Rediscovering Tantra: A Path For Our Times
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Introduction
Review Of Literature
Is Tantra Only About Sex?
Definition Of Tantra
Summary & Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
Written by Gary Allen Woodcox
In the last days, in the Age of Kali, the sacred cow (representative of Society) has only one leg to stand on. The rest having been removed, cut off in the preceding 3 ages of Krutha, Tretha, and Dwapara. The age of Krutha corresponded to a golden age of enlightenment when humans could easily understand the truths of the universe. Tretha was the mental age when telepathy and clairvoyance were common and Dwapara was an age related to the experience of spirituality in terms of subtle energies. Now in the Age of Kali the sacred cow stands on one leg, her last leg, balancing tenaciously, tenderly, afraid to move, knowing, feeling that all will collapse. In fact all will collapse. It is inevitable. However, in the midst of this, one spark of hope remains. It is prophesied that Tantra will be rediscovered and, the next changes in humankind and our destiny will be brought forth. All will be revealed and humanity will begin a New Age of wonder and amazement, one of unlimited, unimagined possibilities.
What is this thing called Tantra? Legends talk of its revival and tie it into the hope of humankind. How can an ancient science, philosophy, discipline, whatever you want to call it mean so much for our future? CAN it mean so much? Can it have that great of an importance? These are the questions I hope to answer in this material.
Review Of Literature
There are thousands of books that could have been used as sources for this course. Tantra, after all, does mean "to weave." Also, thousands of Sanskrit manuscripts rot in archives untranslated and are held untouched by governments. I have confidence that the sacred knowledge in these texts will be revealed in their time in whatever way they may appear for our growth and discovery. These listed books are some that have touched my soul and heart and have helped in my discoveries. I hope they help in yours.
Bodhi Avinasha's book The Ipsalu Formula: A Method For Tantra Bliss (2003) is a wonderful book of Tantric practices and a personal insight into the journey of discovery Bodhi Avinasha has made in developing Ipsalu Kriya Tantra Yoga. This is part of a set that will be referred to later. It is written in a very straight forward easy to understand manner that many have enjoyed.
Rufus C. Camphausen's work The Encyclopedia Of Sacred Sexuality: From Aphrodisiacs And Ecstasy To Yoni Worship And Yap-lam Yoga (1999) is a great reference guide of definitions and historical aspects of Tantra across a broad range of culture.
The Yoga Of Power: Tantra, Shakti And The Secret Way (1992) was written by Julius Evola. Julius is described as "a controversial renegade scholar, philosopher, and social thinker." He is considered a leading authority on Tantra. He brings an in-depth understanding of Sanskrit that adds great texture to his understanding and writing. Tantric Yoga And The Wisdom Goddesses (2003) was written by David Frawley. David is a great authority on Indian philosophy, yoga, and Ayurvedic medicine. Tantra is a Goddess oriented practice, an honoring of the feminine principle. This is an excellent reference book to learn the different faces of the Goddess in her many forms as she applies to Tantra.
Marshall Govindan's book Babaji And The 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition (1996) tells of the personal history of many Tantra and yogic masters who reached enlightenment and the gifts they developed and manifested in their lives and growth.
Harish Johari wrote the book Tools For Tantra (1986), which is a wonderful source of in-depth discussion on how the different tools of Tantra bring about transformation and change. A great source for digging deeper into this mystical science.
Eastern Body Western Mind, Psychology And The Chakra System As A Path To The Self (2004) was written by Anodea Judith. Anodea is a leading authority on the integration of chakras and therapeutic issues presenting a scholarly work on the relationship of the chakras to personality development and personal growth. She gives a beautiful discussion of Tantra and how its practices can help in this development.
The Quest For Personal Power, Transforming Stress Into Strength (1996) was written by Phil Nuernberger. Dr. Nuernberger is a respected psychologist who has taken the principles of Tantra into the mainstream world of government and corporate life and shown how these ancient practices have very practical and powerful techniques for helping all in today's fast paced society.
Desire: The Tantric Path To Awakening (2001) was written by Daniel Odier. Daniel is one of France's most honored authors and has taught worldwide. He founded a Tantra center in Paris and has managed to capture the essence and basis of Tantra and its power for change beautifully and poetically in this book.
