Tantra Unveiled: Seducing the Forces of Matter and Spirit

by Rajmani Tigunait

The goal of the practice determines what ritual ingredients are used. They can include water, flowers, milk, yogurt, ghee (clarified butter), fruit, cooked food, honey, turmeric, rice, black sesame seeds, raw sugar, sandalwood powder, saffron, and, in some cases, liquor, meat, and fish. And because it is necessary for the practitioner to maintain a mood that is compatible with the force being invoked, the goal of the practice also dictates what that mood should be—tense, relaxed, passive, aggressive, etc. To engender the most auspicious atmosphere, the practitioner eats food that is compatible with the practice, selects a compatible set of mala beads, wears clothes of a compatible color, and chooses a compatible material on which to sit while doing the practice. For example if the goal of your practice is to subdue an enemy, to destroy the animosity in an enemy’s mind, or to subdue the enemies within yourself (the negative tendencies of the mind, such as ego, attachment, desire, and anger), your diet preceding the practice should consist of yellow food—dishes containing turmeric, saffron, or yellow legumes (such as toor dahl and mung dahl). Rice pudding with saffron or a pudding of cream of wheat, puffed lotus seeds, and saffron is ideal. A mala made of rudraksha beads, turmeric root, coral, or topaz will be conducive to engendering the proper mood, as will wearing yellow clothes (preferably silk) and sitting on a woolen blanket.