mantra for the attracting rite oṁ haḥ haḥ
jaḥ.

“The mantra for binding ḍākinīs is oṁ hi tiṣṭha he
vaḥ hūṁ.

“The mantra for binding bhūtas is oṁ māṃ raṃ
hā.

“The mantra for binding garuḍas is oṁ āḥ
svāhā.

“The mantra for expelling birds is oṁ māṃ
hūṁ.

“The mantra for stopping fire is oṁ jvaṃ
raṃ.

“The mantra for stopping water is oṁ jaṃ jaṃ
jaṃ.

“The mantra for stopping a sword is oṁ haṃ jaṃ yaṃ
svāhā.

“The mantra for stopping semen oṁ jaṃ maṃ
raṃ.”

The Blessed One said, “In an isolated place, vajra dwelling, or empty house,
and nowhere else, one should prepare everything needed to visualize Mahākāla’s maṇḍala.
The yogin should consume alcohol, meat, blood, and cow meat and then sexually unite with
his maternal aunt, paternal aunt, sister, niece, stepmother, daughter, or maternal
uncle’s wife. First he should embrace her neck, bite her lips, mark her breasts with his
fingernails, and then place his finger in her genitals. He should then stimulate and
kiss her bhaga.

“The mantra for the yoginī’s blessing is oṁ gauri
heṃ bandha muhraṃ sarvagaurita jñānaṃ dadā maṇḍala sphoṭaya hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ
svāhā.

“An intelligent person who does all this will surely attain all types of
bliss. The yoginīs, together with the goddess Umā, will surely be enticed to eat and
drink. If one wears a crown of bandhūka flowers during the winter months, they will be
invited.”

This is chapter thirty-seven in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Mantras for Paralyzing Rites.”

Chapter 38: The Fire Offering

“Now I will explain the fire offering that pacifies human beings. One should
dig a square fire pit half a cubit deep and perform seven thousand fire offerings with
whatever flowers are available while reciting the mantra oṁ
kṣaṃ samasiddhidhapaya hrāṃ svāhā without distraction. One should offer water
and make offerings of butter and honey throughout the fire offering. If this does not
work, the rites that benefit beings that are explained in all the tantras would be
untenable.

This is chapter thirty-eight in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “The Fire Offering.”

Chapter 39: Being Purified by the Feast and the Insight Consort

“Blessed One,” the Goddess then asked, “When a practitioner who strives to
learn about the true nature of the vehicles that bring happiness to people indulges in
food and drink to perfect their body, is wise to not retaliate against those who
chastise them?”

The Blessed One responded, “If someone says, ‘You have been drinking alcohol,
embracing your sister, and eating human flesh,’ one should crush some moringa root,
steep it in alcohol, and make an effigy of the target. One should pour alcohol into its
mouth and then draw the following mantra on the effigy’s stomach:
oṁ kamale vimale ratvāṃ
smarāmi [insert name]
ūrdhomantramadyāmāṃsaṃ haṃ haṃ
haḥ haḥ
. Simply bringing this mantra to mind will surely make the target
vomit alcohol and meat. As a result, the target of the rite will not be able to accuse
anyone of embracing their sister and the like, and one’s own body will be purified.”

Chapter 40: The Ocean of Music

The Blessed One continued, “Once someone who has established a foundation
through the religious life, beginning with the system of the śrāvakas, has indulged,
then as the sun sets and illuminates everything by its great size, one should remain
among samaya holders and complete all the songs and dances using the various rhythmic
systems of the great drum, kettle drum, large kettle drum, clay drum, large clay drum,
tambura, and reed flute and the songs of gandharvas and the like. After that, one should
recite the initiation mantra oṁ aśruṇi pra hūṁ. One
will surely receive Mahākāla’s blessing and henceforth succeed in all things.”

This is chapter forty in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “The Ocean of Music.”

Chapter 41: The Method

“Now I will present a chapter on the method. Those with knowledge of time are
defeated because they think they can preside over all there is to know. How can
knowledge lead to the attainment of bliss? One must be certain until the final,
inconceivable, and stable practice that is free of meditation, meditator, and object of
meditation.”

This is chapter forty-one in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “The Method.”

Chapter 42: Rites to Disperse Animals

“Now, I will explain the mantras that will disperse animals. If one calls to
mind the mantra oṁ jaṃ jaṃ, an elephant will flee. If
one calls to mind the mantra haṃ raḥ, a dog will
flee. If one calls to mind the mantra praḥ praḥ, a
horse will flee. If one calls to mind the mantra ṭa
hūṁ, a lion will flee. If one calls to mind the mantra ehi ṭaṃsaṇa haḥ, a snake will flee. If one calls to mind
the mantra muḥ, a monkey will flee. If one calls to
mind the mantra gauva gaḥ, a bull will flee. If one
calls to mind the mantra saḥ kulu kulu, a king will
no longer be able to cause the slightest harm.”

This is chapter forty-two in Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra, “Rites to Disperse Animals.”

Chapter 43: Sexual Embrace

“The Lord gained realization through sexual embrace. When immersed in the
supremely profound inherent nature, supreme bliss arises. Therefore, the bliss one
attains is not the mind or a product of the mind. Narrow-minded fools who lack awareness of existence and
nonexistence—people who know nothing of the supremely profound—will not recollect even a
word about nondual wisdom.”

