TANTRA RULES  
The key to Tantric success is the unlocking of “shakti”: the power of soul, the power of the divine force within. Everyone possesses an infinite and indomitable shakti energy, but it remains dormant and uncultivated. Awakening and using our shakti is the goal of Tantra. Many enthusiasts in both the West and the East mistakenly believe Tantra to be the yoga of sex, or some combination of black magic and witchcraft, a scary but effective mix of seduction techniques and the power to influence the minds of others. This confusion has risen partly because Tantra is traditionally considered a science as well as a spiritual path. As a spiritual path, it emphasizes the purification of the mind and heart, and the cultivation of a spiritually illuminating philosophy of, and approach to, life. As a science, it experiments with techniques whose effectiveness depends on the precise application of an endless variety of mantra and yantra, the ritual use of specific materials such as incense or wine (inhalants and inebriants), the performance of Tantric mudras (hand gestures), and accompanying mental exercises during meditation. Tantric practices are potent, because they are designed to seduce the forces of nature in order to bring about extraordinary changes in both the material and spiritual realms. For example, the concentrated energy of the sound (mantra) and form (yantra) can be used to polarize the energy released from the herbs used in the fire offering, and, further guided by the power of the mind, to stir the subtle properties of matter, mind, and consciousness at will. The secret of Tantric “miracles” lies in gaining access to the subtler forces of nature, learning to understand their dynamics, and acquiring the ability to use them to override the predictable pattern of events. The Tantric literature is so vast that it is almost impossible to study it all, let alone practice a significant fraction of its tenets. Because their scope is all-encompassing, Tantric texts and teachings have always discarded conventional standards of morality, ethics, and purity whenever those standards were found to be obstacles to the process of personal growth and self-discovery. This has always set Tantrics apart from the religion into which they were born. And their liberal and scientific approach to personal fulfillment has prevented them from forming a Tantric religion. As a result, at a social level, tantrism refers to a particular way of life, at a philosophical level, it deals with shakti metaphysics, and, at a spiritual level, it consists of a set of techniques for gaining access to the forces that flow within the human body and the cosmos.   “The wall between within and without is only for those who are ignorant. The awakened divinity within you helps you find the divinity outside you, and vice versa.” This is the basis of Tantra: Yatha pindande, tatha brahmande: Whatever is in the body is in the universe. If you master the body, you master the universe. Embrace the body, and you embrace the godhead. According to tantrism, there is a perfect equation between the universe (the macrocosm) and the individual living body (the microcosm). Through their direct experience, Tantric masters throughout the ages have confirmed that the active and dormant forces in the universe correspond to the forces in the human body, and that the whole universe lies within each of us. Tantrics hold the human being to be the pinnacle of creation. Gaining full knowledge of this interrelationship is the highest Tantric endeavor. To this end they experiment with the power of sound (mantra), and shape (yantra), and their influence both on humans and on the different aspects of nature.             The Tantric practices are usually divided into three or more categories, and most yogis (monks), yoginis (nuns), and lay adepts follow only one of these schools of practice. The best-known school in the est is Kaula, or “forbidden Tantra.” Kaula, derived from kula, means family. Kaula Tantrics believe that every aspect of creation is part of a divine family, and that Shakti, the Divine Mother, is the origin of all that exists. “She becomes the universe. She is the universe. Experiencing anything as other than Her is bondage. Liberation is experiencing Her alone, within and without. Becoming one with Her in every respect is the highest achievement.” The first level of Kaula practice is the householder’s. The recitation of scripture, pilgrimage to holy shrines, and fire offerings are part of this practice. The goal of Tantra at this level is to organize life in such a way that everything--including interpersonal relationships, the acquisition of material objects, and the satisfaction of the biological urges--becomes a means to spiritual growth. It’s mishra, literally “mixture or combination.”             