Is Tantra really what you think it is?
is tantra really about smoking pot and copulation ? or is there more to this story ?lets decipher this in simpler terms.Contrary to the image portrayed in the frontline media ,tantra is not felonious, it has been shed in a very wrong light
What is tantra?
It is widely practiced in India and Tibet and has its roots in India. The end goal of tantra is said to be attaining enlightenment and liberation from this materialistic world. The prayers and mediation that we regularly perform help us attain enlightenment but it takes several lifetimes and is considerably a very slow process, tantra on the other hand is more of like a cheat sheet which is very quick in its action.
who can perform tantra?
It is not an unknown fact that it is still practiced in India and some parts of the world but the practices and techniques are kept secret from the public eye ,that essentially doesn’t mean not everyone has access to it ,one needs a Guru(A teacher) to initiate them into the tantra practice and guide them forward , the experiences that one endures in this process are said to be very overwhelming for an individual to handle it all by himself, this is where the guru comes into play .If we go deep into this example lets just assume that you are doing tantra sadhana(practices) of a particular deity who has a ferocious energy ,when you go on performing the sadhana that deity is essentially going to bring their energy to you ,in our case a very ferocious energy . How are you going to distinguish this from being the energy of a negative entity ,you never know until you get deep into the practice which is exactly why one needs the help of a guru.
How does one perform tantra?
There are 7 ways or 7 acharas in which tantra is practiced out of which the most popular and sough-out are , Vamachara and Dakshinachara .
Vamachara means left-hand path which includes panchanakara or 5M’s popularly knows as panchattva ,they are Madya(alcohol),Matsya(fish),Mamsa(meat),Mudra(grain) ,maithuna(Copulation).
maithuna,sounds familiar,eh?this is the practice that is most highlighted in the frontline media and sadly is being taken in a very negative connotation. Tantra can be performed in all the ways mentioned above and maithuna just happens to be a part of it, in madya one offers alcohol to the deity, in mudra they offer grains or food in the most general sense where as in mamsa one offers meat as the name suggests.
Dakshinachara is more of a traditionally inclined path which includes yoga and meditation, practitioners are free to choose the path they feel most drawn to .
There are countless deities in Hinduism and each of these deities have a Tantric aspect and a general aspect ,Every individual can offer prayers and recite certain mantras which correlate to the usual self of the deities but the mantras ,mediation techniques and practices which are offered to their tantric aspects are kept a secret and are revealed to only those who are initiated.
Tantra has always been a fascinating subject to those curious in esoteric arts, I wish people would form a different image of it rather than believing that its some weird practice that involves pleasure, there are a sect of people who perform these practices in a deeper level but choose to stay very secretive about it which is probably the reason why the sexual aspect of it is being highlighted everywhere .Hopefully, someday everyone would be able to comprehend it and come to respect the practice as it should be .
