Tantra is probably
the most misunderstood branch of Indian religious practices. An ancient
practice that dates back to the 5th-9th century CE, the common
perception about tantra is that it is a kind of black magic.
However,
the truth is that tantra is the science of life, a way of living, which
aims to remove all roadblocks towards liberation. While some spiritual
practices consider material pleasures as forbidden and obstructing
progress on the spiritual path, thereby causing a constant internal
battle within the spiritual seeker that involves self-condemnation and
guilt, the tantric perspective is that our ignorance of our true nature
is the only real impurity.
Tantra says be the way you
are: impulses, imperfections and all. It doesn’t tell you to go against
your impulses or to fight against your being. Tantra simply teaches the
transmutation of energy.
It teaches one to transform hate
into love, to transform sex into samadhi, to go from anger to
acceptance, from ego to surrendering. Tantra allows you to transform
kama (sexual energy), krodha (anger), moha (attachments), lobha (greed)
and ahankara (ego).
Each of us are born in this life with
these qualities that belong to our lower nature. Instead of resisting
them, suppressing them or denying them, tantra teaches you to embrace
these aspects of ourselves and use them as catalysts for self-awakening.
Through the use of meditation, mantra recitation and visualisation,
your ordinary perception can be transformed into a pure perception.
Then, everything becomes sacred.
The word ‘tantra’ is a
combination of the two words ‘tattva’ and ‘mantra.’ Tattva means the
science of cosmic truth, while mantra is the science of mystical sounds
and vibrations. Thus, tantra is the utilisation of cosmic science to
reach higher spiritual heights.
Our world comprises
opposite and polar energies. Hot-cold, dark-light, good-bad,
male-female, and so on. Everything in creation is a manifestation of
these divine polarities.
These opposites are classified
as Shiva and Shakti, the male and female forces in nature. Shiva is the
Destroyer and represents Universal Consciousness. Shakti is the Divine
Mother who gives birth to all creation. This is the mystical connection
between Shiva and Shakti. Shiva and Shakti are one, but they hold the
power, freedom and wisdom to appear in various ways. All beings are
expressions of this endless life process of Shiva-Shakti.
During
the movement from imperfection to perfection, an individual passes
through three stages: In the first stage, a person is completely
controlled by animal instincts. In the next stage, the person gains
control over these instincts. In the final stage, after constant
struggle and effort, the human being becomes Divine. Tantra reveals the
cosmic circle through which a soul moves from a lower state of
consciousness to the highest state of consciousness.
I received the above article from my friend Zilvinas Andrikonis, to read more go here:
The Science of Tantra