The second level of Kaula practice consists of purely meditative techniques that enable the aspirant to sustain awareness of their oneness with the Divine within. This practice is also called Samaya, which means “one with her.” These rituals allow consciousness to move upward, to the center at the crown of the head. Kaula Tantrics practice this philosophy in every aspect of their daily lives, they cultivate a positive attitude toward their relationships with their families, environment, society, and ultimately, the entire world. They see their spouses, children, friends, and enemies as the manifestations of the Divine Mother. And because they have dismantled the wall that ordinarily stands between right and wrong, good and evil, auspicious and inauspicious, they do not find worldly objects and experiences to be a barrier in their spiritual quest. They see the Divine Mother in everything, so they see no need to renounce the world in order to find Her. They don’t experience a sense of separateness. The longing to be connected with Her is the root cause of all loneliness and fear, and it cannot be overcome until we are established in integrated consciousness. For most of us, the perception of duality is so strong that we experience ourselves as different from the all-pervading Divine Force, and we feel this separation is intrinsic to our existence. Because we do not see ourselves as having any existence beyond the physical, our experience of pleasure and pain, loss and gain is totally body-centered. We find ourselves driven by the four primitive urges--food, sex, sleep, and self-preservation--from which spring emotions such as desire, anger, hatred, jealousy, and greed. Negative emotions constantly flood our mind and nervous system with anxiety, fear, and pervasive insecurity. But, unlike animals, our consciousness is not confined to our bodies. As our awareness becomes more refined, we attain a degree of freedom from these urges. The third level of Kaula Tantra is the yogic level, and it is divided in its practice between the followers of “right-hand” and “left-hand” Tantra. The right-hand kaula Tantrics follow the principles of monastic ascetism (such us fasting, observing silence, and refraining from thinking and speaking in a way that stimulates their desires). Their ascetic observances may make them physically weak but spiritually strengthening. The left-hand kaula Tantrics are not ascetics. They do not suppress the biological needs because they believe that to consider anything impure or inauspicious is to condemn the Divine Mother. And because she is the only reality, any sense of duality, including all aspects of body consciousness, is her manifestation. The Divine Mother is the embodiment of supreme beauty, bliss, auspiciousness and goodness are inherent in everything that exists. The body is Her manifestation, as are the senses, the primitive urges, and all of our thoughts and feelings. Repressing the biological urges and imposing restraints that weaken the body and senses means that we are condemning them as well as the life force that animates them. Staying alive requires maintaining some body consciousness; the association of consciousness with the body is what keeps us here. Rather than fear our primitive needs, we must learn the techniques for managing and using them wisely. Followers of the left hand path maintain that these urges are intrinsic and that restraining them cripples our body, mind, and soul. They believe it is better to follow the law of nature and let the biological urges express themselves in a healthy manner, without indulging them. Learning to channel these powerful drives in a spiritual direction is the left-hand practice. Initiation into left-hand disciplines constitutes the final stage of Sadhana within the Kaula school. Left-hand techniques are far more advanced than right-hand techniques and only those who have first disciplined themselves by perfecting right-hand Kaula Tantra are qualified to follow the left-hand path. Adepts of this path rarely reveal themselves. They may practice left-hand Tantra in private, but they generally teach only the techniques of the right-hand path. And before they do reveal themselves, they lead their students through a series of arduous tests while they are still involved in the practices of the right-hand Tantra. The masters want to make sure the aspirant has no craving for sense gratification and will uphold the sacredness of this path. According to Tantrics, the mantra is the illuminator of the mind. It is the body of The Divine Force in the form of sound. The constant repetition of mantra charges our being with divine consciousness, eventually transforming our egocentric awareness into divine awareness. When we become one with the power of the mantra, the gap between individual and universal consciousness is filled. We are no longer individual drops in the ocean. We become the ocean. In the Tantric tradition, the anthropomorphic (personified) form of the Divine is secondary to the mantric form. Tantric philosophy asserts that there is only one primordial life-force, known as Sri Vidya or Sri Mata (The Divine Mother). Just as the sun emits numberless rays, so do an infinite number of mantras emerge from