• A Guru and Disciple have a simple conversation about the Yogini and Yakshini Mothers. This helps knowing what not to do and how to gain darshan of Yoginis and Yaskshinis.

Shakta Tantric worship first begins by considering the Master/Guru as Lord Shiva. Above all Deities, above all created beings in all levels of existence, one’s Guru is certainly Brahman. 

It is the unworthy disciple’s understanding that no progress in the way to mukti is possible without the unmerited Grace of the Guru, who is Lord Mahadev taking the form of the Guru. Totakashtakam was composed by the Grace of Adi Shankaracharya by his till then derided and disregarded disciple, Sri Totakacharya. 

Sri Totakacharya correctly pointed out that having name, fame, health and a happy family are all useless unless one has Grace of the Guru. Thus, we begin this article by praising the Guru first. Otherwise, the sixty-four Mothers, the Yoginis and as we shall find, the Yakshini Mothers too will desert the disciple.

Incidentally, those who pooh away the idea of the sixty-four Yogini Mothers and the Yakshini Mothers will not pooh away Christian angels and divine beings in Abrahamic religions. Within Catholic Christianity, the Desert Fathers insisted that unless one had a spiritual director who is equivalent to our Dharma’s Guru, no spiritual progress was and is possible. They compared such arrogant monks to donkeys. Every Catholic cleric has a spiritual director. No amount of reading, prayers, meditation and telling of the beads (japa) can take one across samsara unless Guru Kripa is there. Degrees, debates and learned discussions are of little use. 

Thus, we begin by reminding ourselves of the superiority of the Guru over every Deity and even, Shakti:

गुरूर्ब्रह्मा गुरूर्विष्णुः गुरूर्देवो महेश्वरः । 

गुरूर्साक्षात परब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः ।। 

This article would not have been written unless the Master instructed the disciple to write down what the disciple has seen and known. The subject matter is presented as a conversation between a disciple and Master. Harih Om.

Chausath Yogini Mandir, Bhedaghat near Jabalpur. All Yogini Temples are round.  

Disciple: I see hundreds of people online claiming to have encountered the Yoginis. They claim that there are fixed places where these extraordinarily powerful women meet every night, or every month. Then there are Dakinis in Vajrayana [Tibetan Buddhism]. Who are these women? Are they female Yogis?

The Master: Do you remember I took you to the Advaita Vedanta monastery at Konnagar (in the Hooghly district of West Bengal).

There in that monastery, they have the Raj Rajeshwari Temple. I showed you all the Yoginis. You wanted to secretly take photos, but I asked you to not take photos there since photography is prohibited. Do you remember? How can so many people encounter the Yoginis? It is impossible since to even encounter one single Yogini-Mother needs tapasya and self-sacrifice over a long period of time. Sometimes the length of time may stretch into many births.

There are one or two people in this world right now who might have encountered a Yogini Mother in person. If one encounters a Yogini, then this person is already on the way to mukti. The last stage of the bondage of samsara has arrived for this person. This person will no longer be reborn since it is only through great practise of austerities such a person has been blessed with actually meeting one of the sixty-four Yogini-Mothers. Such a person will be averse to publicity and cannot be found online and will certainly be unknown and living in total anonymity.  

Murtis on wall of Jabalpur Chausath Yogini Temple.

Disciple:  Yes, now that you remind me, I remember. The murtis were all in dark granite. You paused at each of the sixty-four murtis.

The Master: Did you find them like ordinary murtis? Some were like skeletons, some had ferocious faces. Did they look like Yogis? What was your impression?

Disciple: They seemed like ferocious forms of the Holy Mother of the Universe, Mother Kali. Honestly, they did not seem to me either beautiful or remind me of anything else other than Mother Kali. They scared me.

The Master: They are parts of the Holy Mother. They are the sixty-four Yoginis. But in reality, they are our Mothers. There is no difference between the Holy Mother and them. They are here to protect our Dharma. Not to serve our biddings and personal needs. They should be prayed to as Mothers. Does any child think of its mother as beautiful or ugly? All mothers are beautiful to their children. Do not be scared since if you treat them as Mothers, they will help you to cross this terrifying ocean of samsara. You were afraid since your senses are not in your control. Once you are able to control your senses, you will no longer be afraid of them.

Disciple: Now I understand why in that Advaita monastery attached to one of the four original monasteries established by Adi Shankaracharya they are there. They are guarding our Dharma and the Advaita way of living. Now I understand why this Advaita monastery has a manifestation of the Holy Mother as Raj Rajeshwari. Without the Yogini Mothers and the Mahavidyas, our Dharma will be annihilated in the course of time. But, what about Tibetan Buddhist Dakinis?

The Master: Dakinis are women who, through their sadhanas, have become perfect. They are not to be confused with the sixty-four Yogini-Mothers of our Dharma. They are not one of the sixty-four Yoginis. The sixty-four Yoginis are primordial Beings. They have existed before even time existed. One becomes a Dakini through austerities and the control of the senses.