Jewel In The Lotus: The Tantric Path To Higher Consciousness (2002) written by Sunyata Saraswati and Bodhi Avinasha, is an encyclopedia of Tantric techniques with a wonderful explanation of the inner workings of Tantra practices in bringing change to one's life. It is beautifully simple and straightforward in its presentation.
Tantric Love: A Nine Step Guide To Transforming Lovers Into Soul Mates (2001) written by Ma Ananda Sarita and Swami Anand Geho, is a colorful and well written explanation of the many aspects of Tantra and how its practices bring closeness between lovers; a very well done book.
Tantra: The Cult Of The Feminine (1995) written by Andre Van Lysebeth, is another wonderful book that captures the spirit of Tantra, and in a very beautiful manner explains its power for change and transformation in one's life.
Tantra: Discovering The Power Of Pre-Orgasmic Sex (2006) was written by Yogani. This is part of a series of books written about different types of yoga. It is very simple and easy to understand. Although I did not agree with all of its approaches to Tantra, it is evident he was trying to be thorough and fair in his discussion. It presents an outsider's view of Tantra from a very intellectual approach.
Is Tantra Only About Sex?
Tantra is a word that engenders much confusion and hoopla. Just type "Tantra" into any search engine and you will be flooded with an outpouring of people claiming to teach or know Tantra. Strange terms spring off the page, dakini, chakras, kundalini, breathing techniques, mudras, bandhas, nadis, meridians and tantrikas. You will find people claiming to be Tantra teachers, sharing a tantric experience, tantric massages, teaching Tantric lovemaking and making love with you tantrically. To a certain extent it has become a buzzword, hip, and supposedly current for those in the know, but, it is only a tiny scratch on the surface.
It reminds me of the story of the Leprechaun who was caught by a man and promised to give the secret whereabouts of his pot of gold. The Leprechaun told his capturer the pot of gold would be in the tree that had the yellow ribbon around it, and he would be able to find it the next morning. So, he let the Leprechaun go and next morning he went out to the forest. He found not one tree with a ribbon around it, but every tree in the forest had a ribbon around it and he felt thwarted. The moral of this story is that every "tree" in life does have a treasure in it that makes our lives rich and that is one of the main things Tantra teaches us.
I smile at the excitement that is being generated by so many "new" discoveries of science and metaphysics. The power of "Being in the Now" and the power of manifestation are just two that come to mind. (You can add many more examples from your own life) These "new" discoveries have captured the minds, hearts and imagination of many in society and a huge global shift is taking place in humanity's consciousness. It is exciting to see, but all of these and many more are part of the rediscoveries of Tantra.
The abundance of information on Tantra that surrounds us tying Tantra into sexual, multi-orgasmic, whole body orgasms, or mind-blowing, consciousness-arousing sexual experiences—all of that is true. However, it is a selling of the sizzle and not the steak. It is a marketing tool. Let's face it, sex sells, and sells big. It places the wrong emphasis on Tantra, though, and gives individuals the impression that they know what it is about, when in fact they have a superficial knowledge of it. It is allowing individuals to get a sniff of what the steak is like and not letting them taste the whole thing. It is telling them or allowing them to believe sex is what it is all about, and not sharing that this is only one small part. There is so much more. It is like telling a person that if you know about rocket fuel, you know all about the rocket. The rocket and its fuel are very different, and to present it as otherwise is an injustice.
Definition Of Tantra
So, what is Tantra? Two of the ideas associated with Tantra are that this Sanskrit word comes from tan and tra. Also from tan and agama. One is the idea of a treatise or a building on past works and ideas. In Tantra: The Cult Of The Feminine (1995) Andre Van Lysebeth says, "According to S.N. Dasgupta, since tan comes from tantri, to explain, to expound, to expose, Tantra also refers to a treatise on a given subject." Lysebeth goes on to explain that it is "a system, a theory, doctrine, a scientific opus or a section in a book. Tantra is also a mystical and magical doctrine or any piece of work based on such a doctrine."
Now, in this case, it is the science and philosophy of the Vedas. The Vedas and the Tantras are from the civilization and culture that gave humanity the concept of the zero, an in depth look at the hormonal affects of glands on the body, the electrical flow of energy within the body, and many more scientific discoveries that are just beginning to be appreciated by Western medicine and science. In fact, so rich and innovative were the writings on Tantra that they were often given the title of "the fifth Veda."
