Is Tantra the yoga of sex??

[Guest guest]

Dear spiritual brothers and sisters,

Is tantra the yoga of sex?

As you can probably imagine,I receive many inquiries about books,

tapes, seminars, etc. on the subject that I sarcastically call `new

age tantra'. Occasionally, I review such materials for the sheer

irritation value of it, hoping to find some depth. Rarely do I find

anything even to get my feet wet. Rarely do I recommend `this genre'

to anyone interested in a serious study of tantra. Mostly such

workshops, books, videos and tapes misrepresent the authentic

tantric tradition, which is well established through several well

respected lineages. Such materials are usually very far from genuine

tantra in spirit (most importantly), in form or in content. As a

rule, they constitute cleverly disguised digressions on sex and

marriage therapy or are musings on the theme of Kama Sutra—a

medieval Indian treatise on human sexuality.

 

It is unfortunate that tantra has become another casualty of our

plastic culture that loves the common denominator, that trivializes

everything and that strives to delude us with grandiose ideas of

perpetual youth and pain-free life. Let us not allow ourselves

become sullen, silent and guilt-ridden perpetrators of triviality.

Let us not allow the rich and profound tantric tradition to be

watered down and ignored through distortion.

 

A serious student of tantra should know that the main point of

tantra is contained in the very meaning of the term tantra: tan

means expansion and tra connotes liberation. Thus, tantra always

refers to liberation through expansion—breaking through personal

barriers and courageously going forward toward the Divine Bliss both

as an individual and as a society. Ultimately, tantra is the path of

the spiritual warrior (shambhala/avadhuta) that encourages us to

fight unceasingly against limited or prejudiced thinking, against

inner and outer enemies of genuineness, truth and the Divine Plan,

against shallowness. In particular, tantra inspires and teaches us

to seek Ananda—the Divine Bliss as opposed to being caught in the

cage of merely looking for pleasure and avoiding pain.

 

It is true that tantra encourages savoring life to its fullest, with

its pleasure and pain, beauty and ugliness, living and dying. It is

true that tantra teaches us how to go beyond, how to reach the union

of these opposites and how to transcend them. It is true that many

images used in tantric philosophies and practices to represent these

opposites appear to be obviously erotic. However, one should not

interpret these images out of context, merely based on the first

visual impression.

 

At its very core, tantra is founded on the philosophical notion that

one Living Divinity (Brahma) separates Itself into Him (Shiva) and

Her (Shakti), into the Creator and the Creatrix, into Cognitive and

Operative Principles of the Universe. Everything: God, Truth, Divine

Love is viewed as having two aspects: male and female, now and then,

here and there, self and other-than-self. The continuous

relationship between these opposites generates appearances of energy

and matter. Our continuous ego-driven (Shakti-inspired) interference

with our life's mission (i.e., the Divine Plan for us) sustains the

separation of these opposites. Thus, we are caught in the Play

(Lila) of energy and mass by holding onto ever-unresolved,

infinitely complicated relationships between the opposites created

by the Divine Order Itself for our edification and imprisonment in

the world of perceived self and other-than-self.

 

As a system of practice that aims to resolve and go beyond these

opposites, tantra naturally endeavors to address the most obvious

example of Shiva and Shakti engaged in eternal play: the attraction

and relationship between the sexes. In a heterosexual situation, the

man embodies a bit more of Cognitive Principle (Male/Shiva) than a

woman, while the woman embodies a bit more of Operative Principle

(Female/Shakti) than a man. Tantric techniques help an individual to

balance these two principles within and, thus, to reach a state that

equally embodies Shiva and Shakti, Male and Female, Anima and Animus.

 

Generally such evolution, such development, such training is

accomplished in several very specific steps. The crude tantric

teachings (i.e., tantric dos and don'ts) are used to prepare a

person for the more subtle tantric teachings (yoga). Subsequently,

the yoga system is engaged to calm the tug-of-war game of opposites,

to learn to handle this game well and eventually to go beyond such

dualistic mode of being through a form of Abhidhyan (non-dualistic)

yoga practice. Typically, a well-balanced tantra yoga training would

include developing a solid moral foundation, a daily practice of

asanas (yoga postures), mental exercises of concentration and

meditation as well as certain advanced rituals of appeasing the

deities (puja/japa yoga) and serving your guru/teacher (guru yoga)

and his ashram (karma yoga). Since the tantra yoga system of

practice is based on the tantra yoga philosophical system, such

training would necessarily include learning the theoretical side of

tantra from a reputable source.

 

Regular and sincere efforts at yoga practice ensure that a sadhaka

will gradually move away from animality (pashu) and eventually

proceed to the stage of skilled warrior (viira). A viira (brave

individual) is a person who has gained control over the six enemies

and eight fetters. The six enemies are physical longing (ka'ma),

anger (krodha), avarice (lobha), vanity (mada), blind fascination

(moha), and jealously (ma'tsarya). The eight fetters (bondages) are

hatred (ghrn'a), apprehension (shaunka), fear (bhaya), shyness

(lajja'), hypocrisy (jugupsa'), pride of ancestry (kula), vanity of

culture (shiila), egotism (mana). There is a certain advanced

initiation into a tantric (not a yoga) practice (kapalika diiks'a)

that dramatically accelerates gaining control over six enemies and

eight fetters and reaching the brave stage of spiritual development.

