ge is
interesting as being a statement by a high authority of the reasons
for accepting a non-Vedic work like the Pancaratra as revealed
scripture.

As already indicated European usage makes the words Tantra, Tantrism
and tantric refer to the worship of goddesses. It would be better to
describe this literature and worship as Saktism and to use Tantrism
for a tendency in doctrine and ceremonial which otherwise has no
special name. I have been informed by Tamil Pandits that at the
present day the ritual in some temples is smarta or according to
Smriti, but in the majority according to the Agamas or tantric. The
former which is followed by many well-known shrines (for instance in
Benares and in the great temples of south India) conforms to the
precepts of the Puranas, especially on festival days. The officiants
require no special initiation and burnt offerings are presented. But
the Agamic ritual can be performed only by priests who have received
initiation, burnt offerings rarely form part of the ceremony and
vernacular hymns are freely used.[453]

Such hymns however as well as processions and other forms of worship
which appeal directly to the religious emotions are certainly not
tantric. Tantrism is a species of religious magic, differing from the
Vedic sacrifices in method rather than principle.[454] For all that,
it sets aside the old rites and announces itself as the new
dispensation for this age. Among its principal features are the
following. The Tantras are a scripture for all, and lay little stress
on caste: the texts and the ritual which they teach can be understood
only after initiation and with the aid of a teacher: the ritual
consists largely in the correct use of spells, magical or sacramental
syllables and letters, diagrams and gestures: its object is less to
beseech than to compel the god to come to the worshipper: another
object is to unite the worshipper to the god and in fact transform him
into the god: man is a microcosm corresponding to the macrocosm or
universe: the spheres and currents of the universe are copied in
miniature in the human body and the same powers rule the same parts in
the greater and the lesser scheme. Such ideas are widely disseminated
in almost all modern sects,[455] though without forming their
essential doctrine, but I must repeat that to say all sects are
tantric does not mean that they are all Saktist. But Saktist sects
are fundamentally and thoroughly tantric in their theo