To some, Tantra is the combining of sexual energy with the Divine and altering consciousness. In Tantra: The Cult Of The Feminine Andre Van Lysebeth goes on to explain: "Tantra also means a 'loom' or 'weaving' which would seem to bear no relation with any form of doctrine. But Tantra perceives the universe as a fabric where everything is interrelated, interconnected, where everything impacts on everything else. If you add the instrumentality suffix tra to the radical tan (to stretch, to spread, to expand), you get tan-tra, literally, the instrument to expand the field of ordinary consciousness in order to reach supra-consciousness, the root of one's being and the wellspring of unknown powers that Tantra seeks to awaken and harness." (3)
Even more important than the knowledge of Tantra, is the experience of it. Tantra is experiential. It has to be experienced, tasted, lived to be truly understood. It is a study of the macrocosm through the study of the microcosm or vice versa. We are the laboratory. It was and is a journey of liberation and discovery. Some of the concepts cannot be described in words, although one may try. Words are a poor substitute for what is felt at the deepest levels of one's being and on the levels of life that are affected. More than that is the idea that Tantra was and is a "way of life, a weaving of Tantra into the entire motif or philosophy, into every aspect of life, every phase, enriching and entwining the spiritual, the Divine, with every aspect of one's day to day existence. In this way, Heaven was on earth and here and now. This was and is the aim of Tantra.
Harish Johari in his book Tools of Tantra (1986) states: "The aim of Tantra, then, is to expand awareness in all states of consciousness, whether waking state, dream state, or deep sleep. To accomplish this, we need a kind of "deprogramming" and "reprogramming" of our human computer. Our birth in a particular place and time gives us our primary programming, influenced by heredity and environment. If we are content with results and live our lives without too many problems, then we will see no need for change. But when we experience great difficulties in life or begin to seek something beyond our limited "program," then we need a way to alter it. Tantra provides the methodology and the tools for this work. It teaches us to identify the various factors that influence our thoughts and feelings and to transcend the obstacles to our evolution arising from ignorance, intolerance, attachment to our animal nature, and selfishness. By refining our thoughts and feelings by means of Tantric practices, we learn to create peace, harmony, and order within ourselves. Tantra thus promotes a onepointedness and centeredness that help to free the consciousness from limitations." (1)
Let us not think that Tantra is only an Eastern concept or from India. This is a universal understanding, intuitively felt, honored, and practiced throughout all of humankind's history. For this reason, more than any other spiritual movement or belief system, this a body-oriented system has been widespread. The body is honored, appreciated, and purified so that the body experience is honed to feel and experience everything to the deepest depths and the highest extent possible.
Many disciplines condemn the body, distrust the body, and have judgments and fear about 'opening' the body to the purest and deepest extent of feelings possible. Tantra sees and teaches the necessity of being open to all experiences in life. Some state that Tantra is not for everyone but only for those with a strong sex drive. However, lack of a strong sex drive is usually part of a diagnosis that something is wrong with the body, a low libido or hormonal imbalance. We use the term, a healthy sex drive, to show that one is filled with vitality and life. In fact, many of the practices and mudras of Tantra are to build up the sexual energy and teach one how to work and move energy throughout the body for health and rejuvenation.
To close oneself off on any level is to close off all levels. Passion is limited and held back. For this reason, balance is emphasized in all areas of one's life in Tantra—balance of the masculine and feminine within oneself certainly, and also the balancing and embracing of the "light and the shadow," the animal with the human, the human with the Divine. There are wonderful benefits of living this way. It broadens the field within which one is working and has mastery of. For example, when one works with both the masculine and feminine traits in one's problem solving task, one taps into the analytical and intuitive abilities of the brain, moving one into a form of genius mode. This playing with and cultivating the ability to move from an analytical to an intuitive side or to use both sides at the same time is easily taught in Tantra through breathing exercises and mudras. All of this is part of the self-mastery that is learned through Tantra yoga, the mastery of self. It is a matter of either/or or both-a broadening of the playing field we can play on and tap into. Past knowledge learned becomes as if at your fingertips, and reservoirs of energy within the body become easily manipulated for healing oneself and others at will. The mental state of oneself becomes not a matter of whim to life changes and forces beyond our control, but a matter of choice as one becomes sensitized to frequencies of each emotion flux and can choose and play with them as one desires. These are some of the wonderful benefits of Tantra.
