TARA – The Great Divine Power of Compassion is the second of Dasa (the ten) Mahavidya.
It is mainly a manifestation of the compassion and quick help offered by the goddess to the one who adores and invokes her.
The great divine power Tara or Supreme Goddess of divine compassion is, in fact, a personification for the use of the worshiper of the facet of the power of divine compassion of the one God or the one Supreme Being.
This universal compassion generates a salvation, a salvation, a help that is not the size of the merit or possibilities of the one who resorts to this grace, according to the clearly stated principles
“If a man takes a step toward God, he takes ten steps toward man, but it is necessary for man to necessarily take at least that one step.”
“God gives you but he doesn’t poke you in.”
“Man proposes and God disposes”
However, not every request, desire or aspiration is fulfilled or sustained because regardless of its nature, it is necessary to be sincere, to be at the limit of personal power in that direction and to be in agreement with the Universal Order.
In India Tara is a particular form of manifestation of Durga the beautiful and terrible goddess that gives full control over inferior human passions.
The word “
Shakti
” means
Power
in Sanskrit.
The oral tradition gives a special origin to the goddess Tara
The legend begins with the “beating” of the primordial ocean for the extraction of the divine nectar (which was then to be divided between the deva-and the-asura-and) and the universal poison.
Then Mahadev, to save the world, drank the poison, and his throat became indigo or blue because of that poison. Only He could swallow the poison without consequences, then gaining the name of Nilakantha.He thus saved the world from destruction, but fell into a state of unconsciousness under the powerful effect of the poison.
Mahadevi Durga appeared as Maa Tara and took Shiva on his lap.
He sucked the milk from her breasts to counteract the poison and recovered. This legend is related to the one in which Shiva stops Kali unleashed by manipulating herself like a child.
Seeing the baby, Kali’s maternal instinct comes to the fore and when she feeds him with the milk in her breasts. As on Shakti Mahabhagwat, she is the one who created the first seed from which the entire universe was born in the form of Narayana – Vishnu.
We will relate here to Tara in its Buddhist version.
Tara is a tantric goddess adored by practitioners of Vajrayana Buddhism, the facet of the One Supreme Being or God, in order to develop certain inner qualities and to understand both external and inner teachings and secrets about compassion and nudity.
Tara is actually the generic name for a number of Bodhisattvas with similar appearance.
The most famous facets of Tara are:
– THE GREEN TARA, (Syamatara) known as the Buddha with illuminating action;
– THE WHITE TARA, (Sitatara), also known for compassion, long life, healing and tranquility; it is also known as- the satisfactory wheel of desires or Cintachakra;
– THE RED TARA, (Kurukulla) a fierce aspect associated with that which is good for all who are part of the spiritual group;
– THE BLACK COUNTRY, associated with power;
– THE YELLOW TARA, (Bhrikuti) associated with well-being and prosperity;
– THE BLUE TARA, associated with the transmutation of anger;
– Tara Cinttamani, a widely worshipped variant in gelugpa tantric Buddhism, portrayed as green and often confused with the Green Tara;
– KHADIRAVANI TARA (Country of acacia forest), which appeared to Nagarjuna’s in khadiravani forest of South India.
There is also the recognition, in some schools of Buddhism, of twenty-one manifestations of Tara. A text that glorifies the 21 manifestations of Tara is recited during the morning in all four sects of Tibetan Buddhism.
Within Tibetan Buddhism Tara is regarded as a Bodhisattva of compassion that provides a stynical state characterized by activity. She is the female appearance of Avalokitesvara.
Tara is also known as the Savior, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings facing problems in samsara.
An important Mantra of Tara is the
Om TARE TUTTĀRE Ture Svaha.
