Also known as Mahānirvāṇa Tantram and Tantra of the Great Liberation
The Mahānirvāṇa Tantra, the "Tantra of the Great Liberation", is a dialogue set on Mount Kailāsa. The Goddess Ādyā, Pārvatī, asks Sadāśiva how the people of the Kali age, short-lived and weakened, can be freed; the Tantra is his answer.
Its colophons call it the best of all Tantras and the essence of the ruling on every dharma. Beside the worship of Brahman and of Ādyā Kālī, it sets out the sacraments of a life, the duties of each stage of life, funeral rites, law and the consecration of temples, and it closes on the greatness of the kula path.
The text as handed down ends with the words "here ends the first half": these fourteen chapters are presented as the first part of a larger work.
Attribution
A Tantra in the form of Sadāśiva's teaching to the Goddess Ādyā (Pārvatī), as the text presents itself.
Where it belongs
A Tantra of the Kaula path, centred on the worship of Brahman and of Ādyā Kālī.
Text and numbering
Fourteen chapters (ullāsas), with the verses numbered as handed down.
Translation and commentary
Translation, word-by-word meanings and commentary prepared for Tantra Yoga Vidya, following the Sanskrit commentary of Hariharānanda Bhāratī, published chapter by chapter.
Last revised
14 chapters · 2 published so far, the rest coming soon
On the peak of the king of mountains, a delightful place adorned with many jewels, overgrown with many trees and creepers and filled with the cries of many birds,
Word by word
girīndraśikharē
on the peak of the king of mountains (Kailāsa)
ramyē
delightful
nānāratnōpaśōbhitē
adorned with many kinds of jewels
nānāvṛkṣalatākīrṇē
covered with many trees and creepers
nānāpakṣiravairyutē
filled with the cries of many birds
Meaning
The first ten verses are a single sentence that sets the scene: Hariharānanda reads them together, leading to "Pārvatī spoke to Śiva" in verse 10. The mountain is Kailāsa, "delightful" because siddhas and cāraṇas play there, and its jewels are rubies, emeralds and the like.