Where many schools of thought direct toward the future as a place to put our hopes and energy in, Tantra was the original teacher of "the Power of Now" and placing one's consciousness here, totally in life's everyday experience. To place one's attention on the past with regret or attachments, or to fear for the future or live for the future was to rob this moment of its energy, lessening one's life experience now. From this developed the concepts of Nirvana, the practice of no-mind, and Zen walking. From this concept of living totally in the moment, new vistas of insights and appreciations spring, greater understandings are learned, new discoveries brought forth and developed in every aspect of life.
Tantra teachings encourage one to stop worrying about the future or regretting the past. Learning to live in such a way would work wonders in eliminating stress and stress related diseases that plague our society now. It also reminds me of something Jesus said: "Be like the lilies of the field, the birds of the field that neither toil or slave about the future." Simply live in the now, living for and in the Divine of each moment.
Life was and is to be lived and enjoyed fully, completely. We come into the world as a blank slate, open to an unimaginable state of being. We are born for experiences and stimuli for which we are given senses to receive. We as a body are not just the physical body we see and which is the root of our existence. We are also comprised of a system of at least 7 bodies, some physical and some subtle, that are a system of light and energy interpreters which translate energy around us from life and the Universe into our own individual life experiences. These centers are at least 7 on this earthly plane, and 5 of these centers have senses that we use to see, taste, hear, smell and experience life. Maybe there are other senses we have not learned to play with, but will.
The Tantric Experience is meant to open oneself to all that life brings without judgment or fear, to truly feel on the deepest levels each experience of life, the so-called good and/or so-called bad, the painful and joyous, and to truly be alive in each moment, drinking all of life's experiences as lessons of the Divine and to the Divine with no judgment or holding back. So much of what we call life is not living, but rather existing. We live in fear and retraction, and contraction rather than in expansion. We brace against life, armor ourselves against life and what "may" come out of fear. A Tantrika (one who practices Tantra) embraces all of life. Every action, every part and parcel of one's daily practice is to feel all life is and to be a true reflection of life on every level. It means living life in its fullness, passionately sucking the marrow from the bones, the metaphorical bones of course, of life. All of life becomes a walking meditation.
Part of this may be the old Tantric adage "as within, so without." It is the simple belief that our perspective of the world is simply a reflection of who we are and what we have or are experiencing. If we open up more, our world opens up more. If we shut down, our experiencing of the world also shuts down. As a plant is fed by the sun and rain, we are fed by our daily experiences of life in all of its many colors and swirls of change and movement that enliven and enrich our life. It is from this rich tapestry of personal experience that one can begin to "create" one's own moral code and judgment to guide and direct one's life by. Before Tantra, one might have allowed one's family, religious beliefs or society tell him what he or she should experience or feel or do. True freedom comes via the Tantra experience, the freedom to choose what life means to oneself.
Often within the Tantric community one will hear the expression that one is a "Co-Creator" in one's life, having the ability, wisdom, and experience to lead one's "ship" on the Ocean of Existence. What an empowering realization, to see that we have been entrusted with this co-creatorship.
Co-creatorship is our birthright. In 2006, I had the beautiful experience of going to India and visiting many of the Tantric temples in the southern region. The feel and richness of being in these temples that have touched thousands of lives by their beauty, and in turn have been touched by the energy of thousands, perhaps millions of worshippers and practitioners of Tantra, shows the interplay of all existence. The quiet and peace was profound. During one Tantric ceremony, I noticed a mirror beside one of the statues of Shiva and Shakti who are representative of the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine aspects. When I asked one of the priests what the mirror was for, he stated it was to remind the worshippers that what they were honoring was the Divine they themselves embody. This is very much a part of Tantra, the seeing of the Divinity in each and every other being. This is exemplified in their term of greeting, the Sanskrit term "Namaste," meaning "the Divine in me recognizes and acknowledges the Divine in you." This recognition applies in all aspects of life and relationship. As the partners Shiva and Shakti come together in love and honoring during sexual union, male and female Tantrikas also come together seeing each other as the embodiment of those sacred roles.
