Tantra, Please explain?

[IcyCosmic]

Vannakkam Icy: This may (or may not) also be helpful..

from the lexicon of Dancing with Siva, (but summarised by me for simplicity)

1) most generally, a synonym for shastra (scripture)
2) a synonym for the Agamic texts, especially those of the Shakta faith
3) a specific method, technique, or spiritual practice within the Shakta or Saiva traditions, generally used to have energy flow upward through the sushumna

so from 3 above, pranayama would be considered a tantra.

For me personally, I see it as #3.

Aum Namasivaya

Namaste EM,
Yes that is helpful! I think I remember coming across this in Dancing with Siva but without the context you have all given it was just as confusing! I was originally told Tantra is a form of meditation or path of union with god, so when these ''new-age'' Tantric practicioners propound their make-shift classes as genuine tantra so convincingly it only leaves me even more bewildered.

Aum Namah Shivaya

[Ram11]

Namaste,

In India,
The illiterates are
The wisest people.
They live in villages,
And just do bhakti.

Namaste Ji,

I agree.
Bhaktas,indeed they are the luckiest ones!A devotee's mind that is filled with Bhakti doesn't need to worry about anything else.It is the best thing IMHO.

[Ram11]

Vannakkam: No it is not wholly hogwash, just the western stuff. I practice something called the Vasana Daha Tantra, and in this case it roughly means 'method'.

Aum Namasivaya

Namaste Ji,

Could you tell me what is Vasana Daha Tantra?

[Eastern Mind]

Namaste Ji,

Could you tell me what is Vasana Daha Tantra?

Vannakkam: It's a method. Write out all your thoughts, especially negative ones, with emotion, then burn it in an inauspicious place. Some of the emotion goes with it. It helps to get rid of anger towards an individual, for example.

Modern psychologists also recommend it about your boss, colleagues, etc. I've done it, and it works for me.

Aum Namasivaya

[Amrut]

Interesting explanation (I have not read he whole article)

http://mahapashupatastra.blogspot.in...vidya-and.html

OM

[ganeshamylord]

Namaste,



+1
Could not have said it better.

Pranam.

Namaste
The problem with most of us is we have long lost the ability of questioning to blind faith and thats where the question of progression gets destroyed. We follow what we are taught and not what we experience. Most of the devotional forms focus on the face value of blind faith. Now we call the Bhagavata purana(or most puranas) the best purana yet we find statements like earth is flat,false moon distance and many many scientific inaccuracies. Now if I do sing and dance kirtans based on this inaccuracy, stop questioning and take the side of untruth in the pretext of humility i am called a great bhagavata .If i dare to question it and try to rise above ignorance i become a pashandi and go to hell.
If i can believe that the earth is flat then what is the problem in believing that sex gives salvation
If we can call sexual tantra which we never even experienced in the first place as a hogwash ,, why are we so afraid of doing the same with puranas or other stories which have on your face inaccuracies? If sexual tantra focuses on the weakness of foreigners which is sex is it wrong to think the puranas focus on the Indian weakness of fear of hell which makes them believe in all the cock and bull stories in the pretext of humility and devotion?
Is the sexual tantra worse than fear of hell,fanaticism,ignorance that many fanatic believers have? Is sexual tantra worse than the emotional weakness that we have where we call a book perfect and God written despite knowing it has several blunders which are both unscientific and unspiritual? Arent we being hypocritical when we conveniently judge sexual tantra before even experiencing it just because it doesn’t conform to our standard form of belief system?
If we are brave enough to call something which we personally never experienced as a hogwash why aren’t we brave enough to question the more obvious puranas where a lot of stuff written is inaccurate?
Personally i dont know anything about sexual tantra but i find it very amusing when people who tell me not to call a cult a cult, themselves pass judgements on stuff they have no clue about.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

If one takes the time to read the works of this tantra in question one will see it is far beyond the notion of sexual congress. Yet in the West as soon as they hear ~sexual~ the mind guides them to the only data point they have - that of passions and the 'intercourse' that comes of this. It is like giving a child a diamond and they throw it around as if it were a stone.
They spend no time on the underlying principles, do not comprehend the notion of tantra or its two-pronged approach - some classify as āgama and nigama.

From these two broad classifications (āgama and nigama) it is said there are 6 types of sambandha (or personal connection , relationship , fellowship , friendship , intimacy ) between the teacher and the taught. This goes from para, the highest , where the questioner and answerer are both śiva to adivya sambandha where the teacher and taught are humans. I will not go into the other 4 as that will pull the reader away from the subject at hand.

So this whole ~sexual~ tantra is generally not understood ; one does not even know the qualifications of who is to practice this. And one does not know that not even one drop of śukra (seed) is dropped when properly practiced. Yet in the West this tantra it is seen as a 'get out of jail card' , that the mind once more wins and a person thinks they are actually doing a spiritual practice.


iti śivaṁ

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namaste

Namaste

The term Tantra primarily refers to a group of scriptures, this is explained in the Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary:
a class of works teaching magical and mystical formularies (mostly in the form of dialogues between śiva and durgā and said to treat of 5 subjects , 1. the creation , 2. the destruction of the world , 3. the worship of the gods , 4. the attainment of all objects , esp. of 6 superhuman faculties , 5. the 4 modes of union with the supreme spirit by meditation

But the term can also apply to any other doctrine. So even the Vaishnava scriptures can be called thus vaishnava tantras. But it is quite doubtful how much all this has to do with some kind of "transmute sexual energy or something".

　
I thought to add a bit to the defintion above.

• tantra तन्त्र - as a noun means a loom; the notion of weaving comes to mind as this word is also used for a row , number , series , that you would find in a weave.

If this is a loom, then who are the weavers? Śiva and Śakti. And what is woven? Creation. It is creation that is worn by us, woven by Them.
Let's look at its components - tan + tra

• tan तन्- to extend , spread , be diffused (as light) over , shine , extend towards ; to extend or bend. The masculine applicaton is uninterrupted succession.
• tra त्र- is protecting.

Hence tan + tra is that which is extended, protecting overall.

Yet too some can say that tan + tra is the spreading of higher knowledge (light, shine)

Tantra can also look to a root of trai - to protect , preserve , cherish , defend , rescue from hence to ~spread~ protection. Some also look to this tantra as tantratā - comprehending several rites in one ( ususally from the mīmāṁsā¹ point of view)
　
As aforementioned if this is a loom, then who are the weavers? Śiva and Śakti.

It is interesting to note a simple connection back to weaving:

• siva सिव or sivaka - means one one who sews or stitches , a sewer , stitcher. As siv सिव् means to sew, stitch, darn.
• This is not to be confused with śiva शिव rooted śī शी , " in whom all things lie " ; This śiva we know as The Auspicious One , the Supreme, the unsurpassable (anuttara).

iti śivaṁ

1. mīmāṁsā - the pūrva-mīmāṁsā or karma-mīmāṁsā by jaimini , concerning itself chiefly with the correct interpretation of Vedic ritual and text

[Amrut]

Thank you Yajvan ji for enlightening explanation. Very pleased to read such a explanation. Only sattvik mind can think in this way.

__/ \__

[Mana]

Namaste,

Yes, wonderful posts Yajvan ji, thank you for your explanation; such a beautiful tapestry.

Pranam