Hari Om Namo Narayana!
‘Tantra’ is easily the most misunderstood of all the Hindu doctrines.
(Photo of ‘Tantric’ goddess ‘Matangi’, a secret form of ‘Saraswati’.)
The reason is that ‘Tantra’ isn’t confined to a single document or has any proper sources from where it is derived. All we know is that it originated from the ‘Shakti’ tradition. The documents are very difficult to be found and are heavily guarded by the keepers of this knowledge.
We are lucky today that to some extent, this knowledge has become more available as the internet revolution came around. Otherwise 50 years ago, you’d have to leave everything and go live in a an obscure cave somewhere with the people who could give you this knowledge.
- ‘Tantra’ in India is imagined to be a tool restricted to ‘tantriks’ clad in black living in caves, wearing strange clothes and performing some magical ‘yajna’ where they go ‘Hum Phat Swaaha’ every few minutes.
- I squarely blame Bollywood movies for this incorrectness!
- In fact, it’s saddening to see this representation of a field of mysticism that is deeply celebrated and profoundly understood in ‘Vajrayana’ Buddhism.
- Yes, Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism especially has the origins of ‘Vajrayana’ Buddhism that is a distinct field of what is known to us as ‘Tantra’.
- In ‘Vajrayana’ Buddhism, ‘Tantra’ is accepted as a way of life and ‘Tantric’ deities are painted with gold dust in an extremely rare form of art called the ‘Thangka’.
- Now similarly in the west, the understanding of ‘Tantra’ is all but limited ‘Tantric’ sex. There are courses on Udemy about this topic in fact and there’s a whole thriving industry of sexual wellness on this topic.
- Just type ‘tantra’ in YouTube and you are more likely to come across these videos rather than their religious counterpart that has its roots in Hinduism.
- ‘Tantric’ sex explores the concept of achieving complete union with your partner and attaining transcendental states together through conscious sexual union. ‘Shiva’ and his consort ‘Parvati’ are the first ‘tantric’ couple.
- It involves a lot of intricacies of breath work, mindfulness etc.
So which of these representations is true?
- The right answer is both. ‘Tantra’ is energy and it represents more specifically the energy of your body, your energetic system that has been subdivided into ‘chakras’.
- There is the divine masculine and the divine feminine and these polarities are within each one of us. It’s in our energy. It’s the nature of this universe as described in ‘Vedic’ texts in fact, as ‘purusha’ and ‘prakriti’.
- The purpose of ‘tantra’ is very profound and you are encouraged to read my other answers on the topic and also my book where I detail ‘Tantra’ at length; the purpose of ‘tantra’ is to reconcile two seemingly irreconcilable ends of the human consciousness.
- It is centered in the idea that you have the power within you to manipulate your energy to an extent that you gain complete control over your energy.
- Once you can do that, you can control everything on this planet from that particular frequency. Let’s say for example, you gain mastery over the ‘Earth’ element in your body, you can master all Earthly matters such as money, security, strength etc. You can master both the positive and the negative, the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ connotations of this energy.
What does that mean?
It means you can enjoy pleasure in the same way you enjoy aloofness from ‘maaya’. ‘Tantra’ neither looks down upon sex, nor intoxication or even what you eat. This is unlike ‘Vaishnavism’ and ‘Shaivism’, where you have to maintain strict adherence to a ‘Sattvic’ lifestyle and some specific other rules.
‘Tantra’ understands that the entire world and your experience of it is illusionary. To break free from this illusion is to learn to immerse yourself in it and withdraw at will.
This process of being able to immerse yourself into the world and withdraw at will, is likened to the process of intercourse and that is why conscious intercourse is not frowned upon but in fact, forms an integral part of the practice for couples who seek to go down this path together.
The idea is to experience ‘Maaya’ but not be lost in it.
Use your experience in fact, to raise your consciousness higher.
For if you immerse into it and lose yourself, it has power over you.
If you are always at an arm’s distance from it, means it still has power over you because you don’t trust yourself enough to allow it to be one with you.
Now, ‘Siddhi’, black magic and occult practices are all related to ‘tantra’.
However, Alchemy comes from the west and deals with a rather mundane pursuit in my opinion, of converting any metal to gold.
- The functional area of ‘tantra’ is much wider than that.
- ‘Tantra’ is much like Morpheus teaching Neo how to see through the matrix.
