READ: Tantra Alchemy ~ The meeting of Contradictions by Mahasatvaa Ananda Sarita
The world we live in is made of contradictory elements. Night and Day, summer and winter, male and female, earth and sky, sex and spirit, the list is endless. There is a wonderful story in the Hindu tradition, that Brahma, (The source from where everything comes and to where everything returns) was all-alone, and feeling bored in infinite space. He created a divine play of opposite polarities in order to amuse himself. The name used for this divine play, is Leela.
First, Brahma created a cow, and then turned himself into a bull and began chasing the cow. The cow, in trying to escape from the bull, transformed herself into a deer. The bull then transformed himself into a stag and chased the deer. The deer, in running away from the amorous advances of the stag, transformed herself into a snake, and so on. In this way, through the courtship play of many species, our dual world came into being. And of course, as part of this scenario, we search for our other half, endeavoring to return to the original state of oneness.
I love this story, because it expresses the playfulness inherent in all of life and yet indicates the great alchemical secret of existence. If we wish to lift the veil and discover the essence of life, we simply need to bring opposites together, and in so doing, will discover Brahma hidden behind the apparent duality.
When practicing techniques of Tantra meditation, we are offered the opportunity to know the source of life through our own direct experience, and it is surprisingly easy to do so.
Awareness acts as the catalyst for the experience of Wholeness. This is so, because the smallest particles of matter that make up our physical reality, respond dramatically to the power of intent. Science has recently discovered what mystics have been saying for millennia, that physical reality is shaped by thought. As we think, so God actualizes.
The more aware we are, the closer we come to the creator. In fact, we become co-creators. This brings with it great responsibility. It means that whatever we intend, will happen. When you apply this quality of powerful, aware presence to bringing opposite polarities together, the result will be an instantaneous merging into the Godhead, or Brahma, which is described in Tantric terminology as orgasm with the universe. When we are divided, we remain weak. When we are whole, we become extremely powerful. We discover our Godliness.
The ability to merge opposite polarities is inherent in every human being. We come from oneness, and will return to oneness. It is our source of being. In fact, the experience of oneness is no further away than our nose. Tantric meditations are designed in such a way as to support us in experiencing our original nature, easily and naturally. Spiritual attainment is demystified and made simple and accessible to all. Our own bodies and all of physical life is recognized as the microcosm of the macrocosm.
Next Article (15)
SEX, LOVE AND SPIRIT
Sarita is a world renowned Tantra master and mystic offering courses and retreats across the globe. Having received a direct transmission from Osho, she is true to the spiritual essence of Tantra and leads us on the path to self realisation. At the same time she takes care to help us transcend the psychological blockages that we carry as a result of our cultural background and past experiences. She is also a master healer, author and consultant. website: http://www.tantra-essence.com
Read more from VividLife.me bloggers:
Tantra and the Divine Feminine by Mahasatvaa Ananda Sarita
In the last 2000 years or so, women have been considered to be the weaker sex in much of the so-called civilized world. In actual fact, women have simply forgotten how to access their own power, the Divine feminine. In Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, he says: “The valley spirit never dies It is named the mysterious female And the doorway of the mysterious female Is the base from which heaven and earth spring It is there within us all the while Draw upon it as you will It never runs dry.”
Tantra and the Divine Masculine by Mahasatvaa Ananda Sarita
The Divine Masculine is a timely subject for 2012, as this is the year when the old world transmutes into a new world, according to the famous Maya predictions. Bring it on! The old world has been dominated primarily by an imbalanced masculine, which shows itself in the number of wars and general raping of planetary resources. This has happened because the masculine has been divorced from the feminine for a few thousand years, and by so doing has gone into a fevered testosterone fueled orgy of competition and destruction. I am by no means saying,…
READ: The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra – An Exquisite Map for Living
October 21, 2011 by Mahasatvaa Ananda Sarita
Filed under •-Feature, Deities, spirits, and mythic beings, Enlightenment, Hinduism, Meditation, Meditation, Sexuality, Spiritual Retreats, Spirituality, Tantra
There is a 5000 year old scripture from India, called the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, (meaning methods for raising consciousness) which describes 112 meditations. These are offered in the form of a conversation between Lord Shiva and his consort, Paravati. She asks:
“Oh Shiva, What is your reality? What is this wonder-filled universe? What constitutes seed? Who centres the universal wheel? What is this life beyond form pervading forms? How may we enter it fully, above space and time, names and descriptions? Let my doubts be cleared!”
