Post #1059

"Are there no asses and the like to whom home and forest are alike and who wander about naked without shame? Do they all become Yogins thereby? If men could get liberated by smearing themselves with dust and ashes, are all the country folk, who live amidst dust and ashes, liberated? Denizens of forest like deer and other animals subsist on grass, leaves, and water. Then, O Devi! do they become Yogins Thereby? Frogs and fishes live all their lives in rivers like Ganges; do they acquire special merit thereby? O Devi! Parrots and mynas recite before people the sacred words with delight; are they to be regarded great scholars from such recitations? Pigeons eat nothing but stone; Cātakas; (the bird Cucculus Melanoleucus) does not drink earth-water; are these too, Yogins? Animals like pigs, bear the winter cold and summer heat and for them food fit or unfit is alike; are they Yogins thereby? Indeed, such privations and self denials are, O Kulésvarī; only for deceiving the world while direct Knowledge of Truth Alone is the means for Liberation." Kaularnava Tantra