TANTRA OF YOGA AND FALSE BELIEFS
Today we want to talk to you about the famous tantra yoga, which over the years has replaced unbridled sex several times, ideologies based on superficiality and nothingness instead of the deep meaning in which it digs.
Let’s start with the etymology of the word:
The Sanskrit word Tantra can be translated with the term “warp” or “weft” and is composed of the root Tan = extend, multiply, and the suffix Tra = instrument.
The literal meaning therefore of the term Tantra Yoga is that of instruments/tools (practices, rituals) to extend human consciousness.
When we talk about Tantra yoga we are talking about all the best known forms of yoga in the West: Kundalini yoga, Hatha yoga, Raja yoga, Laya yoga and Mantra yoga.
In all these schools of tantric yoga, precedence is given to practices and rituals of a mainly physical type and probably here is were the first misunderstandings and false beliefs about this discipline were born.
At the centre of tantric philosophy is the manifest universe that we know and touch, considered as a physical and sensorial expression of the unmanifest, that is, of what we do not see, hence the idea that, through immersion in the first, full unity with the second can be achieved.
To reach this type of knowledge it is necessary to follow a very strict discipline which, however, varies according to the level of consciousness of the practitioner.
However, all levels have in common the work on the harmonization of masculine and feminine energy, Shiva and Shakti – reminiscent of the Taoist Ying and Yang -.
The aim of this work is to awaken and appropriately channel the Kundalini energy, believed to be the custodian of the secret of enlightenment.
TANTRIC OF YOGA AND FALSE BELIEFS
Those who undertake this path are faced with the so-called “right hand” and “left hand” paths: the latter include the practices that envisage the symbolic union between man and woman as an integral part of the spiritual path.
While in the schools of the right hand path the precepts that push the union of the masculine and feminine principle are interpreted as a metaphor of union on an energetic level, in the schools of the left hand path they are interpreted literally.
From here originates the maithuna – the sexual ritual – which is however not a central practice, although unfortunately Tantra is now commonly associated with this.
On the contrary, the maithuna is considered one of the highest and last stages that the yogi must face because only true yogis can afford to practice it as a meditation technique.
While Asana, mantra, pranayama, meditation and ethical behaviour are the pillars of tantra yoga, and depending on where the emphasis is placed, the schools differ in one or the other.
It is fundamental to understand that in order for a path or a teaching to be defined as tantric, the approach that is opposite to the Vedantin one which seeks liberation out of manifestation changes.
In Tantra it is believed that the phenomena of manifestation are not an illusion from which to awaken but a form of the Supreme in the aspect of Mother (Devi).
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