Question asked by Parth
Greetings rinpoche, greetings pastors. A few years back I was searching the net for Vajrayogini and I found a text called 11 yogas of Vajrayogini and I read it. Later I found out that it should only be read by those who have been initiated otherwise it's equivalent of stealing the dharma. How can I cleanse th negative karma I've created by doing this? Thank you
Dear Parth,
Thanks for the question. In order to engage in any tantric practice, we must first receive initiation from our guru as the permission to start the practice. Our guru will decide if we are eligible to receive the tantric initiation based on his observation on us because the success of a tantric practice is not so much depending on a guru but more on the correct mental attitude of a student.
Just like what Lama Yeshe explained in one of his book: ““Initiation does not mean that a guru gives you some incredible power. You already have the qualities of profound wisdom and great bliss within you; initiation simply activates them.” Our guru will decide if we are ready for the activation to take place. Therefore if we engage in any tantric activity without the permission of a guru, we are doing it prematurely. Not only will it not bring us any benefit, but it will create obstacle for us in the future too. Of course, the magnitude of the karma is also affected by our motivation ie if we did it unknowingly or intentionally.
To purify the karma, we can engage in the powerful Vajrasattva practice. It is said by Vajrasattva practice and it’s meditation together with four opponent powers, we can purify even root downfalls of the tantric vows, which is very difficult to purify. If we can purify the root downfalls of the tantric vows, definitely the lower vows such as the ten non-virtuous acts that we should avoid, will be purified too.
You can read more about Vajrasattva practice here:
An important purification practice
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/prayers-and-sadhanas/an-important-purification-practice.html