The sixty-four Yogini Mothers will be here even after this Yuga (aeon) is over. They were always there, and they will always be there. The Tibetan Dakinis will cease to exist at the end of this yuga and will be reborn in the next yuga, each according to her Karma. The Yogini Mothers are beyond the bonds of samsara and Karma. From time immemorial they have existed, and they will continue to exist even after time as we know it now will be no more. They are manifestations of Shakti. Shakti has no origin, nor no end. Therefore, each of the Yogini Mothers, so to say, is without a beginning and an end.

Disciple: How can one meet one of the Yogini Mothers?

The Master: Control your senses. Follow the disciplines of the Yoga Sutras. As you conquer the senses surrendering to the Holy Mother, the Yogini Mothers will come to you as they are. Give up anger and hatred. See yourself in others. Live on just what you need. Practice Sannyasa (renunciation) within the world. The Yogini Mothers will come to you.

Discharge all your duties in the world while being absolutely detached. Change your eating habits so that gradually less violence is done through you. You will meet the Mothers. Unless you can control your senses totally, you will be destroyed. Give up the hankering for money, name, and fame. Do not desire anything. Do not pray for anything which will reduce your Karmic debt. Consciously choose to pay for your wrongs in past lives and in this life during this life itself. Use human and honest means to live. Only then will you see the Yogini Mothers. Even the Lord of Lords, Mahadeva cannot choose for you. You have to freely choose. You have to choose to give up the world while living within the world.

Disciple: Do I need to go to crematoriums to do my sadhanas to meet the Holy Mother?

The Master: What need is there to move out of your home to experience the Holy Mother and the Yogini Mothers? Everything is inside you. Discharge your duties being unattached. Why do you need to run here and there when everything can be achieved at home?

The path of Shakta Tantra is not a monastic path. Whatever is your duty do. And once in two weeks go to the local crematorium to see bodies being burnt. That will help you understand that there is no difference between life and death. The Atman has left the body, yet people are crying and then fighting over the property of the deceased person. Think of non-family members as your own and your own family as not yours. It is an error to think that only your family is your own. Every single human being and all other beings are your family. Unless you are ready, the Mothers will not come to you.

Disciple: Do the Mothers give powers or Siddhis to the perfected Yogi/Tantric? 

The Master: Yes, they do. But that is where danger lies. Ask them only for mukti and the power to cross samsara. Beg them to help other suffering human beings. Do not ask anything material for yourself from them. Ask for others, never for yourself. Beg them to teach you Tantra Shastra and to bless you with detachment.

Ask for that knowledge alone which is necessary to spread and revive the legacy of Sri Bama Khepa and Shankari Baba. Sage Vashishta is lying in Tarapith. Ask him to bless you. Shankari Baba was my Guru you know. As a young boy I used to meet him at the crematorium at Tarapith. Those days it was very difficult to go there. But Shankari Baba drew me there.

Disciple:  I do not want the powers but just the theoretical knowledge. I am afraid I might misuse the Siddhis. I just want to acquire an intellectual understanding of Tantra. 

The Master: You had asked about the Yakshinis. They too are Mothers. You have to meet all of them and only then can you find meaning in the books. Otherwise, they will not make any difference to you and others.

Pray to the Yakshinis who are immensely powerful supernatural beings for only two things: helping the poor and your mukti. Do not ask anything material for yourself. Unless you meet the Yakshini Mothers, how will you write about them? They are indeed incredibly beautiful, and they will test you. Pray to them that you are chaste and surrender yourself as a child to them. Then there is nothing to fear about them. They will freely give you what you ask of them. Be careful then of what you ask of them. This is up to you.

Again, it is up to you how you use the power of the Yakshinis. Remember they too are Mothers. Seek them only if you need to help others and if our Dharma is in crisis. I emphasise never ask them to help you or your family for personal needs even if they offer you any personal help. At the most, seek their blessings to serve them and the Yogini Mothers and Shakti. Then automatically your own mukti will follow.

Dry intellectual learning is insufficient. Unless you practise Tantra, how will you perfect yourself and have mukti? You need to first practice Tantra within our marga; and kill your inner urge to be an intellectual and then write books when you no longer seek academic fame. Academic fame too is an addiction which is no less than an addiction to money. Remember, intellectual cravings are also sensual cravings.

Without following the path of Tantra to which you are called, you will never be able to find mukti. First practice Tantra and then when you are able to give up this hankering for academic fame, only then will you be in a position to write on our way; the way of the Shakta Tantrik. Otherwise everything is dry meaningless philosophy over which you will waste your time in debating with others. You first need direct experience of Tantric truths. What you have not experienced, how can you write on that?

Seek the Holy Mother first, then you will have all knowledge and you will not feel the need to write anything. But your swadharma is to write till the end of your life. Only write when you are prepared and do not care for intellectual fame. Do not stop writing in between. Over time, by practising Tantra, you will become detached about what happens to your writings, then you can start writing on the philosophy of Tantra. Now is your time to study and perfect yourself. Get rid of the desire to be known as a scholar.

Disciple: I heard that Yakshinis like the Karna Pishachini Yakshini are disastrous to one’s life? I saw on YouTube how people turn insane seeking them. 