- Alchemy is much like a group of gifted hackers wanting to hack into the mainframe of Google.
- In other words, Alchemy is impossible to achieve.
- ‘Tantra’ on the other hand is the path to ‘Kundalini’ awakening. We have evidence of it. We have no evidence of Alchemy having worked.
- Those of you who have read “The Alchemist” may disagree and I’ll tell you that what is described in the book, at the point where the boy taps into the universal consciousness and causes the wind to flow at his will, that is ‘Tantra’.
So what is ‘Siddhi’?
- To understand this you must first understand in brief, the ‘mahavidyas’.
(‘Sati’ splits into the ‘mahavidyas’ at ‘Daksha’s yajna’)
- So, the story goes that ‘Sati’, the wife of Shiva, was one of the daughters of ‘Daksha Prajapati’. ‘Daksha’ was one of the sons of ‘Brahma’. He didn’t like ‘Shiva’ very much because he misunderstood ‘Shiva’s’ detached nature as being arrogant and uncouth.
- ‘Shiva’ being ‘Shiva’, hardly cared. So on the day that ‘Daksha’ was due to perform one of the biggest ‘yajnas’ in the universe that would make him the ruler of all three worlds, he omitted his daughter and son in law from the list of guests.
- This hurt ‘Sati’ very much and she insisted upon showing up uninvited.
- ‘Shiva’ forbade her from going. “Sati that ‘yajna’ will be the cause of your death. Do not go there.” he told her.
- However, the divine feminine is extremely powerful and boundless in energy. When she is imbalanced, nothing can stop her from wrecking havoc.
- So ‘Sati’ and ‘Shiva’ turn up there and as was expected, ‘Daksha’ treated ‘Shiva’ poorly. ‘Shiva’, unperturbed, decided to leave the place as he was neither interested in fighting back nor interested in engaging ‘Daksha’.
- Enraged at the sheer inaction of ‘Shiva’ and her father’s ignorance, ‘Sati’s’ energy burst into 10 forms.
- 10 forms of the divine feminine, each for one direction of the universe: North, North West, East and so on. These are known as the 10 ‘mahavidyas’.
- These 10 forms were magical and extremely powerful and they forbade ‘Shiva’ to leave the scene.
- Ensuring his presence at the place to witness what she was about to do, ‘Sati’ self immolated herself by jumping into ‘Daksha’s’ ‘yajna’ thereby destroying it piety and enraging ‘Shiva’.
- The divine masculine when he springs to action from an immovable force becomes death himself.
- ‘Shiva’ plucked out a strand of hair and smashed it to the ground into two with his feet. From the two strands emerged powerful ‘tantric’ forces of ‘Virbhadra’ and ‘Bhadrakali’.
- He ordered them to kill ‘Daksha’ and destroy the ‘yajna’.
- In ‘Vedic’ astrology and ‘tantra’ , this is who the 10 ‘mahavidyas’ are and these are what energies they command:
- ‘Bhairavi’: Rules the ascendant
- ‘Shodashi’: Rules Mercury
- ‘Matangi’: Rules Sun
- ‘Bhuvaneshwari’: Rules Moon
- ‘Baglamukhi’: Rules Mars
- ‘Kaali’: Rules Saturn
- ‘Chinnamasta’:Rules ‘Rahu’
- ‘Dhumavati’: Rules ‘Ketu’
- ‘Taara’: Rules Jupiter
- ‘Kamala’: Rules Venus
- Their worship is secret, their forms are secret and it is said that even our depictions of them are vastly inaccurate as they reveal the form they want, to the seeker they choose.
Fascinating isn’t it?
A ‘siddhi’ is a complete unlocking of the power of one of these deities in your body.
How do you do this?
- You do it under the guidance of a guru only and it involves extreme discipline and pin point accuracy in the process. If the rules of a particular deity are to sleep on floor only without a blanket during the ‘siddhi’ time period, you will do so.
- If you don’t there are grave consequences possible.
Why is that?
- Because you are manipulating the very basics of your body’s energetic system.
- It’s similar to how nuclear energy is. In the right hands, with the right process, you can build a reactor and harness it to fuel a city. However, misused or mishandled, it has the power to cause mass destruction.
- ‘Tantric’ deities are ready to give you power as long as you have done the ‘siddhi’ correctly. You can acquire both ‘sattvic’ as well as ‘tamsic’ powers. Processes of the ‘siddhis’ are different for both and so are the ‘mantras’.
