Tantra

[Guest guest]

Tantra has become confused with black magic in India, & sacred sex in

the west. I cant give any details of Sadhnas(as Im not guru myself),

but I can explain misconceptions of Tantra.

 

Tantra was an attempt to take the problems of life head on. The

original Vedic rites were corrupted, & their meaning lost when Tantra

came up. You will be surprised to know that what 90% of Hindus do in a

temple(offer flowers, food water) is actually Tantric rituals.

 

Tantra is divided into left & right hand paths- the path of Ananda &

Chit(Bliss & Conciousness- parts of Sat-Chit-Anand. Tantric say using

Sat to describe God is unnecessary, only Chit-Anand are required).

 

The right hand path focussed on Chit, or Conciousness, & how to expand

it. What goes as Zen or Tibetan Buddhism is actually a part of

Tantra. A french author wrote " Most of Tibetan/Zen Buddhism is

actually Kashmiri Tantra in disguise, with all reference to Shiv

removed " (see my reading list at end for book).

 

The left path focusses on Anand, or Bliss. This is the path associated

with sex & wine, & attracts all sorts of idiots. The Left hand path

has the 5 M:

 

1. Maithun Sex

2. Mada Wine

3. Mamsa Meat

4. Matsya Fish

5. Mudra Drugs

 

However, very few schools actually take this literally- they have

symbolic meanngs too:

 

1. Maithun- Union of Shiv & Shakti- Kundalni with Crown(highest) Chakra.

2. Mada- The bliss felt when we reach God, like wine. It is Soma of

the Vedas.

3. Meat- " The tongue/ego is like a bull, kill it & eat its meat " says

Shiv to his disciple Gorakhnath. This is what it means- control of

both talking & ego.

4. Matysa- This is a reference to Pranayam. many texts describe the

breath as fish swimming in 2 rivers- Ganga, right nostril or Pingala

Nadi, & Yamuna, left or Ida Nadi

5. Mudra- In Yoga- special hand gestures that focus energy, like

Bhairav Mudra where right hand is placed on otp of left in Padmasan.

 

For ordinary people, the 5M are(for the 5 elements)- Food for Earth or

Muladhar Chakra, Water for Water element or Swadhistan Chakra,

Candle/Deepak for Fire element or Manipura Chakra, Dhoop/Agarbatti for

Air/ Anahat Chakra, & flowers for Ether or Vishuddhi Chakra. So most

people do Tantric worship, though they will be offended if you tell

them this! This system of offering food, water etc to God was started

by Tantrics, so ordinary people could do Chakra Sadhna without Guru.

This happened as Vedic rituals are too hard to do, & people were

leaving Hinduism.

 

Some left hand Tantrics take these 5M literally- however they are not

drunks! There are different reasons- one being Meat, wine & sex are

very Rajoguni items- they can be used to increase Rajogun. Then if the

Sadhak is a master Yogi, he can use this Rajoguni energy to clear

chakras. But for most ordinary people, these items increase Tamogun,

so shouldnt be taken.

 

Another reason is, most people are attached to Tamo/Rajo Guna, but in

Hindus/Bduddhists you can get attached to Satogun as well. This

happens especially with Brahmins. They would become proud on how

" pure " they were. To break this, the Guru would ask his Brahmin chela

to eat meat & wine in a ritualistic way with lower castes. This would

only be done once or twice, the chela wasnt expected to become a drunk!

 

I'll write more later. Meanwhile, heres a list of books I recommend-

its my Amazon list:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tantra-and-Hinduism/lm/RIXF2WCQE02NR/ref=cm_lmt_srch_f_1\

_rsrsrs0/202-7406023-6941421

 

In addition to this, any books by the Bihar School of Yoga, & Swami

Satyanand Saraswati are great. Esp hs book " Kundalni Tantra " is a

masterpiece. It gives theory as well as practice.

 

Heres another good website:

 

http://www.livingtantra.net/

[Guest guest]

, shanracer <no_reply wrote:

>

> Tantra has become confused with black magic in India, & sacred sex in

 

Thanks Shanracer,

 

In few words you said more. Tantra is the most misunderstood

concept, whereas half of our worships are Tantra based,as you

explained. this is a new view, and would help understand Tantra

better.

 

Aum