The Master:  Who told you that a Yakshini Mother is degraded to the lower levels of existence becoming a demonic being --- a Pishachini? Degraded and perverted human beings see in this Yakshini Mother a demoness. She manifests to those who are seeking sensual pleasure as a giver of sensual pleasure. Seek her as a Mother. She will warn you of the future which you should never reveal to anyone unless it helps them find mukti.

And never take any gift, in cash or kind, to help others if this Yakshini Mother reveals herself to you. Mothers are neither beautiful nor ugly. Mothers are mothers. Earlier you were scared of the Yogini Mothers and their ferocity. Now you might fall into the trap of thinking of these Mothers to be beautiful. You are yet unable to control your senses and hence you distinguish between ugliness and beauty. This is why I am stressing that you give up the world first while remaining in the world. Only then will you be able to endure the beauty of the Yakshini Mothers. 

First learn to see all women except your better half as mothers. Then while you progress, be celibate, not merely chaste; then alone will you be able to absorb the sight of both the Yogini and Yakshini Mothers. Become pure first - then only will you be ready. Use the techniques of our Dharma to become still and detached from the world. Then you do not have to seek out anyone. Each of these supernatural Yakshinis will bless you.

Pray to each of the Yakshinis as a Mother. Each Yakshini Mother will take care of you. Do not use them to earn money. Help others with their knowledge and by begging them to help others. And they will gladly help. Never take a rupee or anything in kind or indirectly if you help others through the Yakshinis. Practise total abstention of money (aparigraha) and never help others through the Yakshini Mothers expecting secretly to be helped by those you helped by not your powers but by the powers of the Yakshini Mothers.

Where Tantra is involved do not practice simony and quid pro quos. Renounce give and take policies when you practise Tantra. All the Yakshinis will then help you have mukti. But first control every single sensual craving inside you. Otherwise, your life too will indeed be destroyed as has happened to other seekers.

First practise total self-control. Win over yourself. Live for others. Everything else will follow. Do not even desire fame and name. Do not think about tomorrow. Focus on today. The Yoginis and the Yakshinis are your Mothers. They will take care of you. If it is destined that you fall ill; consult a doctor. But do not ask for anything for yourself or your family from either the Yogini-Mothers or the Yakshini-Mothers. Never help others expecting any help in return from them even when you are not practising Tantra. Tantra is a way of life. It cannot be a part of your way of life.

Disciple: So much I cannot do. I cannot be so austere and ascetical.

The Master: You have to. Tantra has been corrupted by those greedy for money. Start now. Do not lose heart. Now go home. What you have begun searching for, you should not give up. Otherwise your Karmic debts will not be paid. You have to force yourself to become austere and ascetical. Time is running out. Before your time comes to leave this body, if your work is incomplete, then you will have to return over and over again till your work is done. Much suffering will follow. It is best for you to prepare yourself now than later. But neither I, nor the Holy Mother, nor the Yoginis and the Yakshinis can help you if you first do not help yourself by choosing to restrain every sense-organ you have. Practise every virtue found in our Scriptures. Be unafraid. You will succeed.

Commentary

The Yogini Mothers and the Yakshini Mothers are misrepresented on online streaming media and forums. This is since people want to cheat others in the name of Shakta Tantra and particularly, in the name of the Yakshini Mothers. The disciple has seen many online videos where the Yakshinis are shown as being evil and seductive. They are holy beings. They bless anyone who seeks them in any form. What one asks of them, they get. Online they are shown to be sought as friends, and they become friends. If they are sought as lovers, they become one’s lovers. But none of these online videos show them as who they truly are. They are Mothers. They are shown as friends and lovers since showing them in these perverted untrue ways, people can cheat and hoodwink those in problems. Yakshinis are like the Yoginis, Mothers.

The disciple has not given the origins of the Yakshini Mothers in spite of hundreds of online references to their origins since he does not know whether they are true. The Master has asked the unworthy disciple to write on each of the Yogini Mothers and each of the Yakshini Mothers. Through Guru-Kripa that will be gradually done here.

There are no recordings of the conversation of the Guru and His unworthy disciple. These are reminiscences accrued through fortnightly meetings. Thus, the repetitions and the order of the Master’s answers might seem to some as  arbitrary. The disciple has tried his best to remember his conversations with his Guru to the best of his ability. 

सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म…Om Namah Shivaya.

Author Subhasis Chattopadhyay  has a Ph.D. in Patristics and the Problem of Evil in American Horror Literature from the University of Calcutta. His reviews from 2010 to 2021 in Prabuddha Bharata have been showcased by Ivy League Presses. He has qualifications in Christian Theology and Hindu Studies and currently teaches English Literature in the PG and UG Department of a College affiliated to the University of Calcutta. He also has qualifications in Behavioural Sciences.

To read all articles by author

Also read

1. Album 64 Yogini Temple near Bhubaneshwar

2. Album Chausath Yogini Mandir, Bhedaghat near Jabalpur

3. About 64 Yoginis