the Divine Mother, and through systematic practice of these mantras. Her imperceptible primordial force becomes so concentrated that a practitioner experiences it. When this happens, it is called darshana--the direct vision of the invisible, absolute reality. All gods, Tantrics maintain, are simply fragments of our imagination, mere symbols. The Sanskrit word for God is Ishvara, which means “the force capable of doing what She wishes to do, and capable of undoing whatever so far has been done.” God is the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent primordial force endowed with the unrestricted power of will. This Divine Being permeates every aspect of creation. The Tantric method is to experience God the way She is. The deity is the visual form of the mantra, and the mantra is the auditory form of the deity. The vibratory patterns of the mantras are associated with different levels of forces both within us and within the cosmos, and the deities are the archetypes of those forces. The light of the Divine manifests in the form of mantra. And each mantra is a focus of light.   Om bhur bhuvah svah tat savitur vareniyam bhargo devasya dhimahi dhiyo yo nah prachodayat.   That is the Gayatri mantra. Sit with your head, neck and trunk in a straight line, relax your body, breathe gently and smoothly, and bring your attention to the center of your body (such as the navel, heart, or eyebrow center), drawing and imaginary wall of fire around you to protect yourself from external influences, and repeat the mantra. Prana Pratistha means “invoking the deity and imbuing one’s heart with that energy.” While placing the palms over the heart, the aspirant meditates on the personified form of the deity and lets the power of mantra pervade the entire body. If the meditation is intense, and practiced in a place free from worldly distractions, you feel as though the mantra is vibrating from every limb and organ of the body of the Goddess. If you are meditating on fire, synchronize the sound of the mantra with the movement of the flames, until your whole body (which has been replaced either by the deity or by the fire) is filled with the power of mantra. The shortest purascharana of the gayatri mantra requires 125.000 repetitions in 125 days, using mala beads, a “necklace” consisting of 108 beads which you hold in one hand and use a counter: one bead for each repetition of the mantra. When you complete one round, you have done 108 repetitions, but only 100 are counted; the remaining eight are automatically dedicated to Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. If you do 100 malas a day, it takes 8 months; if you do 50 malas a day, it takes 16 months; 25 malas, 32 months.   Jagat suta dhata hariravati rudrah kshapayate tiraskurvan etat svamapi vapurishas tirayati; sada-purvah sarvam tad idam anugrihnati cha Shivah tavajnam alambya kshna-chalitayor bhru-latikayoh   Obeying the command issuing from the movement of your eyebrows, Brahma creates the universe. Vishnu sustains it. And Sadashiva inspires all the forces in it to act.   During meditation, replace yourself with the personified form of Sri Vidya through intense visualization. Your concentration is such that you no longer exist- She alone exists. The Wave of Beauty and Bliss, the most revered scripture in the tradition of Sri Vidya. After you have been initiated into this Sri Vidya, recite thirty-three repetitions a day for only thirty three days, and have a fire offering on the thirty third day to invoke Lord Ganesha, the Hindu elephant baby god who removes all obstacles. This ritual will reportedly help you attain freedom from fear, insecurity, anger, sensuality, grief, sloth, inertia, anxiety and frustration.   Ahanta patra bharitam idanta paramamritam. Purnahanta maye vahnau juhomi shivarupa dhrik   “I, Shiva, offer the liquor of this-is-ness [objective awareness] contained in the chalice of I-am-ness [subjective awareness] into the fire of perfect I-am-ness [Supreme Consciousness].”   While reciting these prayers, aspirants are expected to visualize their body being replaced by the fire of kundalini spiraling upward. They can add sex to this ritual only when they have attained perfect mastery over their biochemistry, their mind and senses. To hasten the ascent of the kunlalini, Tantric schools combined corporal positions (mudra) with sexual practices, in their effort to achieve simultaneous “immobility” of breath, thought and semen. During the khechari mudra, the bindu (sperm) does not fall when the man is embraced by a woman. Tantrics practice self-control and freedom from passions, memories, and the self. To control the arousing effects of alcohol or any similar substance and of sexual embrace on the body is symbolic of their greater control over the three greater human vices: name, fame, and honor. To a Tantric, being hailed as a guru is mere noise. The ego is a form of drunkenness. Only after renouncing those three illusions, does one truly remember the name of God.             Sat Nam.  And Namaste.