What is Tantra ?

[Wannabe Yogi]

Georg Feurstein ( a well regarded scholar on both Yoga and Tantra ) has said this about todays Tantra in the west.

"The paucity of resources of research and publications on the Tantric heritage of Hinduism has in recent years made room for a crop of ill-informed popular books on what I have called Neo-Tantra."

Most of what I have read about Tantra in the west is not Tantra.

"It is productive of extensive results, being constituted of metaphysics as well as mantras, and as it leads to liberation it is called Tantra."
-Gandharva Tantra

Most people think of Mother worship when it comes to Tantra. There are also sects of Tantra that worship Shaiva, Vaishnava, and Ganapatya. They all have their own Tantric scriptures that the base thier faith on.

The Tantric scriptures believe that Vedic rituals work but for the average man in the kali yuga Tantric rituals are just easy to use.

The Tantras also teach the following things:

-The discernment and renunciation that you find in the Upanishads
-Pranayama, medatation on the chakras and kundalini power.
-The type of devotion you find in the purana's

I believe that Hindu Tantra is Vedic. The Tantric scriptures that I have read teach that they come from the Vedic traditions. Some orthodox followers of the Vedic tradition reject Tantra as Vedic. The Tantra's and great saints like Sankara both teach that Tantra to be interwined with Vedic traditions.
It is importent to remember that Adi Sankara traveled all over India installing the Sri Yantra in Temples and he wrote the Saundarya-Lahari to teach others how to use it.


-

 

[prometheuspan]

Tantra is a set of mostly far eastern, Hindu, Taosist, and shamanic assorted practices,
the religious aspect of sexuality in religions that celebrate sexuality instead of double bind themselves into abhoring it and thus themselves.

Tantra is primarilly a set of understandings about how the subtle body looks, works, functions, and can be accessed, coupled with breathing and meditation techniques,
which when fully learned and implemented properly can lead to higher states of consciousness and even telepathy instead of just animal sex.

The more specific answer to your question would have to hinge upon whose version and which denomination, of which there are, modernly, at least hundreds.

If you count the tendency of new age to conflate eclectically similar systems, and call them all Tantra despite Tantra being in most senses as a word just one specific origin point and then a branching tree of evolutionary shifts and changes....

It goes into maybe thousands.

It is know that there were "tantra" cults in india, Europe, Israel, Egypt, ....

Similarly to for instance four element theory or three selves totemism, each of these systems has remarkable similarities and also fascinating differences.

Taoist tantra for instance is remarkably different from the other tantras, and buddhist Tantra also stands out in a class of its own.

What is tantra?

is a remarkably apt socratic question because despite the abundance of actual anthroplogical information, politics and propaganda are well ahead of truth distribution,
and most alleged "tantrists" are just sex fiends with a neato excuse.

As with most things, bringing them to the west waters them down.
The sad thing about this is that western shackels against all such things are so high that
the watering down gets thinner and thinner and thinner and thinner and nobody knows the difference.

And republican can publish a book and it sells just as well despite the fact that its a smear campaign and a work of fiction.

Any con artist can write a book and it sells just a well despite the fact that its just a set up for manipulative sex.

Finding out what Tantra really is thus becomes a signal to noise ratio riddle.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

A few things that are very progressive about Shakta Tantra:

-In Tantra there is a fifth Highest cast that anyone can join.
-The status of women is high in the Tantric world view. The female Goddess is worshiped and both men and women can be Guru's in many linages.
-The low caste folks have a better place in life. Even folks who are born sudras can become temple priests in some places in Assam.
-The practice of sati has been always expessly prohibited.
-Tantra is also very life affirming. In Buddhism the common human experience is seen as a sea of suffering. In tantra life is seen as joyful. Ramakrishna called it a "mart of joy".

 

[prometheuspan]

Wannabe Yogi

well, theres no doubt at least that you have an enlightened sense of humor...
lol

 

[zenzero]

Friends,

What is Tantra ?