Shiva answers in the form of Sutras, which are short condensed spiritual teachings, covering each facet of human experience. When we immerse ourselves in these sutras by practicing them as meditations, we learn that each aspect of the human being can become a door into expanded consciousness.
When reading the sutras listed below, it is good to keep in mind that these are just 10, (out of 112.) This short list offers a taste of the wide scope of the Tantra experience and how this can be applied to daily life.
FOOD: “When eating or drinking, become the taste of food or drink, and be filled.”
HEARING: “When listening to stringed instruments, hear their composite central sound, thus omnipresence.”
ATTACHMENT and DETACHMENT: “The appreciation of objects and subjects is the same for an enlightened as for an unenlightened person. The former has one greatness; he remains in the subjective mood, not lost in things.”
SEXUALITY: “When in such embrace your senses are shaken as leaves, enter this shaking.”
DEATH: “Focus on fire rising through your form from the toes up until the body burns to ashes but not you.”
TRANSCENDING FEAR: “In rain during a black night, enter that blackness as the form of forms.”
COSMIC JOKE: “This so-called universe appears as a juggling, a picture show. To be happy, look upon it so.”
AWE: “See as if for the first time a beauteous person or an ordinary object.”
MEDITATION IN THE MARKETPLACE: “When in worldly activity, keep attention between two breaths, and so practicing, in a few days be born anew.”
AWARENESS IN EXTREME LIFE EXPERIENCES: “At the start of sneezing, during fright, in anxiety, above a chasm, flying in battle, in extreme curiosity, at the beginning of hunger, at the end of hunger, be uninterruptedly aware.”
The meditations from the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra offer us the possibility to experience present moment awareness. It may be necessary to practice a certain meditation several times or even for months, in order to discover the nectar hidden within it. Once this has happened, you will remain open in regards to this particular life principle. By practicing these methods, people transform their lives very rapidly.
I offer a once yearly group in November, in Dharamsala India, for practicing the 112 methods in a very supportive atmosphere. I also offer guidance for some of the meditations in an on-line video course. A wonderful book to study regarding these methods is the Book of Secrets, by Osho.
NEXT WEEK:
CHAKRAS – THE TANTRA MAP FOR A FULFILLING RELATIONSHIP
WATCH: Krishna Das Music Video “Om Namah Shivaya”
October 18, 2011 by VividLife Editorial
Filed under •-Headline, Hinduism, Music, Videos, Yoga, Yoga
Layering traditional Hindu kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation, Krishna Das has been called yoga’s “rock star.” With a remarkably soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in even the most casual listener, Krishna Das – known to friends, family, and fans as simply KD – has taken the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling chant artist of all time, with over 300,000 records sold. His first studio recording in a decade, “HEART AS WIDE AS THE WORLD” invests KD’s magnetic chanting with an electrifying rock ‘n’ roll sensibility informed by a lifetime of experience and musical love.
READ: Understanding Tantra Lineages
October 14, 2011 by Mahasatvaa Ananda Sarita
Filed under •-Feature, Buddhism, Enlightenment, Hinduism, Meditation, Meditation, Sexuality, Spirituality, Tantra
Traditionally, Tantra has always been passed on in the form of an experiential transmission. The Master devises situations and methods of meditation to help the disciple awaken their inner sensitivity, awareness, fluidity and love. The quality of the Tantra transmission is dependent on the depth of experience carried by the teacher. We can only pass on what we have lived deeply.
There are many streams of Tantra based on the experience of one or more masters of that lineage. Here, I describe seven main streams.
Kashmiri Tantra honours Shiva and Shakti, and offers a unique blend of the female path of love and devotion with the male path of witnessing and awareness. In this lineage, love as a spiritual path is respected. There are many techniques, some of which use sexuality for awakening, and others focus on any other aspect of human experience such as senses, emotions, mental cognition and subtle spiritual states.
Tantra Yoga is ascetic and male oriented. Adepts of this path use yogic disciplines and some may also engage in sexual union but are encouraged not to fall in love or to move into relationship. Sexual union is used like a rocket to move into heightened spiritual states.
Aghori Tantra explores heightened spiritual states through Yogic Siddhis, special powers, offering the transcendence of physical limitations, including death. Some of their practices appear extreme, such as meditations and ritual done in burning ghats, where the dead are cremated.
