Tantra is Ritualistic Yoga

Tantra is the practical side of Yoga Theory. Yoga, as found in scriptures like Patanjali's Astanga Yoga Sutras, Shiva Samhita, Goraksha Samhita, Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati of Gorakhnath, Gheranda Samhita, Hathayoga Pradipika of Svatmaram, etc give us the ideas of what can be achieved by the performing Yoga, what is the philosophy of Yoga. Just like in Veda, there are 2 sides like the Samhita for mantras, fire-rituals and Upanishads for theoretical meanings. But the actual practical side of yoga is found among the Tantrik Yogis. The Lotuses, or, Chakras in the central channel (Sushumna), the various other channels (nadi-s), Kundalini energy, Kula and Akula points, Kama-Kala, these things have been extensively discussed in the Tantras. But this knowledge is lying scattered among many Tantra and Yoga scriptures. The Tantra-practitioners for ages were the prominent heads of Shiva (Shaiva, Nath, Siddha, Pashupata) schools (who were either householders or, recluse yogi monks), or, Shakti (Kalikula, Yamala, Kaula, Kapalika, Sri-kula) clans (who were mostly householder yogis). They held the secrets of the innermost esoteric yogic practices, which were only handed down from the Guru (master / adept yogi) to the chosen disciples. Often the Guru-s gave this secret only to their sons/daughters, to keep the family in a position of esteem and power. The students who received these verbal instructions were venerated and begged from for revelations by multitudes of Tantriks.
Gradually, due to slackness and ignorance, deformed practices began to creep in among the lineages. Tantra is supposed to be the art and science of living in direct communion with God. But as the path of tantra began to lead away from the highest ideal of spirituality, the sincere Yogi Masters felt the need to put down their knowledge into codified text, or, Tantrik scriptures, for fear of the original knowledge getting lost with time. The main form of Tantra is almost always, the Supreme Yogi Shiva answering the questions of the Mother Goddess Parvati. Devi Parvati asks the various intricate hidden secrets of Tantric lore, from many angles, the yoga behind it, the secret syllables, or, Bija Mantras, Nyasa-s for sanctifying the human body, Kavachas (armors) to bind and protect it from malefic forces. In this way numerous Tantras came into being, containing in them the esoteric lore of the masters, in the traditional form of Shiva-Parvati dialog.

The main purpose of Tantra is to weave spirituality with chores and activities of daily life. Tantra doesn't command the yogi to throw away his needs and yearnings of mundane life and go to the forest alone as a recluse. On the contrary, Tantra understands the daily human needs and sympathizes with people with lesser control over their senses. Everyone has a right to ascend the spiritual ladder, but not everyone is destined to lead a monk's life. Tantra is more inclusive than exclusive. It envelopes a very wide range of human traits and mental structures. Hence Tantra allows one to lead a normal life and slowly include the subtleties of yogic discipline into their lives, in stages.
It should also be noted that Tantrik Masters codified the secrets with multiple layers of meaning. It means a different thing for the Yogi of a higher level, and something else for a Beginner Yogi and something crude or, unintelligible for the layman. This was done intentionally to ward off onlookers and keep the delicate things hidden. The other purpose of writing Tantra in a cryptic language was to avoid persecution and abuse of the system by unbelievers. If you don't understand something, you cannot pin-point a technique or, call it a profanation. Tantrik yogis were severely criticized in the past centuries and sometimes punished due to their creepy behavior, or, abhorrent practices. There are several scriptural verses supporting this secretive trend. There are other verses banning, prohibiting or, cursing some Tantrik texts that were considered "not so good".

Verses:?

