Understanding Tantra Yoga

The gulf between the world and the Divine, the outer life and the inner self is sought to be bridged by the Yoga developed in the Tantras, In this tradition, the universe is not looked upon as something alien to the Divine, Nature as the foreign to the soul. All is perceived as the manifestation of the Divine Lord or his Pussiance, Shakti. And man is expected to consciously participate in the enjoyment of this Cosmic Play. Man cannot do so as long as he is constricted in his consciousness by the severe limitations of nature to which he is subject in his ignorance. Normally, he lives only on a fraction of the resources that are lying untapped within him. There is in him a source of Energy, of power which is lying dormant, wound like a spring, coiled like a serpent. It is possible, by special yogic means, to awaken this Energy, activate it in the system and thereby break through the limitations of nature. In the full functioning of his latent power, the being of  man gets freed from the holds of outer nature and his consciousness is liberated into a state of bliss, that is unbroken and divine.

This energy is different from the gross material energy activating the physical body. It is an Energy of the subtle life-force, a Sukshma Prana , embedded in the subtle body in a location that corresponds to the bottom of the spinal column. When by prescribed means of asana, and prana yama, pressure of breathe, combined with the concentration and Mantra-Japa, this center is activated and, the dormant power rises and flows upward along the inner conduit, naadi of the spinal column. Along this route of ascent are certain foci or centers where the subtler energies are concentrated in the different principles of existence.

The upward current strikes these centers – normally inactive or only partially open- and forces them open. These centers, significantly known as lotuses or chakras, are in the subtle body; but they have their areas of activity in the physical body.Thus there are six of these centers, governing six principles, e:g: earth, water, fire, air, ether, and mind. AS each center is struck and opened and set into free activity, there is a corresponding enlargement of consciousness and range of action at that level of the being.

The culmination is when the ascending power reaches the highest center at the summit of the crown, attains full freedom and joins the divine self; The Shakti meets the Lord. Then ensues the downpour of the Bliss in the whole system.

This yogic experience is steadily built up naturalized and established  as a constant realization before the liberation is complete. Each successive liberation from the knot of the embodied principle like earth, water, etc. gives a mastery over that part of nature. This practitioner is no more a slave, but a free, conscious participant in the lila, the play of the Divine in the universe. In this own being, he embraces both the freedom of the soul and the activity of nature.

Indeed, the path is long and the effort arduous. To awaken the latent magazine of power, to rouse the sleeping serpent, is not so difficult, but to control it, to direct it in the desired directions, to safeguard the system from being eaten up by the flames of Kundalini is a formidable task. There are obvious dangers on the way which cane be negotiated only under the constant guidance and direction of an adept, the Guru. The requirements by the way of concentration, purity -physical and mental, robust physique are exacting.

The dangers are more in certain lines of the Tantra Yoga where the five M’s are included in a daring venture to the sublimate the very elements in nature that obstruct into means that facilitate.

The efforts to combine, mukti, liberation with Bhukti , enjoyment, is as ambitious as it is dangerous. All told, this  path of the Tantra calls for strenuous application, incandescent purity and a time consuming labor all of which puts it outside the reach of modern man. Besides, harmonization of the claims of the souls and those of nature can be effected by other means, more naturally, with less of risk. Instead of starting with the lower end of the embedded consciousness and rising upwards it is possible- following the lead of vedic mystics to begin on the higher reaches of the embodied consciousness and workout a comprehensive liberation and perfection of the being.

Author: Sorcerer

Image Courtesy:Veki