Tantra Unveiled: Seducing the Forces of Matter and Spirit

by Rajmani Tigunait

Tantrics commit themselves to sadhana in order to bring this philosophy into the realm of direct experience. To accomplish this the first and most important step is to analyze our own consciousness to find out how effortlessly we are able to live with the philosophy. On the practical level few of us experience our oneness with the Divine Mother, and even if we do the experience is momentary. Instead we experience a sense of separateness and a longing to be connected with Her. According to the adepts th...

We find ourselves driven by the four primitive urges—food, sex, sleep, and self-preservation—from which spring emotions such as desire, anger, hatred, jealousy, and greed. And until we find a way to establish ourselves in non-dual unitary consciousness these negative emotions constantly flood our mind and nervous system with anxiety, fear, and a pervasive sense of insecurity. This is the level on which animals operate.

Kaula tantrics approach the four primitive urges in one of two ways. Followers of the right-hand path believe that the less active these urges are, the less distraction they will create. Their sadhana, therefore, is to practice self-restraint and subdue the basic urges until these urges have no power to distract them from their spiritual focus.

Followers of the left-hand path maintain that these urges are intrinsic and that restraining them cripples our body, mind, and senses. They believe that it is better to follow the law of nature and let the biological urges express themselves in a healthy manner, but without indulging them. According to these tantrics the key is learning to channel these powerful drives in a spiritual direction.

The Divine Mother is the embodiment of supreme beauty, bliss, auspiciousness, and goodness, and so it follows that these characteristics are inherent in everything that exists.

It is relatively easy to learn the practices of right-hand tantra and get initiated, but it is very difficult to find a master who will initiate you into the practices of left-hand tantra. The scriptures speak with one voice: “Kaula—especially the left-hand aspect—is an impenetrable mystery. The slightest carelessness on this path can lead to indulgence. It is easy for the mind to justify acts of sense gratification.”

To summarize: the complete knowledge and practice pertaining to the kaula school is traditionally imparted in three stages. Each consists of a specific kind of practice, and to get that practice directly from a master a student goes through a formal process of initiation. There are three levels of initiation. The first two help the aspirant unveil the mystery of the right-hand path of the kaula school. The third and final initiation allows the aspirant to gain access to left-hand kaula tantra. And it is only after going through these three levels of initiation and doing the practices that accompany them that we can systematically unveil the dynamics of matter and spirit, attain mastery over the forces governing life within and without, and take charge of our destiny.

THE FIRST INITIATION: MANTRA We saw in chapter 3 that tantric practice begins with kaula tantra, and kaula tantra, in turn, begins with doing mantra japa in a right-hand (or purely meditative) manner. Then, after a student has practiced this standard form of mantra meditation for a while, he or she is initiated into the tantric method which includes many additional elements. In the tantric tradition the mantra is not simply an object for focusing the mind: the mantra is the illuminator of the mind. It is the body of the Divine Force in the form of sound. It is the living Divinity, and in the first level of practice the mind, body, and senses are employed to serve it. Constant repetition of mantra charges our being with divine consciousness, eventually transforming our egocentric awareness into divine awareness. And when at the culmination of our sadhana we become one with the power of the mantra, the gap between individual and universal consciousness is filled. We are no longer a drop in the ocean; we become the ocean. In the tantric tradition the anthropomorphic (personified) form of the Divine is secondary to the mantric form. In fact the anthropomorphic form is merely a means of apprehending the mantric form. Tantric philosophy asserts that there is only one primordial life-force, known as Sri Vidya or Sri Mata (the Divine Mother). Just as the sun emits numberless rays, so do an infinite number of mantras emerge from the Divine Mother, and through systematic practice of...

The Sanskrit word for God is Ishvara, which means “the force capable of doing what She wishes to do, capable of not doing what He does not wish to do, and capable of undoing whatever so far has been done.” God is the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent primordial force endowed with the unrestricted power of will. This Divine Being, according to tantrics, permeates every aspect of creation. What prevents us from experiencing its presence is our own ignorance, which stands like a wall between individual and universal consciousness. The tantric method of mantra sadhana is one of the surest ways to demolish that wall and experience God the way She is.

