Tantra

The word "Tantra" has been bandied about since it first came into popular lexicon in the 1970s'. It was during the days of the flower culture and free love that the western world re-discovered the philosophy of the "Tantra." They interpreted in many different ways but love and sex were common elements in almost every interpretation. There were many who claimed to have renounced their worldly ambitions to live a life that is governed by the principles of Tantra.

The word "Tantra" has its origins in Sanskrit. It seems as if it is the amalgamation of two words - Tanoti and Trayati. Tanoti means to expand consciousness, and Trayati means to liberate consciousness. Tantra also means fabric in Hindi, the national language of India. Combining the Sanskirt and Hindi versions would make Tantra, the fabric of existence. The belief that Tantra originated in India is flawed because versions of it were practiced in the Far East, Turkey, Armenia, Polynesia, and even the Cherokee tribes of North America. One common thread that runs through these cultures is that they have deep respect for nature and are comparatively laid-back and relaxed.

The synthesis between true love and deep meditation is Tantra. Tantra means to get in touch with our cosmic consciousness. Tantra holds sex as a sacred act that does not get adulterated if it happens outside the confines of marriage. Most religions bring a certain fear element when it comes to God but Tantra propagates the theory that God is to be loved and not feared. It attempts to reconcile the two ideas of sex giving man animal pleasure, at the same time it being deep spiritual pursuit. Tantra is all about the channeling of sexual energy to achieve a Union with ones true self and God. Those practicing Tantra are taught to make love with every possible animate and inanimate object. The idea is to debunk the conventional vehicle of thought - the mind and embrace the concept of thinking with your heart, body and soul.

Tantra is the total surrender of all mental, emotional, social and cultural conditioning. It means the elimination of dogma from our lives. It means the breaking of many rules that have been imposed upon us over the years. It means the removal of effort that one puts to live in a way that is accepted by conventional society. There is no fear in Tantra. According to Tantra we can celebrate life when the idea of separation, or otherness, is destroyed. This enables people to meet at all levels of consciousness--physical, vital, mental, intellectual and spiritual. Tantra preaches the concept of spiritualizing ones sexuality. It offers practical tools and techniques to achieve this. One of the techniques that it teaches man is to enable him to delay his orgasm so as to accept the maximum amount of female energy possible.

Initially Tantra was all about the feminine energy and it was captured in the image of the goddess, Shakti. The feminine energy was considered to be something that was superior to the masculine energy. It attempted to encapsulate the interplay between the male God, Shiva and Shakti. Shakti is seen as the female component of Shiva and is often viewed as being in perpetual coupling with him. But all the artwork depicting Shiva and Shakti depict Shakti increasing Shiva's powers and vitality. Tantra attempts to duplicate this perpetual coupling amongst all its practitioners.

Tantra however has become tainted over the years as something that is nothing but an excuse to have an orgy. This has come about because of the myopic view of sex that Western religions take up. Sex that is not within the confines of marriage is considered to be blasphemy. Undoubtedly, Tantra has its share of fanatics but that does not mean that everybody has to be colored in a similar negative hue. The media too finds it easier to sell the concept of Tantra using the sex platform and almost completely ignores the philosophical aspect. If sex were the only objective then the practitioners of Tantra would not follow such a complicated, elaborate, and exceedingly difficult procedure to gratify themselves.