In modern times, all kinds of ritual worship of most gods/ deities in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism are performed by following the edicts of Tantrik discipline. Some Purana-s (Myths, Legends and ancient Hindu history) admit the efficacy and validity of Tantra. It is surprising to note that the earliest masters of Yoga were also the earliest originators of Tantra. (Like Shiva, Nandinath, Parashurama, Dattatreya, Matsyendranath/ Machchendra-Nath, Goraksha/ Gorakhnath, Rishi Durvasa, Rishi Vishwamitra, Rishi Agastya, Rishi-Vyasa, Adi-Shankaracharya, etc.) As the Shiva-Shakti structure of Tantra took hold of the Hindu world of spiritual practices, and as Tantra began to yield astounding results in a very little time, it began to be copied among other clans. In this way, five principal of deities of Hindu faith had their own Tantra scriptures. Thus we have Tantras for Shiva, Shakti, Sun, Ganesha and Vishnu. Tantras created around more than 2000 years ago are lost now. The oldest among the Hindu Tantras are Bhairava and Yogini Tantras. Many of the original Hindu Tantras have been copied verse by verse into Vajrayana Buddhist pantheon. Before that, during the later Vedic stages, the Tantras were called Prayoga Shastra-s, meaning Practical Scriptures.

By Amitabha Chatterjee (student of Sri Dayal-Baba & Sri Lalbaba)

To be continued.(30/09/2014)
 

Is Hindu Idol Worship Paganism or, Kafer?

When someone repeatedly denigrates your revered Deity (Ista-Devata), and use hateful terms to describe that form of God, one must not swallow that silently. He who is knowledgeable, must protest. Word spreads like forest-fire over the internet. And people ignorant of the actual Hindu culture are prone to believe the bogus hateful propaganda and form wrong ideas.

Instead of "Unity in Diversity" view of the Veda, some people intentionally spread Lies and still call that "Vedic"! Veda is the reservoir of  infinite knowledge, realized by sages (Rishi, Yogi) in transcendental meditation. The unpronounceable Truth obtained in samadhi state is then converted into words (which is a weak vehicle of ideas) and put down into the vedic verses. These verses taught by Gurus to their disciples in unbroken lineages through thousands of years. The Veda, Vedanta, Yoga-sutras, Tantra s (mostly) are records of realizations by authentic yoga-masters.

There is only One God, who is as such beyond names and forms. This has been said again and again all over the Vedic scriptures. How then can Hindus be called Pagans? As for the idol-worship of Hindus, there is a deep scientific truth behind it. One should not misjudge the Hindu religion and belittle it.

The greatness of Hinduism is that it allows one to choose the form of God according to one's liking. Hinduism is very open minded and NOT rigid. This is very good, because there are numerous kinds of people with various natural traits. All kinds of people cannot accept only one form to worship, just as someone likes to eat sweet things, another likes salty food, another still likes it sour. The taste is unimportant, as long as it satisfies the mind and gives us nourishment. So Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma allows various deities. But behind all those forms, there is only one God. And in reality, there is only one Absolute Consciousness, and that is BEYOND NAMES AND FORMS. Veda: "Na tasya pratima asti yasya naam mahadyasha." The Glorious Supreme Being doesn't have any form.

In Veda, Rudra, Vishnu, Adi-Shakti (Devi-sukta of Rigveda) are all Equal and Valid forms of God. None is lesser than the other. These narrow views have been created by ignorant sectarians at a later age in the form of insertions in the Puranas. Veda and Upanishads say that God is all-pervading, always present everywhere. Whatever we look at is an expression of God. So the wise Rishis advised the common people to worship God in beautiful forms, to focus their minds. Ordinary people are unable to visualize the Formless. Nor can we praise God without words, hence the many names and forms of God. Furthermore, the various idols of God were obtained from the meditations of Yogis, which are deeply meaningful. These idols were not created from imagination at random. God expressed Himself to sages in transcendental states and these have been passed down as meditation-guides or, Dhyana-mantras. Later artists were appointed to sculpt these idols following the mantras. So, Hindus worship that One Infinite God of all creation in idols. They don't revere the idol-material or, lumps of rock or, metal, but send their prayers to the all pervading Spirit (Paramtaman) within, that cannot be perceived with the sense organs.