The key element in practicing mantra in a tantric manner is to establish a personal relationship with its power. This takes place only after intense practices resulting in the tantric adepts having a direct, intuitive experience of the ishta deva, the personified form of the mantra they are practicing. This form is the actual materialization of the mantric energy, not a product of imagination. The ancients literally saw the personified form of the mantra, just as we see tangible objects in our daily life, and when they described the physical counterpart of the mantric energy in minute detail, the vision served to open the way for dedicated practitioners to have darshana, or a glimpse, of the mantra. This is how the concept of deities developed in tantra.

Cultivating love and respect for the mantra is more important than concentration on the mantra—but establishing a relationship with something which is solely auditory, and therefore merely conceptual, is difficult for most people. It is not difficult, however, to feel the presence of the Divine when the sense of sight is involved. We are accustomed to experiencing shape, color, and texture, and the personified forms of the deities described by adepts are accompanied by all these familiar elements of cognition. We can relate to them. Thus in tantric practice mantra becomes a tool not only for focusing the mind but also for filling the mind with the grace of the deity. We can now cultivate a personal relationship with the deity corresponding to the mantra we are practicing, convincing ourselves intellectually that the mantra and the deity are one and the same and that we are communicating with Her with each repetition. This is where an understanding of tantric metaphysics becomes important. Every religion perceives God in a distinct form, and if we have been raised in a particular religion we have a natural preference for that form over any other. Practicing a mantra in a tantric ...

In tantrism every mantra or group of mantras is associated with a specific deity—the deity is the visual form of the mantra; the mantra is the auditory form of the deity. The vibratory patterns of the mantras are associated with different levels of forces both within us and within the cosmos, and the deities are the archetypes of those forces. The light of the Divine itself manifests in the form of mantra. Thus each mantra is a focus of light, and intense meditation on a mantra enables us to see it as light in the personified form of the dei...

The medium of communication at the level of feeling is blocked if the deity is beyond our reach. Some of us can override our cultural conditioning, but most of us cannot. And so to overcome the sense of separateness caused by ignorance of our oneness with the Divine, tantrics include complementary practices in their mantra sadhana. Two major components of such practices are prana pratistha and nyasa. Prana pratistha is an intense visualization, and it is further energized by the mantra. It causes you to feel that the deity is sitting in the lotus of your heart, or even that you have been replaced, and the meditation about to be undertaken is actually being done by the deity. This helps you rise above the dualistic consciousness which led you to believe that you and the primordial life-force were two different entities. Next comes nyasa, which means “to synchronize different aspects of the mantra with different aspects of our being.” This practice helps you to synchronize the forces of the mantra with the different limbs and organs of your body. There are different levels of nyasa practice. At the first stage of initiation a simple version is used. (In the practice of the highest category of tantric mantras, such as Sri Vidya, the nyasa is quite elaborate.) In this simple version the mantra is divided into six parts and is established in the thumbs, index fingers, middle fingers, ring fingers, little fingers, and palms through the power of concentration. This is called kara...

THE TANTRIC METHOD OF PRACTICING GAYATRI To further clarify this tantric form of mantra practice let us return to the gayatri mantra, one of the most famous mantras in the Vedas. This mantra has a maternal quality. It guides us in the right direction and warns us at a subtle level when we are about to make a mistake. And if mistakes have already been made, the gayatri mantra lovingly corrects them. The mantra is: Om bhur bhuvah svah tat savitur vareniyam bhargo devasya dhimahi dhiyo yo nah prachodayat. In the ordinary course of meditation on gayatri all you have to do is sit with your head, neck, and trunk in a straight line, relax your body, breathe gently and smoothly, and bring your attention to the center suggested by your teacher (such as the navel, heart, or eyebrow center) and remember the mantra. The tantric method is much more elaborate. The most comprehensive method consists of completing auxiliary practices known as sandhyopasana, the twilight meditation, before doing japa (repetition) of the gayatri mantra. A shorter version consists of invoking the guru lineage, purifying the atmosphere and your seat with special mantras, and drawing an imaginary wall of fire around you to protect yourself from external influences.