The Baul Mystics of Bengal, India bring together Tantra, Bhakti, (devotional worship) and elements of the Sufi Tradition to offer a singing, dancing and celebrative path, which pulsates with living wisdom and joy.
Tibetan Tantra is a unique blend of the ancient Shamanic Bonn tradition, Buddhism, and Indian Tantra coming from the lineage of Saraha. In a nutshell, it focuses on transcendence of the wheel of birth and death, offering a magnificent tapestry of refined wisdom.
Chinese or Taoist Tantra, as it is commonly called, focuses on the dimensions of health, longevity, and immortality through massage, sexual union, qigong and breathing techniques. Traditional Taoist medical doctors would commonly prescribe sexual positions and ways of lovemaking for curing physical health issues.
Neo- Tantra is a term coined by Osho to describe his vision of a world based on the Tantra approach to life, love and spirituality. Many Neo-Tantra practitioners are not even aware that the term came from Osho and there are many varied experiments happening under this umbrella, (some of which have very little to do with Osho or Tantra.)
If you can find a teacher in whose presence your heart feels like it is growing wings, and you begin practicing Tantra meditations, this combination will awaken your inherent wisdom, supporting you to reclaim your original state of oneness.
Tantra is now experiencing a renaissance all over the world. Like rain to thirsty earth, the Tantra vision nourishes the wholeness of life, embracing human nature as a magnificent expression of universal energy. It offers an intelligent way for us to move forward into the new dawn of human consciousness.
NEXT WEEK:
THE VIGYAN BHAIRAV TANTRA, AN EXQUISTE MAP FOR LIVING
READ: The Meaning and History of Tantra
September 29, 2011 by Mahasatvaa Ananda Sarita
Filed under •-Feature, Enlightenment, Hinduism, Insights, Love, Meditation, Sexuality, Spirituality, Tantra
Part of my mission in teaching Tantra is to clear up misconceptions about it. When I moved to Europe in 1999, having spent 26 years in India, I was amazed to find out that most people seemed to believe that Tantra was all about sex and promiscuity with a few feathers and some incense thrown in for good measure. The general public still carry such concepts, and some even think that Tantra is a code word for a massage with a ‘happy ending.’ I offer here a little reality check.
Tantra is a Sanskrit word, which has several meanings:
- Transformation
- To weave
- Transformation of Poison into Nectar
- Methods for transformation
The meaning connected to weaving is profound. As you weave, two opposite threads are being brought together to create one cloth. It is a universal law of life, that when you consciously bring any two opposites together, Godliness is experienced. Tantra methods play with bringing together all opposite polarities in a conscious creation dance.
The alchemy of transformation means; a base substance is transmuted through the fire of our awareness into its divine aspect. The transformation of poison into nectar has to do with using Tantra methods to transmute those areas of human life which are normally considered to be pitfalls, such as animalistic sexuality, emotions, ego-mind, power trips, etc.
In the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, a 5000 year old scripture, Lord Shiva answers questions on life, love and spirituality from his consort Paravati. Each of his 112 answers opens a portal into spiritual awakening through a method of meditation. These methods cover each and every aspect of human life. Most major religious traditions of our world have their roots in one or more of these methods.
Tantra can be traced back before recorded history, probably originating in India. There were two religions; one worshipped the feminine as the deity, and the other worshipped the masculine as the deity. Eventually, these two religions melted into each other, coming to the wise conclusion that God is both male and female, Shiva and Shakti.
For thousands of years, India has been on the cutting edge of research into the expansion of human consciousness. Mystics, scholars and masters have poured their genius into defining the mysterious world of enlightenment. Tantric research into human existence has reached to a pinnacle of comprehension, which is both simple and elegant.
Each cell of our body contains the whole universe. The microcosm contains the macrocosm. Sex and Samadhi are one. Male and female are complimentary aspects of one whole, as is day and night, in-breath out-breath, birth and death, and all other contradictory elements that make up our duel world.
The feminine path of love and devotion merged with the masculine path of awareness and witnessing, is the Tantra life approach. It is a homecoming, helping us to relax into what is, with wise acceptance and compassionate love. It has deep roots into the past, and simultaneously offers a pioneering vision for our future.
NEXT WEEK: (Article 7)
UNDERSTANDING TANTRA LINEAGES
