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Mahānirvāṇa Tantra cover

॥ श्री ॥tantraFor reading

Mahānirvāṇa Tantra 11.104

Traditional

Ullāsas
14
Verses
2517
Minutes
1258
Level
advanced

Ullāsa 11 · Verse 104

अङ्गीकारपालनम्Keeping a sworn undertaking

Verse 104

कुलधर्मोऽपि सत्येन विधिना चेन्न सेवितः । मोक्षाय श्रेयसे न स्यात् कौले पापाय केवलम् ॥ १०४ ॥

kuladharmō’pi satyēna vidhinā cēnna sēvitaḥ | mōkṣāya śrēyasē na syāt kaulē pāpāya kēvalam || 104 ||

Translation

Even the kula dharma, if not followed by the true rule, does not lead a Kaula to liberation or good, but only to sin.

Word by word

kula
the kula
dharmaḥ
(dharmaḥ) dharma
api
even
satyēna
true
vidhinā
by the rule
cēt
if
na
not
sēvitaḥ
(sevitaḥ) followed
mōkṣāya
to liberation
śrēyasē
to good
syāt
leads
kaulē
a Kaula
pāpāya
to sin
kēvalam
(kevalam) only

Meaning

A warning before the verses on wine: the kula way practised outside its rule is itself a sin. What the Tantra prescribes here is its own teaching, given as the text presents it; taking up any practice is a matter for one's tradition and teacher.

Commentary

Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated

Now he says that even the kula dharma, if not followed by the rule, produces sin, with "kula" and the rest. If even the kula dharma is not followed by the true rule, then in a Kaula, one of the kula, it does not lead to liberation (apavarga) or to good, but only to sin. So the kula dharma is to be followed only by the rule: that is the sense.