Some wrongly call Hindus Kafer because of their buth-parasti (idol worship), as the accusers are not aware of the science behind that worship. To imagine the formless is not only difficult, but impossible. The mind unavoidably imagines some form. The Muslims imagine the Arabic calligraphy of "Allah", or, the image of Kaaba, or, some light (Noor), the Christians imagine Jesus in a cross, the followers of Buddha worship his image, all the above are NOT FORMLESS. In the Veda, God is Avang-manas-gochara, meaning Beyond the capacity of speech and mind. So, that is formless. No name can describe it, no image can grasp it. To imagine a deity is only a means to focus the restless mind on some aspect of God.

Only the Yogis among the Hindus can truly meditate on the formless Niranjan Paramatman. I am sure true Islamic sages must also have realized the Allah in a formless manner. But that mental level cannot be reached by the ordinary masses. For them there must be some image to focus on.

einstein - capturing the mood

This is strictly a pen on paper sketch. Wrong strokes once marked, are marked forever. The first try was more of a tracing and filling up of the general features of Einstein's face. I did like the outcome... but once I compared it to the reference photo side by side, a lot of flaws could clearly be detected.

Einstein sketch 1

Einstein second attempt

On the second try, I mostly looked at the photo in the computer monitor and sketched on a sheet of paper and looked down less times. The negative critic inside the mind was silenced, and I tried to be patient. Very slowly similarities began to appear between the actual face and the sketch. I read about this technique in "Keys to Drawing" by Bert Dodson. His books are very encouraging and much less threatening for a budding artist.

Unmani highest samadhi of yoga tantra

What is the Highest Transcendental State?

Man looks upward with hope and seeks solution to the countless problems that hinder his progress in life. Who is up there to help him? Is there an all-powerful being, is there really a God? Well, there is none in sight, who is absolutely powerful! There are so many established religious orders, so many mannerisms and rituals all over this curious world. Who can answer man's quest, quench his thirst forever?

There are powerful yogic entities for real in their own domains. They may be summoned and benefits reaped, but the results are limited by time and conditions. Sacrilege! Blasphemous utterance! A daring statement in denial of God Almighty! Well, there is God, but not in agreement to most doctrines. Doctrines are aimed at Loka-sangraha, organization, governance and leading a large number of adherents. Truth, on the other hand is above such things. Truth has nothing to do with recruitment. Truth is absolute freedom.

Where there is God, there is his devotee, there is bound to be Duality. Where there is duality, how can there be One absolute reality? What is the state, that fuses God and Devotee into one?

There is such an Ultimate state of existence, without which there is nothing. We accept and dismiss so many things in this world of multitude and variety. When we dismiss everything visible and invisible, ... when we get rid of all different possibilities of existence, ...all forms of matter or, energy contained in this universe, or, other universes ... all thoughts passing through all minds, past present and future, ... there is some unseen substratum supporting everything known and unknown. This is the underlying, fundamental Reality and it pervades all forms of matter and energy, however subtle. This absolute truth always remains. That is the only thing that matters... in this universe, or, beyond it. It is not some separate 'Thing', yet it is. Let us call it by the name of Unmani, for reference's sake. It cannot be named, or, pointed at as such.

There are innumerable things beyond the grasp of our sense organs; many things cannot be detected by precise instruments, which are like extensions of our senses. All Objects are like clusters of matter and energy, marked with a beginning and an end. They need space to exist. What is beyond space?

Things are contained within the boundaries of time. Everything began at one point and continued to exist up-to some point of reference, this is Time. Time marks the continuity of things. But where there is no change, no beginning or, end, time is meaningless. That Absolute stillness, that Eternity which is the essence of consciousness, mother of Time and Space, is the Truth. The meaning we try to tag upon the word 'Truth', is void under the premise of Unmani. It is, had always been, and will be... like before us and afterwards, when our petty purposes will vanish like grains of camphor.

