~~OM~~

There was once a sadhak, a tapasyak, a tantrik sadhak. He was doing this tremendous Smashan Shav Kriya, where you sit in the cremation grounds upon a corpse and do recitation of the mantras of the Kali in the midnight. And he had to procure so many articles for his worship. And with great pain he collected all the articles and he sat upon the corpse and he enkindled the Divine Fire. And he began to make japa of the mantras and suddenly a tiger came out of the woods and ate him.

Now he had one assistant who was an illiterate, devoted man but he was so devoted he helped this sadhu get all these materials together and after the demise of his Guru he said, “Well, my goodness all the materials are here, let me sit on the corpse one time and see what happens.”

He sat down upon the corpse and said, “Om Hrim Shrim Krim Parameswari Kalike Svaha.” And Kali immediately came and gave him darshan and said, “I bless you with the highest attainment.” And he said, “Mother, my Guru went through such pains to collect all the articles, and he knew everything that he was doing. And he did it with so much skill and precision, and finesse. And he was eaten by a lion! And I didn’t know anything, I just helped him put things in place and try to organize as best as I could. Why is it that I got darshan and he got death?”

And Kali said, “In your last life you were a great devotee, and in this life you get the fruition of your devotion, of your dharma. You get the highest realization. Your Guru still had ego, and so therefore he has to come back and work harder again.”

So, if you spend all your time collecting a black deer skin, or a tiger skin, that’s no guarantee of attainment. All the attainments are provided to one who sits upon a blanket or white wool.