Kindly read the page with the link below:

What Is Tantra?

Love & rgds

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

Friends,



Kindly read the page with the link below:


Love & rgds

Sorry to tell you this but this site you have given is not real Tantra but what Georg Feurstein calls neo Tantra. It has very little in common with the Tantric Traditions.

Here is a very importent Tantric scripture. Mahanirvana Tantra or the

Tantra of the Great Liberation.

Mahanirvana Tantra Index

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

Ramprasad is seen as one of the Great Tantric Saints his poems are repeated all over Bengal.

I drink no ordinary wine,
Commentary by
Ivan M. Granger

I drink no ordinary wine,
but Wine of Everlasting Bliss,
As I repeat my Mother Kali's name;
It so intoxicates my mind that people take me to be drunk!
First my guru gives molasses for the making of the Wine;
My longing is the ferment to transform it.
Knowledge, the maker of the Wine,
prepares it for me then;
And when it is done,
my mind imbibes it from the bottle of the mantra,
Taking the Mother's name to make it pure.
Drink of this Wine, says Ramprasad,
and the four fruits of life are yours.

One more poem

Kulakundalini, Goddess Full of Brahman, Tara --
You are inside me.
You are inside me, Ma
in the muladhara, the sahasrara,
and the wish-granting manipura.
The Ganges flows to the left, the Yamuna to the right;
in their midst streams the Sarasvati
where Siva and Sakti shine.
Meditating on You like this
a ruby-red snake sleeping
coiled around the Lord Self-Born
a man is blessed.

In each glorious lotus
Muladhara, svadhisthana, manipura at the navel,
anahata, and visuddha
You incarnate as letters
v to s, be to l, d to ph, k to th,
sixteen vowels at the throat,
and h and ks between the eyebrows.
My teacher was firm with me;
he told me to think of You like this in my body.

Brahma and the four gods, and Dakini and her five saktis
inhabit the ascending lotuses, supported underneath
by an elephant, a crocodile, a ram, an antelope, and a second elephant.
If you hold your breath
you can know Her
and hear the buzzing hum
of a drunken bee.
Earth, water, fire, and air dissolve immediately
when you sound "yam," ram," "lam," "ham," and "haum."

Then cast me
a compassionate glance --
I keep being reborn!
Your feet alone drip nectar.
You are Sakti, cosmic sound,
and Siva the dot in "Om"
full of nectar like the moon.
Who can cleave the One Self?

Ritual worship, controversies over dualism and nondualism
these don't bother me,
for the Great Mistress of Time tramples Time.
Once sleep is broken
there's no more sleep, and the soul
will be turned into Siva. Could one like this
even if reborn
drown anew in the senses?
Liberation adores him like a daughter.

Pierce the agna cakra;
dispel the devotee's despair.
Traveling past lotuses
four, six, ten, twelve, sixteen, and two
to the thousand-petaled flower at the top of the head
the female swan unites with Her handsom amde
in the residence of the Lord.
Hearing Prasad's words,
the yogi floats in a sea of bliss.


http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/R/Ramprasad/index.htm

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

The Important scriptures of Tantra.

The Chandi or Durga Saptasati is one of the most important scriptures of Shakta Tantra. It is seen as a commentary on two Rig Vedic hymns "The Ratri Sukta and the Devi Sukta. It is found in the Markandeya Purana. It is seen as a sadhana scripture. Many devotees of the mother chant the whole thing every day. If you are good and fast it might take you 3 hours.
One of Ramakrishna's many enlightened disciples Swami Turiyananda chanted it and then Bhagavad Gita every other day from memory. He needed no book. I think that the translation by Swami Satyananda Saraswati is the best one made today.

The Devi Gita is from Devi Bhagavatam and it teaches a doctrine of holistic spirituality. It is a compendium of spiritual disciplines unlike the Bhagavad Gita that is a philosophic discussion. It teaches how to do sadhana. How to breath, what to chant, and what the Mantras mean.