Unmani is the root of existence itself. But how did that stillness give birth to the variety of this known universe? The state of Unmani is not inert, but conscious of itself. It is the only source of Truth, Love and Bliss. When obstructions between our mind and Unmani are removed, we perceive it as flashes of bliss. When we fall asleep, and dreams stop distracting our inner mind, we can feel the Unmani as peace and solace. The energy thus gained, allows us to function in the waking state, which is an array of multiplicity and divided attention. Unmani, mentioned mostly in yoga-tantras is a higher state than Nirvikalpa samadhi of Vedanta. Nirvikalpa is attained by analysis and vigorous vichara leading to laya of the mind in Turiya Brahman. That would be like vritti-nirodha due to vichara, hence rising from Sa-vichara samadhi to Nir-vichara samadhi and Jivatman fusing into Paramatman at the top of the brain called Sahasrara, the thousand petaled lotus. Unmani is beyond Sahasrara lotus and above the scope of the bodily nine chakras, it is outside the body.

The existence of Mind or, 'Mana' ceases to be, before it can fully comprehend the ultimate state. Hence the highest state up to which we retain our mind is called Samana (with mind), and beyond it is Unmana (Above-mind, or, supra mind state), also called as Unmani, which is the very Nature of free consciousness. What causes the first vibration of existence from the stillness of the absolute? The Nirguna Brahman willed, and the world came to be. Why would the stillness vibrate with this will? Why would it spring from inaction to action? Vedanta and the Upanishads are silent about this. Gorakhnath answers this riddle.

What causes the primal vibration in the Mahashunya (Void) to give birth to the Mind? What causes the waves in the Mind to begin creation? The first wave that set things in motion, reverberates through all time as Om. Gorakhnath, the first know-er of Unmani reveals the secret that Unmani is not static, but Dynamic, in a state of flux. It's like a mitral valve in the heart of everything, vibrating (spandanam), giving rise to the eternal waves of Truth and Bliss.

Born from Unmana is Samana, the purest state of mind. It is here that one may perceive God and interact with Him. He is the cluster of the purest emotions of the clear mind. But he who gets to know Unmani, cannot retain a separate existence. He is nothing but an embodiment of Unmani itself. Gorakhnath is said to reside in Mahashunya, in his eternal samadhi, all persona immersed in Unmani. But the dynamic nature of Unmani awakens him from time to time to appear in this variegated world below, as the emissary of Unmana.

He appears only to them who are thirsty for the highest truth. Those who ask for lower truths and crave minute flakes of power and worldly benefits, get what they desire. But such poor devotees cannot see the embodiment of truth and pure bliss, who is Gorakhnath. Truth, knowledge, bliss and love... emanate from Unmani.

Only a few have ever been able to say anything about such a state. Gorakhnath, Dattatreya and Gyaneshwar (Sant Dnyaneshwar, the author of Dnyaneshwari-Gita)... the list is that much. The rest is recapitulation and permutation of their words in Tantra, Yoga and Spanda Shastras.

Alakh Niranjan, Adesh, Jai Guru

~Amitabha Chatterjee, blessed by Sri Dayalbaba and Sri Lalbaba.

Golden Beetle

This morning I found this beautiful beetle, golden in color, in my garden. I put it on a basil branch in order to take some photographs. I used my Olympus SP 500 UZ digital camera. Sadly enough, my Olympus xD 1GB memory card (MXD1GH3 Samsung) died on me today, after 5 years of service. Adios! Ave atque vale, Hail & farewell (Latin).

Path of Yoga Tantra

1. Without practice, there is no Tantra. There is a great deal of difference between giving poses for diving and actually diving into water. I am applying the same analogy to the world of Tantra. Reading and discussing about Tantra is good, but it is not Tantra. Tantra and Yoga are the only Practical Ways of Spirituality that involve action. So, they are called Anusthanik Dharma, Practical Religion. Vedanta is mostly self reflection and analysis. Bhakti yoga is also mostly mental-emotional.
2. Tantra is hands-on sadhana, 100% practical, and one can clearly feel the evolution taking place within. And one must push himself and keep pushing beyond unknown boundaries.
3. Tantra Yoga uses vivid visualization of Chakras (Muladhara to Sahasrara), channels (Susumna, Ida, Pingala nadi-s), Shakti (energy), Bija Mantra, Devata (deity), etc. That is a very scientific form of meditation. So in Tantra, progress is rapid.
4. Tantra requires a Guru, from whom this direct instructions must be received. One cannot do tantra sadhana on his own. The tantra related scriptures have been intentionally written in a complicated, multi-layer-ed manner to thwart casual onlookers and non-believers. So, if the adept master doesn't reveal the secrets of his path, one can easily stray.
5. The Nyaya, Vedanta etc. are descriptive analytical paths that explain and explain, which is like beating around the bush. Tantra and Yoga are direct methods of perception. It's like hitting the nail right between the eyes, spot-on.

