Panchamakara
Encyclopedia
Panchamakara, also known as the Five Ms, is a Tantric
term referring to the five substances used in a Tantric puja or sadhana
:
(wine
) (meat
) (fish
) (parched grain
) (sexual intercourse
)
Taboo
-breaking elements are only practiced literally by "left-hand path" tantrics (vāmācārin
s), whereas "right-hand path" tantrics (dakṣiṇācārins) practise these in symbolic form only (Rawson, 1978).
Sir John Woodroffe, under the pseudonym Arthur Avalon, describes the Panchamakara thus.
the five M's have dual meanings.
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
term referring to the five substances used in a Tantric puja or sadhana
Sadhana
Sādhanā literally "a means of accomplishing something" is ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Sikh , Buddhist and Muslim traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives.The historian N...
:
(wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
) (meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
) (fish
Fish (food)
Fish is a food consumed by many species, including humans. The word "fish" refers to both the animal and to the food prepared from it. Fish has been an important source of protein for humans throughout recorded history.-Terminology:...
) (parched grain
Parched grain
Parched Grain is grain that has been cooked by dry roasting. It is an ancient foodstuff and is thought to be one of the earliest ways in which the hunter gatherers in the Fertile Crescent ate grains...
) (sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
)
Taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
-breaking elements are only practiced literally by "left-hand path" tantrics (vāmācārin
Vamachara
Vāmācāra is a Sanskrit term meaning "left-handed attainment" and is synonymous with "Left-Hand Path". It is used to describe a particular mode of worship or sadhana that is not only "heterodox" to standard Vedic injunction, but extreme in comparison to the status quo.These practices are often...
s), whereas "right-hand path" tantrics (dakṣiṇācārins) practise these in symbolic form only (Rawson, 1978).
Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe)
In the introduction of his translation of the Mahanirvana Tantra,Sir John Woodroffe, under the pseudonym Arthur Avalon, describes the Panchamakara thus.
There are, as already stated, three classes of men: Pashu, Vira and Divya. The operation of the Guna which produce these types affect, on the gross material plane, the animal tendencies; manifesting in the three chief physical functions: eating and drinking, whereby the Annamayakosha is maintained; and sexual intercourse, by which it is reproduced. These functions are the subject of the Panchatattva or Panchamakara ("five Ms"), as they are vulgarly called--viz.: Madya (wine), Mangsa (meat), Matsya (fish), Mudra (parched grain), and Maithuna (coition). In ordinary parlance, Mudra means ritual gestures or positions of the body in worship and Hatha Yoga but as one of the five elements it is parched cereal and is defined as 'Bhrishta-danya dikang yadyad chavya-niyam prachaks-hate, sa mudra kathita devi sarvves-hang naganam-dini'. The Tantras speak of the five elements as Panchatattva, Kuladravya, Kulatattva and certain of the elements have esoteric names, such as Karanavari or Tirtha-vari, for wine, the fifth element being usually called Lata-sadhana (Sadhana with woman or Shakti). The five elements, moreover have various meanings, according as they form part of the Tamasika (Pashvachara), Rajasika (Virachara) or Divya or Sattvika sadhanas respectively.
Prabhat Ranjan "Shrii Shrii Anandamurti" Sarkar
According to the spiritual master Prabhat Ranjan SarkarPrabhat Ranjan Sarkar
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar , also known by his spiritual name, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti , was an Indian philosopher, author, social revolutionary, poet, composer and linguist...
the five M's have dual meanings.
- Madya - wine, allegorically the divine nectar amritaAmritaAmrit is a Sanskrit word that literally means "immortality", and is often referred to in texts as nectar. The word's earliest occurrence is in the Rigveda where it is one of several synonyms of soma, the drink which confers immortality upon the gods. It is related etymologically to the Greek...
. - Mamsa - meat, allegorically control of speech.
- Matsya - fish, allegorically the ida and pingala nadiNadi (yoga)' are the channels through which, in traditional Indian medicine and spiritual science, the energies of the subtle body are said to flow. They connect at special points of intensity called chakras...
, which are controlled through pranayamaPranayamaPranayama is a Sanskrit word meaning "extension of the prana or breath" or more accurately, "extension of the life force". The word is composed of two Sanskrit words, Prāna, life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath, and "āyāma", to extend, draw out, restrain, or...
. - Mudra - gesture, allegorically spiritual company (satsangSatsangSatsang in Indian philosophy means the company of the "highest truth," the company of a guru, or company with an assembly of persons who listen to, talk about, and assimilate the truth...
) and avoiding negative company. - Maithuna - union, sexual intercourse, allegorically union with the cosmic mind, samādhiSamadhiSamadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....
.
The Panchamakaras have deep Esoteric meanings in the Dakshinachara or Right-handed path of Tantra.
- Madya means the heavenly Amrit that drips from the glands in brain onto the tip of tongue when it touches the interiors in Khechari Mudra.
- Mamsa means swallowing the tongue (eating meat). It symbolizes the Khechari Mudra in which the tongue is swallowed back simulating eating meat.
- Matsya (twin fish) is the activation of Ida and Pingala Nadis in the backbone. They are like 8-shaped structure intertwining like two fish.
- Mudra is the different gestures the hands and body take when the Kundalini is activated and pass up through the central channel.
- Maithuna is the union of Kundalini (Female power) in the body with Shiva (Male power) in the brain center and the intense bliss that comes out of this process.