This is chapter forty-three in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Sexual Embrace.”

Chapter 44: Yoga

“Now I will present a chapter on yoga. One should press down above and below
and visualize a moon in the middle of their navel. One will be successful within six
months. If one blocks their nostrils and then visualizes a drop, one will be successful
within twenty-one days. If one presses their tongue upward they will be free from old
age and death. If one correctly recollects the sequence of inhalation,
exhalation, and breath retention, they will succeed in flight within a fortnight. When
the afflicted mind is killed by the vital wind, one should perform lunar union. One should seize it through mantra yoga and let it crumble in
their hand.”

This is chapter forty-four in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Yoga.”

Chapter 45: Defeating an Enemy Army

“After mastering the Graha Lords, a yogin should perform a fire offering that
makes perfect bliss completely pervasive. They should rub saffron powder, chaste tree,
semen, and mercury on their body, and they will defeat an enemy army.”

This is chapter forty-five in Mahākāla’s Sovereign Tantra, “Defeating an Enemy Army.”

Chapter 46: Accepting and Rejecting

“Blessed One,” the Goddess said, “tell us about the days on which the power
of mantras and medicines will be potent. We want to hear about it.”

The Blessed One said, “Any day is good. Nevertheless, it is commonly
understood to depend on a particular time, so I will explain those times. Sūrya is on
the fifth, Candra is on the second, and the Graha Lords are on the seventh. Mantrin
is on the fourth, Budha is on the third, Maṅgala is on the sixth, and Śaniścara is on
the first. One will surely be successful at each of these times.”

This is chapter forty-six in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “Accepting and Rejecting.”

Chapter 47: Lunar Mansions

“Now I will discuss how the system of planets, stars, and lunar days are
engaged at the proper times devoid of the delusions of beings, time at which a person
can internally analyze their dreams. On the fourteenth, eighth, or tenth day of the
waning moon or the first day of the new moon one can engage Svāti, Pūrvāṣāḍhā, Hasta,
Āśleṣā, Maghā, Citrā, Aśvinī, Bharaṇī, and Kṛttikā.”

Chapter 48: Contemplating Virtue

“When an adept is sure that night has fallen, they should suppress the two
fluctuating channels and approach the state of utter joy and so forth. Then, if they
suppress all objects of knowledge in the navel maṇḍala, they will undoubtedly attain the
bliss possessed by beings. The sensory objects will be burned by the fire of wisdom, and
all will be illusion. In the future, they will be born in an excellent buddha field that
is pure, stainless, and inconceivable to beings. A yogin who drinks milk will be as
stainless as a bubble. When he expels the vital wind and is purified, he will achieve
the virtue he has contemplated.”

This is chapter forty-eight in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra on “Contemplating Virtue.”

Chapter 49: The Ritual Stages for the Path

“Blessed One,” the Goddess asked, “please speak about the ritual stages for
the path. What should be burned with what for fire offering? How can a compassionate
person establish all beings in happiness?”

The Blessed One replied, “One should first
recite the mantra for the siddhi they seek, and then perform the fire offering. If
impermanence is quickly revealed to them, they will comprehend the wisdom that is the nature of
bliss. At that very moment, embodied beings will attain wisdom.”

This is chapter forty-nine in Mahākāla’s
Sovereign Tantra, “The Ritual Stages for the Path.”

Chapter 50: Atharvaśabarī’s Mantra

“Now I will present a chapter on Atharvaśabarī’s mantra. This king of mantras
is oṁ sarvamantraṇidānaṃ kṣemaṃ raṁ hūṁ kṣaḥ haḥ. A
practitioner who simply reads this mantra once will effortlessly exhaust all
misdeeds.”

This is chapter fifty in Mahākāla’s Sovereign
Tantra, “Atharvaśabarī’s Mantra.”

Colophon

This work was translated, edited, and finalized by the scholar Samantaśrī and
the great editor and translator Ra Gelong Chörap, at the request of the at the request
of the vagabond Pha in the miraculous great temple Ramoché in Lhasa.

Notes

Tibetan Sigla

D
Degé (sde dge bka’ ’gyur)

C
Choné (co ne)

H
Lhasa (lha sa / zhol)

J
Lithang (li thang)

K
Kanxi (kang shi)

N
Narthang (snar thang)

F
Phukdrak (phug brag)

Y
Yongle (g.yung lo)

S
Stok Palace (stog pho ’brang)

Sanskrit Sigla

RST15
Sāṅkṛtyāyana collection (Patna); Bandurski Xc 14/15 (Mahākālatantrarāja)

RASH 47
RAS Hodgson (Mahākālatantra)

BnFS 84
Bibliothèque national de France (Mahākālatantrarāja)

BnFS 85
Bibliothèque national de France (Mahākālatantrarāja)

ND 44-5
NGMCP D 44-5 (Mahākālatantrarāja)

UTM 286
Tokyo No. 286 (Mahākālatantrarāja)

UTM 288
Tokyo No. 288 (Mahākālatantrarāja)

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

Sanskrit Sources

Secondary Sources

generation

sword

collyrium

pill

swift feet

alchemy

openings under the earth

pomegranate seed