Mysticism

My path is that of the Mystic... inquiring into my inner realm of existence, catching the subtler Nada that is reverberating in the inner recesses of my mind. I am again and again asking Mother nature to reveal her secrets, that she keeps hidden from the men of this world, concealed behind the curtain of death in the still of solitude and darkness.

Also, Mrityu chintan is a very important part of the spiritual life. Mrityu is death and chintan is thinking. That means, contemplating on death and the evanescent nature of everything in my life, including my current personality, name, form and my body. I carefully watch a dead-body, human or, animal, clean or, gruesome.... I never look away. Thats what this body is, a lump of flesh... lying helplessly, lifeless, cold and still... without my essence, my conscious-soul, vital energy (Prana) & my mind with indriyas.

I used to visit the burning ghats of Kolkata and watch young and old, male and female corpses lined up for their last rites. And I considered the inevitability of death, that catches up with everyone, be it a begger or, an emperor, or, a world famous person... nobody can escape a meeting with death! I am also approaching it in a jolly mood.

Mystery enshrouds everything in this universe. The lure of the unknown is very powerful. The only hurdle on the path is fear. Conquer fear and nature will lift her veil, she will yield some of her hidden treasures. The price to be paid for these nuggets of occult knowledge is courage and winning over one's own fears, that holds us back, paralyzes us.

The paths of Yoga and Tantra traverses through the valley of death and darkness. Those who cling to the comfort of ordinary life, those who bend before the promise of false safety and security of the urban life, cannot gain access to the world of mysticism. The mystic must sacrifice a part of his social life to look eye to eye at Nature. Nature is flowery and beautiful, she is magnificent, yes, but she is also terrible and fathomless.

Thus, in Gita, Vasudeva reveals to Arjuna his terrifying Mahakala like features, along with the heavenly ones. Powerful warrior, fearless Arjuna says:

Dangstra Karalani cha te mukhani, Dristaiva Kalanala sannibhani. 11/25

(The prolonged range of your teeth and those horrifying faces that look as if they would burn this whole world and devour it!)

Dristva hi tvaam pravyathhitantaratma, Dhritim na bindami shamang cha Vishno. 11/24 Gita.

(Your countless heads and glaring eyes have covered the whole sky; your mouths are open and ready to swallow everything. I am restless, my peace has evaporated on witnessing your fierce form.)

The Lord says: Kalohasmi lokaksayakrit pravriddho, Lokan samahartumiha pravritto. 11/32

(Right now, I am Mahakala, the destroyer, Time that puts an end to everything, I am about to devour all the worlds.)

"Adristapurvam Hrisitohasmi dristva, Bhayena cha pravyathitam mano me. ... Praseeda devesha Jagannivasa." 11/45

(Seeing your features, previously unknown to me, I am overwhelmed with bliss, yet my mind is shuddering with inconsolable fear. Please look at me with your peaceful & pleasant gaze.)

 

In the Tantrik meditation of Bhairava in Apaduddhara stotram, we find,

Neel jeemuta sankasham neelanjana samaprabham, Dangstra karalabadanam nupurangada sankulam. Atmavarna samopeta sarameya samanvitam.

(He is like a huge blue cloud, his body is dark in color, like the Kajal applied to the eyes. He has terrifying protruding teeth. Anklets and armlets are the ornaments that decorate his body. He is surrounded by dogs that echo his color and mood.)