(In the ‘Ramayana’, the source of ‘Indrajit’s’ power was derived from his ‘Siddhi’ of ‘Nikumbhala Devi’, consort of ‘Vishnu’s’ ‘Narsimha avatar’.)
- Now, how a ‘siddhi’ works is, for example, you have done ‘Matangi’ ‘siddhi’, using her ‘mantra’. ‘Matangi’ corresponds to the 3rd eye and the Sun.
- Wherever Sun is placed in your chart or even if you don’t know where it is placed, you will embody the power of the Sun himself through ‘Matangi’s’ ‘siddhi’.
- This means, fame, recognition, power and supreme expression and life purpose.
- Every great sage had done at least one ‘siddhi’. For example ‘Durvasa’ was invincible because of ‘Dhumavati’ ‘siddhi’.
What is black magic?
- So, ‘black magic’ is done in many areas in the world. You may have heard of ‘Voodo’ etc. Black Magic is made up of a different field of study wherein all the deities that the practitioners invoke are of a ‘tamsic’ nature and are called upon for their negative traits to invoke harm.
- In India, Hindu philosophy doesn’t have the concept of ‘The Devil’. It is illustrated in the ‘puranas’ that every deity or entity has negative as well as positive traits. The concept of cause and effect is held paramount and practitioners of dark magic or ‘dark tantra’ are said to reap the results of dabbling with these powers and therefore face many tragedies in their life which are referred to as ‘sacrifices’ for the practice or ‘bali’.
- We don’t know much documentation wise of dark magic practice in India. However, we know that there is a cult in the East i.e. followers of a form of ‘Kali’ who have expertise in black magic.
What is it?
- Black magic is utilization of ‘tantric’ powers for wrong purposes. Quite often these aren’t even ‘tantric’ deities but departed souls, lost souls and demonic energies, knowledge of control of who is also documented and passed down like the knowledge of ‘tantra’.
- There are ‘tamsic’ forms of the 10 ‘mahavidyas’ too who can grant a person immense power that helps me manipulate their aura to effect outcomes.
Now, what are occult practices?
- There’s a whole variety of them and anything as simple as the ‘ouija’ board to as advanced as a full blown ‘tantric’ ‘yajna’ could be considered and occult practice.
- In Hindu philosophy, they are mentioned in detail in the ‘Atharva Veda’.
- Some are based in logic and deep study such as ‘tantra’. Some are more inclined towards harm such as ‘black magic’ and some have to do with what is very common in India i.e. ‘Yantra’.
(The ‘Shree Yantra’ is commonly found in the offices of businessmen in India and is considered auspicious.
- Engaging in these fields comes under the ambit of ‘occult’.
- So ‘Vastu Shastra’ can also be considered ‘occult’ to people especially outside India. ‘Jyotisha’ and numerolgoy, ‘prashna vidya’ are also occult.
Now, I hope you understand that you can spend an entire life time researching each one of these fields.
It’s deeper than the ocean trust me and once you dive in, you will be blown away by how common patterns emerge across cultures, time periods and religious philosophies.
For example:
- ‘Taara’ is represented in many distinct forms in ‘Vajrayana’ Buddhism.
- Each form has a different color and a different power.
(In ‘Vajrayana’ Buddhism, Red ‘Taara’ is the goddess of passion and sexuality.)
- In the same way, there are goddesses in Africa who are very similar in nature and legend.
(‘Oshun’ is the African goddess of fertility and sensuality)
- In the ‘Markandeya Purana’, Devi ‘Durga’ laughs at the demons as they protest ‘shaktis’ of other gods joining the fight, and says:
- “You fools, they are not separate from me. They are me. There is only one feminine in the universe and I am her. There is no other feminine but me.”
- The ‘tantric’ interpretation of this statement further corroborates ‘Tantric’ philosophy that seeks to tap into the energy of the divine mother, by tapping in deeper to your body’s energy system.
- ‘Tantra’ is taboo because ‘tantra’ is based on the philosophy that within you is all the power you need to live, enjoy and experience life, whichever way you wish and you only have to awaken it.
I could go on and on and on but as far as the scope of this question is concerned, I hope I have done justice to the answer.
Hope this helps.
Hari Om Namo Narayana!
