WHAT IS TRUE TANTRA IN NUTSHELL ? PART-03...TRUE TANTRA --12

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF TANTRA?--

04 FACTS;- 1-There is a great similarity between tantra shastra and yoga shastra. In both you will find references to asanas, pranayamas, mudras, bandhas, chakras, nadis, dharana, dhyana, kriya yoga, kundalini yoga, hatha yoga, mantra yoga, jnana yoga, etc. 2-The practices of khechari, shambhavi, vajroli, uddiyana and the like are an integral part of tantra shastra. In the sixty-four tantras there are hundreds of such methods meant for highly developed as well as undeveloped individuals. Each tantra can be said to have been created to suit a limited number of temperaments. 3-There are written tantras as well as unwritten tantras. Written tantras number sixty-four, but unwritten tantras are unnumbered. They are an oral tradition and are only taught to those disciples in whom the guru finds great understanding and a few more simple qualifications. 4-Even today there are such teachers in India who are well versed in this oral system of tantra and who continue to pass on this great knowledge through their disciples. This traditional oral system is more powerful, portable and easily available, but it is not an easy task to discover the teachers of this tantric system. WHAT ARE THE METHODS OF WORSHIP?

09 FACTS;- 1-Tantric worship is a kind of ritual in which various aspects of reality are accepted. It is the general belief that worship of those deities creates great receptivity and awakening in the psychic world of man and thereby the worshipper receives abundant blessings. 2-The science of mantras is so precise and scientific that it creates an awakening in the psychic fields. Therefore, mantra shastra is the foundation of tantra shastra. 3-The various provinces that are lying in the inner space of man are always in tune with those vibrations, which a powerful mantra is capable of creating. Therefore, a mantra which belongs to the tantric tradition is a very powerful tool. It may or may not have any intelligent meaning, but it is capable of piercing through the various states of psychic consciousness. 4-The method of worship in tantra is not only devotional; it is scientific and preplanned so that the worshipper has to remain conscious of each ritual at every step. As such he cannot perform the worship mechanically. The process of guiding the awareness is fully defined and he must remain aware of what he is doing. 5-He has to employ mantras, mudras, bhavana and kriyas during the practice. Therefore, the method of worship brings about a fineness in the state of individual awareness. 6-Tantric worship does not begin in the temple nor does it end there. It begins the moment you rise up from your bed and every action thereafter is guided by the rules of tantra. During the process of worship, every item of tantric ritual brings the awareness into active operation. At the end of the worship the aspirant meditates on Shiva and Shakti. 7-Tantric meditation is absolutely guided and therefore it gives the sadhaka a greater facility to overcome the problems of the mind. He does not have to think of the next step and naturally the intellect is made to retire. This is a very important event in spiritual life. 8-The entire programming of meditation helps the aspirant to practise for long hours. When you meditate on a particular deity, you need a program for the individual awareness to follow without any intellectual processes being involved.

9-Again, yantras and mantras are so designed that they are able to create an image and excite the movement of consciousness in the psychic fields. These elements of tantra guide the awareness into different planes of consciousness. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A GURU?--

