मृगेन्द्र आगम: विद्या एवं योग पाद (भट्ट नारायणकण्ठ वृत्ति सहित प्राचीनतम कामिक आगम परिशिष्ट)

INTRODUCTION. JII
with the armour thus granted, should meditate on the
glory of Shiva for a period of thousand years' duration.
He (Nārāyaṇa) also promised him an eye-to-eye
communion with Shiva on the expiry of the period of
meditation and the achievement of his cherished object
through Shiva's grace. The period of meditation
terminating, Indra got an interview with the Divinity
and all his pangs of consciousness were over. In the
interview he was also favoured with the knowledge of
the Kāmika Tantra.
Mṛgendra is an abridgment of the Kāmika Tantra.
It is so called because, as alluded to above, Indra
received the doctrine of Kāmikāgama while he was
wearing the armour in the shape of a lion. It is
referred to sometimes in the feminine form as Mṛgendrā
implying thereby the treatment of the composition as
that of a Saṃhitā and sometimes as Mṛgendrāḥ in
indication of the reverence conveyed by the plural use
of the name.
The Vidyāpāda unlike the Yogapāda is subdivided
into 13 Paṭalas describing the three fundamentals :
Pashu, Pāsha and Pashupati, the principal categories and
the theology of the dualistic Shaivas. Yogapāda defines
and describes the eightfold path of concentrative practice
leading to acquisition of various prophetic powers.
The three fundamentals :—
(1) Shiva or the Pashupati. He is the all-doer,
omniscient and eternally far above the range of imper-
fections due to various defilements. He is ever busy in
the play of his pentad of functions. They are evolution,
sustentation, involution, potential preservation and
assimilation. The five mantras sacred to the five names
of the Pati or lord and operative respectively in evolution
etc. constitute the four prominent parts of his body and
the body as a whole. Īś'āna occupies the place of the