Vajratara Sadhana by Mahamati Nagarjuna

(English rendering by Swami Paranand .)

Obeisance to Vajra Tara

For the wellbeing of all sentient beings, I depict the method of spiritual practice of
Vajra Tara after making obeisance to her.Vajra Tara is of a fair complexion and
she is agreeable to the mind.
A Yogi who has been ordained in the adoration of Tara through the spiritual
practice called BHAVANA should proceed with meditation etc. in the following
manner:

The Yogi should meditate on the seed syllable Tam in his heart as seated within the lunar
orb before the ablutions like washing the face or brushing of teeth etc.

After sitting on a very comfortable seat on which one can sit comfortably for a long time
, he should meditate on a pencil of spiritual light as emanating from the seed syllable
TAM from within his heart.

The Yogi should feel that the Great Empress Tara is attracted by that ray and is
incarnating in the mental space before him.

Having seated her on the seat of a flake of cloud and a blue lotus with the lunar orb
within it, he should perform retrospection and compassion before the Guru, the Buddha
& the Bodhisattva.

This includes confession of sins, laxity in self restraint, seeking consent, conversion, and
surrender to Buddha, Sangha and Dharma
Germinating Buddha consciousness bodhichitta is the greatest resolution of the
Buddha that he will not accept nirvana for himself till all sentient beings are
delivered from miseries. Whatever meditational practice a devotee of mother Tara
undertakes should have this objective . The devotee should resort to the path and a
type of Bhavana called roaming with the four Brahman virtues
(ChaturbrahmVihari) i.e. cultivation of four virtues namely
Amicability, Piety, Pleasant mindset and Indifference towards vicious people
(meti, karuna, mudita, upeksha)
These four virtues are called the four brahmvihari.
Om my essential nature is the concrete awareness of the experience of emptiness
of essences.

After the maintaining of awareness of consciousness. One should meditate on
BimbaNispatti The Concomitant disappearance of the object &reflection.

After this the Yogi should meditate upon the syllable TAM as turning into eight petalled
white lotus. Then one should feel that the syllable A has concentrated into the moon
and the letter TAM has turned into another white lotus. Within the moon inside the
white lotus the syllable TAM contains the entire ether and the universe as an
embodiment of mother TARA.

All the sentient situated in the three realms are projected as the projections of the
syllable TAM.

Then one should meditate upon the syllable TAM that transforms into Goddess Tara as
seated inside the moon within the white lotus. The Yogi now should meditate upon her
as his own self.

Mother Tara should be meditated upon as a sixteen year old charming maiden bearing a
fair hue, sitting on a dais of Vajra (Diamond) within the lunar orb inside a white lotus.
She is ornamented with various gems and jewels and displays a gesture of granting boons
(Varada Mudra) with her left hand and carries a lotus in her right hand.

She terminates all upsurges of her lower nature (MARA). The supreme Goddess should
be meditated upon as producing enlightened beings, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from
the follicles of her hair.

After one is steady in this meditation one should proceed with Japa or the repetition of
the Holy Mantra.

The Yogi should meditate upon an eight petalled lotus within his heart, with all eight
syllables arranged on each petal and SWAHA in the pod. While meditating thus one
should repeat the Mantra mentally.

Just by meditating in this manner one becomes immune to the relinquishing attempts of
all negative forces(MAR)

The fruition of above mentioned meditation as mentioned by the bearer of the
thunderbolt Vajrapani is as follows
Attainment of Poesy,Eloquence,Refined Intelligence,Longevity, Favour of the
Rulers and tranquility of his/her subjects.He/She is not hurt even while
surrounded by foes in a battle.

The noble Goddess Vajra Tara is highly effulgent and grants all accomplishments.
This canon should be learnt by a sagacious scholar with great devotion after giving
gold and silver as Fee.(Dakshina).One must receive this with due faith and
devotion to the preceptor after the obeisance sacrament. Jinas have said that only
one such aspirant is entitled for receiving this knowledge. None else can attain
perfection in this worship by any other means not even Buddha himself.