06 FACTS;- 1- In tantric sadhana the guru is the first and most indispensable element. Selection of the guru is the foremost item in tantric sadhana. The female guru is considered to be very powerful. Wherever there is a custom of traditional tantric initiation, the mother becomes the initiating guru. 2-This custom is popular in certain parts of Bihar where the mother becomes the guru of the tradition. For the fulfilment of any tantric worship, initiation from a female guru or bhairavi is sought. Initiation by bhairava is very powerful. 3-However, the selection of a guru for tantric initiation is really a difficult job for the simple reason that such gurus do not make themselves known at all. Therefore, initiation into tantra depends on the guru, while the disciple has only to prepare himself. When the guru feels that the disciple is ready, then he initiates him into the tantric tradition. As such, the problem of finding a proper guru for tantric sadhana should not arise at all. When the disciple is ready, the guru will be shown. 4-The tantric guru may be a sannyasin or a householder, but what is wanted is that he is proficient in his art and does not use the power for evil purposes. Although a householder guru can have the authority to impart the knowledge, yet it should not mean that one can become a guru just because he is a householder. Since the householder is accepted as a responsible member of society and has a great understanding of the average person, he is also allowed to act as a guru provided he knows the science. 5-In India, brahmins who know this art and give initiation live the life of an average householder. However, one must remember that the married life of a Hindu brahmin, and still more that of a spiritually-minded Hindu brahmin, is glorious, disciplined and self-controlled. There is a great difference in ideals, outlooks, practices and results in the lives of a Hindu householder and an average western householder. 6-Even if such a guru has two wives, it does not matter. The shastras sanction such marriages in extraordinary cases when the question of progeny (offspring) is involved. However, such a guru devotes himself fully to the practices of tantra sadhana while he has disciples to take care of his material needs. IS SADHANA IN THE BURIAL GROUND; A PART OF TANTRA?---

07 FACTS;- 1-Sometimes a very ugly picture is painted of a tantric sitting naked in a burial ground with human skulls and drunken women. In fact, tantra is far from this. Witchcraft also should not be mistaken for tantra, although the practitioner of tantra may develop certain powers. 2-Since the cemetery and burial grounds, lonely forests and midnight hours are good for silent and uninterrupted meditation, tantra shastra advises such places. When the mind is given an atmosphere, then the mental tendencies become much quieter. 3-In deeper states of meditation when the conscious mind loses its grip over the autonomic system, inherent fear springs up (come into existence )and there is an explosion of psychic (relating to the soul or mind) contents in the form of symbols from the collective unconsciousness. Even as, situations in life are able to stimulate the lower psyche in individuals, likewise the solitude, quiet and mysterious atmosphere of the burial ground is able to develop the mystic and occult contents of one’s deeper personality. 4-There is no better place in the world for meditation than the burial ground, where the mind as a whole develops awareness of fleeting life, meaningless efforts, death and many more valuable realizations. Sometimes the aspirant used wine in order to eliminate the first phase of fear. 5-However, this sadhana is a ceremony to stimulate the mind and brain to dive deep into one’s own self. When you practise tantric worship in the burial ground, you have to practise the whole initiation in that heightened mental state for hours together and try to disassociate the psyche from matter in different phases of awareness. 6-Tantric worship in the burial ground is also enjoined for women, but it is not a collective worship; one has to practise individually. Morning worship of tantra is enjoined for husband and wife, but they have to practise individually. Only the preliminary worship is enjoined for both and must be practised together. 7-When the consciousness of the aspirant dives deep into various layers of individual consciousness, it has to overcome fears, forms, images and schizophrenia (a long-term mental disorder) and finally establish itself in a state of tranquillity. When the tremendous collective unconscious becomes manifest, the ego is separated from matter and the thing is seen face to face as a reality. NOTE;--When one is established in spontaneous brahmacharya, then one is allowed to practise or worship in the burial ground or any other such place. WHAT IS THE ESSENTIAL PART;-CELIBACY OR COHABITATION ?

