We live our lives in quiet desperation, looking for something or someone outside ourselves to somehow fulfill us. Even as we search for the mythical Mr or Mrs Right, we operate from a degree of self-loathing, created by misinformation, misconceptions, conditioning and guilt.
How can we love or be loved if we don’t love ourselves? How can we break the grip of our past to create a glittering new reality? Fortunately, our modern dilemma is ancient. It has been the challenge of all peoples in every age. Tantra offers a solution, in the search for the beloved.
From within the legalized structure and rigidity of Hindu society, emerged a group of rebels who believed that personal and human evolution lay beyond the restrictions of traditional castes and laws. They proved that freedom could produce excellence while legislation only produced stagnation. They became masters of themselves, discarding moribund traditions for self-knowledge. They included scientists who postulated atomic structure, astronomers who understood the solar system, mathematicians who created the concept of zero, negative numbers and the decimal place, and metaphysicians who discovered the aura, astral travel and the chakras. They became masters of every craft and art. They called themselves Tantrics, which refers to expansion and the weaving of energy. Their wisdom is a gift of 3,000 years. By rejecting empty ritual and rigid dogma, they were able to recapture the true essence of Hinduism.
Tantra and Hinduism both utilize a triad of forces to be used by the seeker: creation, transcendence and preservation. These forces symbolize steps, realizations or stages of initiation for the Tantra practitioner in the search for the beloved.
The creative force is symbolized by Brahma and his female counterpart Saraswati the patroness of the 64 Tantric arts. Our creative forces are given birth in artistic expression, especially in the art of love. Tantra sees our body and the expression of the senses as a way of producing energy to be redirected inwards and channelled. Healing our thoughts and feelings about sensuality and our bodies is an important first step in producing this energy.
The second Tantric force is deified by Vishnu the Preserver and his counterpart Lakshmi. He maintains life and propagates love. Laksmi is the embodiment of material prosperity and spiritual wealth. Tantra teaches techniques for maintaining heightened sensual awareness using secret rituals, positions, visualization, mantras and yantras.
The third principle is transformation as symbolized by Shiva (Lord over Death) and his counterpart Kali (the Destroyer of Illusion). The universe is constantly chan-ging; nothing remains static. Transcendence or ‘going beyond’ the limitation of ordinary existence is the embodiment of Tantra and is revealed through sexual secrets. In learning how to extend from the mundane to the metaphysical, the lover takes the sexual energy created with his beloved and transforms it into a life wave, a force transcendental, to achieve liberation from death into pure undifferentiated consciousness.
Tantra literature elaborately describes the human energy system. Sadhanas or practices are prescribed for the initiated to experience the movement of this energy. Universal force enters through the top of the head and is distributed down and out through the body in a series of channels (Nadis). Our perception of the changing world of Maya (illusion) is created when this energy is directed outwards through our senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch). Tantra practices involve withdrawing this energy from the outer illusions and redirecting it upwards as awakened (Kundalini) energy through a channel called the inner flute. A series of wheel-like inner vortices called chakras intersect with this main channel. The inner traveller can experience transformation and connections with other realities at these stages as this energy is redirected upwards. When the energy again reaches the crown of the head, it becomes ultimately transformed into the nectar of immortality, producing inner erotic ecstasy. This experience of Samadhi is the objective of the Tantric seeker.
Mantra is an important component in Tantric work. A mantra is a primordial sound which can be repeated to produce a cumulative stream of focused cosmic and bodily energy for specific purposes. Om is the sound that created the universe and its continuation resonates and maintains all existence. Om is the sound of true love and, when chanted, it calls forth the beloved. The sound Hrim evokes resonance in the all-embracing heart chakra. Klim focuses the energy created in sexual union.
Yantra is a linked diagram by which visualized and meditated energies are focused. Yantras assist the Tantric practitioner in becoming one-pointed. Around the border, there are typically gates of entrance leading to a succession of patterns representing stages of atunement (often with accompanying deities), projecting towards a central point (symbol or mantra). When the upward (phallic) triangle of the Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu is united with the downward (pubic) goddess triangle of Lakshmi, Saraswati and Kali, they form a symbol of male and female forces within—symbolizing, in many cultures, the connection to God.
Tantra teaches that our path begins as an inner journey. The work we initially are presented with is the movement and purification of our subtle energies. When the seeker is ready, however, the Beloved will appear as that counterpart, other half, partner, soulmate, who can join with you energetically to create cosmic energy, sustain it and transform it to the liberating elixir of eternal bliss and consciousness. Tantra’s gifts of mantra, yantra, sacred sex, the chakras and meditation are tools in the liberation from the illusions of the world and signposts in the search for the Beloved.
Dr Bryan and Light Miller have been a Tantric couple for 24 years. They offer discourses on topics ranging from ancient religion to health, and are practitioners of Ayurveda and Kaya Kalpa. They will be in Vancouver June 28-30 for a Tantra workshop and private Kaya Kalpa sessions. Call the Clearmind Institute for information, 983-8586. They will also be speaking at Shared Vision. See Calendar for details or call Shared Vision, 733-5062.