We spoke earlier of the seven centers of one's personal experience of life. These are referred to as chakras. Each is associated with a glandular system and an auric field that extends out from the physical body. Each also ties in with a nerve plexus that touches and interacts with the world. These start with the 1st charka called Muladhara and acts as the blueprint of our physical existence. It is the center for our connection to the Earth and our human family. It deals with the instinctual issues of life, death, and survival. The sense related to it is that of taste and its expression is excrement and elimination back to the earth. Its auric field extends out about 2 inches from the body. The next level is the 2nd chakra called Swadhistana that deals with emotions, emotional flow, interpersonal relationships, and pleasure. The sense is smell. Its expression is water and flow in life. Its auric field extends out from the body, overlaying the 1st, about one to three inches. The 3rd chakra, called Manipura or Jewel City relates to the mental body, ego, power dynamics, and one's place in the world. Its expression is our expression of personal power in the world and mental acuity. Its auric field extends out about 3 to 8 inches from the body.
The next, Anahata, is the 4th and relates to the heart and its spiritual nature. Its sense is touch. Its expression are aspects of compassion and unconditional love in our relation to all. The auric field of love goes out to about 6 to 12 inches from the body. The 5th chakra, Vishuddha, is that of our speaking and listening, our truth, our message and gifts with the world. The sense hearing is from this chakra. The field from this center extends out about 18 to 24 inches, and, its expression is our speaking. The 6th chakra, Ajna, deals with the intuitive 3rd eye and the abilities of seeing through illusions and being able to discern truth of a deeper level. Its sense is sight. Its expression is seeing what is. Its auric field extends from two feet to two and three quarters feet from the body. The 7th chakra, Sahasrara opens to the Divine and our connection to the Divine, our understanding of One and Oneness. This is the Crown chakra and its aura extends out about 30 to 42 inches.
This system of seven chakras interact within all of Existence; feeling, seeing, tasting, hearing and seeing all life offers us. Everything is energy and frequency—truly E=mc2. Our senses takes the energy, in all of its many frequencies, and transmutes it into our life experience and interpretation. All of our senses filter and classify what comes into contact with us. We grow in our capacity to interpret, experience, and codify each experience as it comes up into our awareness. At first the energy coming through is slight, as through a keyhole. Gradually, we open the door a crack, then a little more. At this point, a Tantric concept becomes amazingly important in our opening. This is known as The Witness Consciousness.
The Witness Consciousness is a shifting of one's consciousness from within to without, from the subjective to the objective, or from the feminine to the masculine. One becomes both observer and participant simultaneously with the benefits of each. It is playing with Duality. It is the trick of misdirection the Universe throws at us but from the greater vantage point of an objective view allows one to see all. With Tantra, everything is the inter-play of energy—yin/yang, positive/negative, light/shadow, masculine/feminine. It is all play, for there is no duality except as a mental/physical construct that allows interplay, and it is all really just One, as we all are. As within, so without. Pythagoras said, "Give me a fulcrum and I could move the world." Tantra is the fulcrum and the basis of magic and possibility. By shifting into the Witness Consciousness and opening the body to do what it was meant to do, to feel and experience life to the fullest, we truly live fully and in passion.
To many, Tantra is only (and I say only with tongue in cheek as if it were only that it would still be enough) the yoga of sex. However, as we have seen, the second chakra deals with sex and Tantra, which means to weave the energy of the 2nd chakra with all the other chakras. Furthermore, the sex drive is used to ignite the Kundalini energy in a safe and systematic way so that the Kundalini energy can pierce (as weaving) each chakra and sense associated with it, known and unknown, and move it from sensory to extra-sensory, from conscious to super-conscious and all that this unfolds and entails. All the expansion, feeling and experiencing that this brings to us on a daily life-long basis is intensified and we gain mastery not just of the physical body, but all our bodies and senses.