09 FACTS;- 1-Cohabitation, whether marital or extramarital, is not an essential part of tantra. You can practise tantra with your wife if you have one, with another companion, or without anyone if you are a brahmachari. For Hindus, marriage is a dharma as much as brahmacharya is a great accomplishment. While a married householder fulfils a great dharma, a brahmachari attains the higher state of existence. 2-Marital union is not unholy, yet it pricks the conscience. How then can one practise tantra when both acts are to be performed at night? The practitioner of tantra will have to spiritualize the marital act and make it an item of tantric worship, so that he remains free from the emotional concomitants (a phenomenon that naturally accompanies) of the act. 3-Wise people included the marital act in the scheme of tantra in order to avoid the guilt complex, the animal nervousness, the psychological after-effects, the forgetfulness of spiritual purpose, and finally to establish a deeper bond of union between husband and wife in the psychological, social and spiritual fields. 4-That is why maithuna is not outside but inside the scheme of tantra. It should not be considered as unspiritual since it opens certain portions of the posterior pituitary gland and removes toxins stored up in the sexual organs and elsewhere. 5-The practices of tantra are done at different periods: at night /at home/ in the burial ground, in the company of husband or wife, or alone. It all depends on the evolution of the practitioner. While the beginner may be asked to perform the worship at night with his wife, later on he and his wife may have to do the practice individually and live a life of spontaneous brahmacharya. 6-Brahmacharya is not renounced by tantra, rather it is enjoined( pressure on) but not straight away. It comes in stages ;AS FOUR STAGES OF HINDUISM. 7-So, a tantric is not a wild looking man with a bottle in one hand and a woman in the other, with a hideous face, dirty appearance, deep red clothes, bloodshot eyes and a terrifying personality. Those who have this image in their minds are ignorant of the truth. 8-A real tantric is a saintly personality, a yogi who is practising yoga in a different way for the development of that spiritual power which is hidden by layers of ego. Tantra is a much easier way, a path most people can walk upon. 9-The tantric system has come to be misused and abused, and therefore misinformed people have developed vague and false images of the tantric, and impostors/hoaxer are exploiting their self-styled definition of tantra. IS TANTRA A NATURAL PROCESS OF SELF REALIZATION?--

05 FACTS;--- 1-If you could be aware of the details of tantric worship, the definition of deities, the science of mantra, the psychic capacity of the bija mantra and its use, the methods of meditation, the place, time and companions of worship, then you would at once understand that tantric sadhana is so powerful that not only the vagrant mind can be brought under control, but the higher elements of consciousness can also be subjugated. 2-Shiva and shakti have individual as well as collective existence. They are the supreme awareness in every being. A complete manifestation of shiva and shakti is termed samadhi by yogis, whereas vaishnavas call it Vishnu darshan. 3-Shiva is unqualified awareness in every being and shakti is matter holding and manifesting the said awareness. Shakti directs the three gunas so that the individual awareness can function. 4-Shakti is maya, illusion, and avidya, ignorance, also. When the worshipper is propitiating shakti, he is actually progressing through the path of pratyahara, the withdrawal of sense awareness. The process of cessation of the modifications of the individual consciousness is complete when the awareness of shakti is revealed. The state of higher consciousness is easily obtainable by the process of shakti worship. 5-Vedanta is a sublime philosophy but it is purely intellectual. Sahaj/ Raja yoga is a complete system but it makes a lot of demands on the individual to the extent that it produces numerous introverts, neurotics and inhibited personalities. Although it is an incomparable path in other ways, but it lacks understanding of the average person. 5-1-Bhakti yoga is the easiest path, but the problem is that it has no systematic blueprint for inner evolution and it is full of impossible concepts of ethics, morality, purity, orthodoxy and incorrigible (not able to be changed or reformed) arrogance. 5-2-Tantra, on the other hand, is a smooth way for everyone, and does not lay down a list of don’ts. It has practices for every individual at different points of evolution. Whether you are a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian, a brahmachari or married, high born or low born, selfish or unselfish, a seeker of moksha or siddhis, it is tantra shastra which gives you a way for yourself. 5-3-Even sannyasins can practise tantra sadhana and develop higher powers and utilize them for the good of mankind. Mahanirvana Tantra is the tantra for sannyasins, brahmacharis and hermits. NOTE;--All those who have not succeeded in their sadhana even though years have elapsed (proceed) should accept the tantric way of realization. In Kali yuga, THE VAISHNAV MANTRAS ARE NOT FRUITFUL(because of impurity );when minds are no longer pure, habits have degenerated, passions have burst out, faith in God is just a habit and life has become completely material, it is tantra that is the way for spiritual aspiring souls of both east and west.

...SHIVOHAM......