Guest guest Posted January 23, 2002 Report Share Posted January 23, 2002 A passage by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait in his scholarly work on Shakti: "In contemporary Indian languages, such as Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, or Bengali, the term 'Tantra' connotes black magic, spiritual or religious practices, and manipulation of psychic powers or evil spirits to seduce women, defeat or injure opponents, or mesmerize others. ... Tantra reached the West shrouded with the same or even more elaborate connotations. ... There is no way, it seems, we can escape the fact that the term 'Tantra' is charged with emotional power and controversy." It's probably important to note that Tantra and Shaktism are *not* synonymous, as I've heard some persons suggest. Tantrism is not a "religion" at all, but rather an method or group of methods for approaching and practicing a given religious system -- thus we can have Tantric Buddhism, Tantric Shaivism, Tantric Shaktism, etc. ... and, of course, non-Tantric varieties of all these as well. Original Date of Post: July 19, 2001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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