It is through the sharing of the physical act of love, a lover with their beloved, that accelerates this process. In this sacred place of honor, trust, openness and respect of seeing the divine in each other's eyes and an interplay of the divine feminine and masculine within reflecting the interplay without, one opens every nerve and every fiber to the blending and melding of each one's energy together. Interconnection begins chakra to chakra, and each becomes the meridian of masculine/feminine flow carried upward as in the caduceus of Mercurial healing, moving each partner into a timeless place of interconnection, Oneness.
I find it interesting that Evola, when speaking of the Age of the Kali Yuga and the rediscovery of Tantra, speaks of the deterioration of humankind and implies that the only thing that humankind is capable of using is breathing and sex. This is interesting from two different perspectives. One, that humankind has become so deteriorated that it is no longer in touch with subtle influences of change and modification that once were available to humankind. These previous methods are dead or deteriorated to such an extent as to be atrophied. The Second implication is that breathing and sex are still there as a catalyst, and that they are VERY effective. Interestingly enough, breathing and sex happen to be the mainstay of Tantra, along with visualization, sound, and sacred geometry. Breathing, because we can't live without it, and sex because it is the strongest driving force within our bodies. By using two of the strongest forces within us for transformation and bringing consciousness and control to the urges of sexual energy and the sympathetic power of breath, we are able to mold, shape, and expand our Being and consciousness on an ever increasing level, spiraling outward and upward.
Recently, I visited a Buddhist Tantric Temple where one of the teachers there was giving a talk on sutras and Tantra. I asked him how he would describe the different effects of each path. He said that sutras were like taking a journey, slow and leisurely across an open field to Enlightenment. I found it interesting that the word "sutra" means "stream" which reminds me of a brook flowing through life at a leisurely pace, one being able to sit beside it in quiet contemplation and learn what it has to say and teach. The teacher went on to explain that taking that path one could reach enlightenment within about three and a half lifetimes. However, if one followed a Tantric path, one could reach enlightenment within three and a half years. I found that interesting, for I had also heard the same thing and had read that if one did Tantra with a partner, faithfully doing the practices, one could reach enlightenment within three and a half months, and have "the experience of Ultimate Universal Unity in a week" (Saraswati and Avinasha, 2002, pg.29). Such is the power of two committed Tantrikas working in tandem on their growth.
As one does the practices daily, clearings take place on every level of our Being. The body is purified, and emotions are opened and expressed freely and completely, leaving the body open to experience at more levels. Emotions are not to be stored in the body or locked away. The symbol of emotions is water and emotions should be allowed to flow to completion. One may think of it as the equation: emotion=e(nergy in) motion or flow. Its movement as water is the fuel to our desire and the state of our Being. More than what we think, what we sense or are feeling should be the true measure of where we are in any given moment and the only true barometer of our well-being. Living in such a state of being in constant attunement to our emotional state allows us to flow through life completely in tune with the Universe and its frequency. Our frequency would be at One and the mind would also be At-one-ment with Existence, still and quiet. Such peace, such awareness and openness allows the mind, 3rd eye, and the Crown to be in constant communication with one's higher self or with the Divine, allowing us to tap into our intuition and genius.
As one grows in the attunement and clearing of the human body and its auric and chakra system, ever increasing expansion takes place on an individual basis. New gifts and abilities are opened for the ever increasing interaction between us individually and all of Life around us. These take the form of what is called siddhi gifts. The Sanskrit word siddhi means "abilities of perfection." We have senses. Through Tantric practices and clearing, as well as the activation of each sense through its healing interaction with the Kundalini energy as it pierces each individual chakra, changes in our physical and etheric bodies happen to open up the systems of flow in our bodies. Tantric mystics describe the Kundalini energy as a serpent that is wrapped three and a half times around the root chakra with its head pointing downward. This seems to be symbolic of the human body's natural tendency to allow the energy to drain from our bodies, as both excrement and sexual energy, and dissipate back into the earth. This is known as apana. The discipline of the Tantrika is to learn to move the serpent's head so that it points upward in order to carry the Shakti energy from the root chakra up the central channel to the crown for connection with the Shiva energy which comes in through the crown. This is done through breath and consciousness. It brings a union of the Shakti energy with the Shiva energy, symbolically depicted as the Jewel in the Lotus, (Om Mane Padma Hum). This is enacted each time a man and woman make love, combining and opening both together into their Divine Oneness and all the ecstasy this brings.
