In
preparation for Amarananda Bhairavan's workshops in April, 2008, I attempted to
clarify some of the differences between yoga as we mostly know it
in the west, and the depth of Tantra for Healing found in the 6,000
year old tradition Nandu raised in.
Tantra is Integration
Kat Allen
Copyright 2008
Tantra:
a word so bandied about by westerners, that it’s difficult to have any concrete
idea about Tantra’s positive, practical benefits, and how they show up in day
to day life. I write this article in the
hopes of diffusing some of Tantra’s mysticism, and to point toward its fundamentally
organic, life-embracing, feminine-embracing, integrative nature.
The
great Tantric formula is this: “samsara equal nirvana.” This means that the conditional or phenomenal
world coexists and is coessential with
the Transcendental (Being-Consciousness-Bliss). This is
a very different approach than the classical spirituality of yoga. In yoga, the way to realizing the Self consists
of a radical shift in our identity-consciousness, a shift in who we experience
ourselves to be. The Self-Realized being
no longer identifies as a limited, skin-bound, individual body-mind, but as the
timeless essence of Pure Awareness. But
how does this transformation take place?
Historically, the path of realization in classical yoga consisted in an
arduous practice of renunciation and asceticism. This path maintained that only by turning one’s
attention away from worldly concerns and pleasures, and exercising disciplined
control over one’s body and mind, would transcendental Reality reveal itself. Then, as yoga and Hinduism evolved, the belief
that it was possible to enjoy the Bliss of the Self while in a human body
became an ideal (a "jivan-mukta"). But the body-mind was
still thought of as “other” than the True Self, in accordance with dualistic
thinking, and as such, still needed to be transcended.
Then
a new approach in spirituality emerged, with a revolutionary philosophy. I like Georg Feuerstein’s attempt to capture
Tantra’s philosophy with the statement: “Tantra is continuity.” The root of the word tan means to stretch or extend, and could be interpreted as, “Tantra
is that which extends understanding.”
But Feuerstein explains that the “concept of continuity expresses the nature
of Tantrism far better, because this pan-Indian tradition seeks, in a variety
of ways, to overcome the dualism between ultimate Reality (Self), and the conditional
reality (ego) by insisting on the
continuity between the process of the world and the process of liberation or
enlightment.”1 (my italics)
He
goes on to say that the teachings of Tantra were designed to serve the spiritual
needs of the kali yuga, or “dark age.”
That is to say, Tantra was invented for those, who like ourselves, are
barely able to channel their aspirations toward the Divine, and are easily
distracted by conventional ideas, expectations, and other cultural influences
(such as technology and pursuits of the mind).
As such, Tantra needs to be interesting and intensely practical, to keep us engaged in “the
practice of realization.” Thus, there is
an emphasis on ritual and “vibrant eclecticism,” as well as strengthening and
attuning our nervous system, in order to be sensitive enough to perceive the Truth. Tantric practice may include one or all of
the following:
- Pranayama:
expanding the breath and one’s pranic energy
- Asanas: charging
the body with the life-force
- Mantra: using sound
vibration to attune us to our higher Self
- Yantra: visual
representations of the mantras
- Unity of Opposites:
weaving together the male and female energies
- Kundalini:
awakening the dormant energy of Shakti, or “pure potential”
- Chakras: using
mantra and yantra to tap into one’s etheric energy centers
- Sexual energy:
generating, recycling, conserving and transmuting
- Sexual circuitry:
using sexual positions to create circuits of energy between partners
- Sacred Maithuna
ritual: bringing all the above together
- Becoming One:
complete merging, one loses one’s separate identity
Many
of the practices listed toward the bottom were kept secret through the ages,
because most people did not know how to receive the teachings—were not ready
for Unity Consciousness. Especially in Western
culture, where most people are badly fragmented, and where, naturally, there
has been an over-emphasis on the sexual aspects of Tantra.
So
how can Tantra be of use to me in my life?
The
practice
of Tantra is helpful because it not only brings moe energy/prana to our
systems, but it brings to conscious awareness the un-worked
material we haven’t yet harnessed or resolved.
The tools of Tantra, like the recitation of mantra, work on many levels
at the same time: our energy body and emotions, our mind-set and intentions,
and our spiritual body, all of which directly affect the health of the physical
body. Disease, it has been said, is
a problem of the spirit. The solution to
disease, Tantra and yoga might say, is one of perception.
If
you would like to experience true, grounded Tantra in a lineage that dates back
to pre-Vedic India, be sure
to study with Amaranda Bhairavan this Spring or Summer, 2009 in Seattle.
1. Feuerstein, Georg Yoga: The Technology of Ecstasy, Jeremy Tarcher, 1989
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