Such initiation is available to anyone who has reached a certain

degree of expertise in our tantra yoga meditation system.

 

Sexual rituals constitute a miniscule part of tantra. Such practices

are undertaken only if they are absolutely necessary for a

disciple's further spiritual development and only after he or she

has become an unquestioned expert in laya yoga (yoga of

dissolution), i.e., he or she has become a viira (see previous

paragraph). To attempt a practice of sexual tantra before the

successful completion of proper preparatory training is pretty much

like studying higher mathematics without first being trained in

arithmetic! The presence of such desire betrays the student's

ignorance, impatience and confusion of pleasure seeking with

reaching out to Divine Bliss.

 

It is not possible for a novice to practice sexual tantra rituals

even if he or she tries because the beginner has by definition no

experiential foundation on which to base such practice. The beginner

can surely go through the motions: like children who

imitate `peculiar' motions they observed in their parents' bedroom.

Trust me, though, such `tantric' union yields no spiritual babies.

 

At this point let me also warn the reader: if practiced prematurely,

sexual rituals can potentially undo years of efforts at yoga

practice. Tantric gurus know that a practitioner's mind must be

established first in Cosmic Consciousness (viira stage, i.e.,

control of six enemies and eight fetters), then he or she can

experiment with anything. For this reason spiritual masters are

known to test their disciples severely before they impart such

sexual practices, for both the teacher and the student must be

certain that the student is ready for the practices.

 

Present-day announcements from the proponents of phony `new age

tantra' usually cater to particular groups of people. Who is usually

attracted to the so-called `sexual yoga'? 1) People who need basic

sex education, 2) People who desire to go beyond (resolve) their

adolescent emotions/notions regarding sex, 3) People who want

uninhibited sex packaged as a spiritual practice, 4) People who are

ashamed of or are out-of-touch with their sexuality, 5) People who

are trying to reconcile their strong and unrestrained sex drive with

their spiritual longing. All but the last of these groups are

confusing personal fulfillment with spiritual growth. That is

why `sex tantra' seminars are necessarily populated by people who

are in need of emotional growth and who confuse psychology which

seeks to improve their personality in relation to its functions in

the world with spirituality (such as genuine tantra) which seeks to

free the eternal human soul (atman) from the bondages of the world.

A person would qualify for a genuine tantric initiation (tantrikii

diiks'a) only after this confusion has been adequately addressed.

This is important because the practice of tantra yoga can commence

only after an aspirant has procured a tantric initiation from a

qualified teacher.

 

A rational attitude to inquiry requires that we check the sources

and references of any information that is being presented to us—be

it a book, a tape, a person. How did the author acquire his or her

knowledge? How many years did he or she practice and what are the

results of such practice? I have not yet found one book, etc.

on `new age tantra' that references authentic tantric scriptures,

teachers and practices. The authors of such books usually have not

studied with a genuine tantric master but had a limited course of

study with a sex therapist masquerading as a `sex-tantrik'. (I think

I may have invented this term. I love it and demand credit for it!)

This state of affairs is unfortunate considering that the genuine

information is widely available.

 

Don't get me wrong. `New age' tantra may actually be helpful. Such

sex and marriage therapy can be really healing. `Sexual tantra' may

free people of inappropriate shame of sex, educate them about sex,

enhance their enjoyment of sexual life. If you want to have great

sex—go for it! Have fun, have pleasure! But act responsibly and do

not call it tantra—for the whole point of all tantra training is

gaining freedom through attainment of spiritual Divine Bliss

(A'nanda) that is beyond physical pleasures and pains of sex. Living

in A'nanda is a permanent happy state while an orgasm is an

intermittent, temporary pleasure.

 

As a postscript to this commentary, here is what Georg Feuerstein

who is, in my opinion, the foremost yoga scholar living today e-

mailed me a few days ago in answer to my inquiry about the sexual

content of tantric scriptures and about his opinion of `new age

tantra': "Here are my thoughts on the subject of sexual Tantra in a

nutshell: As far as I can tell, right-hand or conventional (samaya)

Tantras generally don't deal with sex. Extant left-hand Tantras

apparently are confined to a single text—the Vamakeshvari. The in-

between Tantras of the Kaula tradition do mention sexual practices.

But nowhere is ananda (bliss) confused with sukha (pleasure), as

seems to be the case with what a Gelugpa lama once jokingly

called `California Tantra'. That's the crucial point as far as I am

concerned. Even in the left-hand and Kaula texts, sex is simply one

of the components, and none of the scriptures equate Tantra with

sex. Thank God!"

REMEMBER GURUBHAIS AND BEHENS ....SUKHA IS DIFFERENT FROM

ANANDA...BLISS IS DIFFERENT FROM PLEASURE.THE CHOICE IS YOURS.

Yours yogically,

Dattu