The Saundadaryalahari of Sri Sankara is the most amazing poem ever. It is unmatched in depth by any other poem.

When you read it explains philosophy of Sri Vidya by descriptions of devotion. But it is also a commentary on the The Sri Yantra that is a road map to enlightenment.

Sri Yantra​

​

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

Tripura Rahasya was considered by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi as one of the greatest works that expounded advaita philosophy. ... As for its philosophy, there is no real reason to distinguish it from Vedanta. Scholars however call this system the Taantri or the Saakta, and point out some apparent differences between this and Advaita Veedaanta.

TRIPURA RAHASYA. Chapters I - XV of XXII

 

[Cosmos]

Seeing as Tantra means to "weave", it is evident to me that tantra yoga it is a spiritual exercise, like dance. Indeed, it is universal to all cultures of which Hindu civilization may have incorporated from a spiritual root. The deities Shakti and Shiva symbolize, as Qualities and Attributes of God, the dual aspects of the Masculine/Feminine Principles active in the Universe that are the macrocosm to our microcosm, being the chakra centers. This is why tantra yoga has a variety of physical-mental exercises, from animal sex in some cultures to the more specialized transcendental feats.

 

[dharma_seeker]

I have a question about Aghoris. Are they the Vama Margis of Tantra cult. I saw a video of them consuming human flesh, doing tantrik rituals etc. Would they be considered Vedic??

Are Aghoris part of Hinduism?

 

[dharma_seeker]

here is a video on Aghoris.

[youtube]v2K5aiB70EU[/youtube]
YouTube - Hijolly com MAN EATERS OF KASI STRICTLY NOT 4 THE WEAK HEARTS

 

[dharma_seeker]

My main concern is that is Aghori sect would be considered a Hindu Sect or vedic sect?

 

[Onkara]

Question please:

¿Can we understand the role of Shakti as active or passive on us?

 

[Andal]

My main concern is that is Aghori sect would be considered a Hindu Sect or vedic sect?

The Aghori are Hindu but I wouldn't consider them Vedic.

 

[Cypress]

Most people think of Mother worship when it comes to Tantra. There are also sects of Tantra that worship Shaiva, Vaishnava, and Ganapatya. They all have their own Tantric scriptures that the base thier faith on.

There are or were Tantric sects that worshiped Surya.

A few things that are very progressive about Shakta Tantra:

-In Tantra there is a fifth Highest cast that anyone can join.
-The status of women is high in the Tantric world view. The female Goddess is worshiped and both men and women can be Guru's in many linages.
-The low caste folks have a better place in life. Even folks who are born sudras can become temple priests in some places in Assam.
-The practice of sati has been always expessly prohibited.
-Tantra is also very life affirming. In Buddhism the common human experience is seen as a sea of suffering. In tantra life is seen as joyful. Ramakrishna called it a "mart of joy".

That is what I love about Tantra.

Question please:

¿Can we understand the role of Shakti as active or passive on us?

Shakti means power, force = active.

 

[Cypress]

My main concern is that is Aghori sect would be considered a Hindu Sect or vedic sect?

No sect that teaches consumption of flesh, animal or human, is vedic.
Vedism is concerned about purity, meet, alcohol, blood, makes a person impure.

 

[Onkara]

There are or were Tantric sects that worshiped Surya.

That is what I love about Tantra.


Shakti means power, force = active.

Hi Cypress

Do you know, what is the role of shakti in reaching enlightenment? What role does Shakti have for the enlightened soul? for example is Shakti to be overcome or embraced (or something different)?

(I am using the word enlightenment to define the state of the searcher and the guru but the focus of my question is on shakti and maya, rather than enlightenment)

 

[Cypress]

Shakti is to be embraced to reach enlightenment.

In Hinduism the Absolute Reality is called Brahman.
Brahman has two aspects, the passive and the active.
They are like two sides of one coin.