It is only through the balancing of the masculine energy (Pingala meridian) and feminine energy (Ida meridian) that the central channel (the Sushumna) is opened and the Kundalini can rise through the central channel to the Crown chakra. This balancing and opening is achieved by a number of different breathing techniques as well as mudras. As the Kundalini energy enters the skull, moving toward the Crown chakra, a spark literally jumps from the pituitary gland to the pineal gland. It is that actual spark which is ignited that is seen as enlightenment, and the activating of the pineal gland with all of its gifts and blessings.
As each chakra is opened by the Kundalini energy, affecting each associated auric body and level, new capabilities are opened to the practitioner. Here is a list of some of the siddhi gifts and there are 18 recorded here
(Camphausen, 1999, pg.214):
- Attracting others, or charisma
- Decreasing one's size at will
- Making oneself invisible
- Greatness, mastery of
- Assuming forms at will
- The power to control one's passion
- The power to fly
- The power to enter another person's body: that is possession, or as I see it, such great compassion and empathy of feeling
- The power to cancel out gravity, levitation
- Increasing one's size at will, or possibly presence
- Rendering a person unconscious
- Achieving high speed
- The ability to move about anywhere, unnoticed
- The power of obtaining everything or manifesting
- Irresistible willpower
- Causing temporary paralysis in someone
- Control over others
- Infinite mental powers
Others that I have heard of are making oneself heavy as a mountain or as light as a feather, being able to materialize in different locations (Loco), and many more. The point of this is not that the siddhi gifts are the focus or the goal. They are by-products of the senses being heightened and intensified by the Kundalini and the Tantra practices one does. They are part of the changes brought about by the internal physical transformations that are brought by the shifts in consciousness and awareness. A new reference point is found for interacting with the world, touching the world. This automatically takes place bringing with it changes not only to the practitioner but also all he touches including one's environment and the whole of existence. A depth of heart and a feeling of compassion and love becomes the basis of our being. Our individual center seems to shift from the 3rd chakra of ego and power to the 4th chakra of unconditional love, compassion, and unselfish service. Imagine a world filled with such beings who see the divine in each other and in all of creation, people who live in service to others rather than for self-aggrandizement.
Gopi Krishna, an Indian student who had his Kundalini activated early in the 20th century began a life long dedication to convincing the scientific community to begin a serious and thorough investigation of the Kundalini energy and its affects on humanity. He felt it was the next great harbinger of human kind's next evolutionary change. In his research of Kundalini activation and the resulting awareness brought forth, be it called enlightenment, awake, aware or any other term now coined, he speaks of 4 results:
- Living in bliss, joy and love constantly
- Living in absolute integrity at all times
- Access to cosmic wisdom
- Enlightenment
Summary & Conclusion
So, is Tantra of benefit and can it aid humankind at this time in human history? As we have seen, it is a world wide historically established belief system already in place. It is a science of exact practices that lead to documented results. It is a system that is body oriented, emphasizing the benefits and blessings of getting as much out of life as is possible. It is a system that brings about new realizations with its practice and an ever increasing change in one's being and relationship with others. A new paradigm is created where one learns to trust the body and existence with a new way of looking at the world and life, as well as all things that are part of existence. Balance in all phases of life is encouraged and taught for the betterment of ourselves individually and collectively. Honoring of both the masculine and feminine that are seen as reflections of the relationship we have with the divine. A seeing of the divine in all things is taught, truly creating a sense of "heaven on earth" and our part in being co-creators of All. A practice that expands one's consciousness and our mastery of our being that leads to ever-expanding sensitivity to seeing, feeling and interacting with all of life. These are just the beginning. Nik Douglas (1971) quotes Gampopa, a Tantric teacher (1079-1153) as explaining, "Tantras represent a philosophy comprehensive enough to embrace the whole of knowledge, a system of meditation which will produce the power of concentrating the mind upon anything whatsoever and an art of living which will enable one to utilize each activity of Body, Speech, and Mind, as an aid to the path of Liberation." (Camphausen, 1999, pg 227)
Is Tantra of aid in this time of change we are living in? I hope you see the answer is Yes. My hope is that you will look further into the possibilities it can open to you and all of society today.
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http://www.greatdreams.com/sacred/age_kali.htm March, 2007