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Classical Advaita Tantra Yoga tradition was fathered by Lord Sadashiva, the original expounder of Tantra, the indigenous mystical tradition of Eastern India. He was a great saint in whom the Supreme Being was fully manifest; as such, he was the bridge between the phenomenal and spiritual worlds, and thus fully capable of developing and inventing tools for spiritual growth. He was so revered for his spiritual and social service accomplishments that he was elevated to a status of Divinity in India: Lord Sadashiva, the destroyer of spiritual ignorance and the Lord of Yogins.
The Real Essence of Yoga
In any society, there are the sections that deem them as a utopian society and set rigid rules for themselves. This kind of a society can never exist for too long. There always outlaws who want to branch out. Yoga is one of the most ancient art forms of India developed and propagated by sages and gurus. Now yoga has spread to all over the world. Yoga can be practiced by anyone, at any age, with any physical condition, depending on individual needs. For example, athletes and dancers can practice for restoring the energy and to improve stamina; housewives for rejuvenating the energy and to reduce fatigue; executives to give a break to the overworked mind; children to control the wandering mind, muscle toning, to improve memory and concentration; seniors to feel strong, and to improve memory.
Yoga helps relax body and mind together. Stretching helps relax and tone the muscles, to improve circulation, to regain the vital force or energy, lose or gain weight, feel and look young, and improve concentration. It can relieve conditions like stress, back-pain, allergy, headaches, high and low blood pressure, insomnia and depression.
What is Tantra Yoga?
Yoga classes have sprung up even in western countries. Yoga now exists in several variations and adaptations away from its true original form. In Buddhism there is a class known as vajrayana which encouraged meat eating and promiscuity. This is far away from what Buddha preached. But as time progressed, the rules faded and people began to draw their own lines to connect the dots. Such a form of yoga is referred to as tantric or tantra yoga. Tantra literally translates to a technique. As soon as someone mentions tantra yoga images of weird sexual fetishes and images of popular Indian god men might come to our mind but tantra yoga is more than just that. There are limitations to use one’s physical and mental strength. Tantra yoga is said to overcome these, tantric is said to draw on various ancient sciences such as ayurveda, numerology and astronomy to help attain an idealistic life through practical means. Unlike yoga that preaches a life without mortal desires, tantra yoga accepts that every man has desires and they are natural. We all have primal instincts to satisfy our senses. Most of these are physical. In due course of time people are dominated by their instincts, tantra yoga offers a way to cleanse the mind of such desires by using some yantras and rituals. It also preaches Japam (repetition of verses). It helps us attain a sort of divinity by practical means.
Although the Western society considers tantra yoga as a predominantly sexual one. This is a blatant misconception; tantra is actually a broad spiritual discipline with multiple facets. The sacred and erotic art of Tantra depicting the coupling of Lord Shiva and Shakti in the Yab Yom position represents the ultimate unity of the divine, the essential wholeness of yin and yang, masculine and feminine, light and dark. Lord Shiva is said to be the static power holder in the universe, and Shakti the dynamic energy that flows in us. The methods of Hatha Yoga, including breathing techniques and postures, were employed to subject the body to the control of the will. Mudras or gestures, mantras or syllables, words and phrases, and mandalas and yantras, symbolic diagrams of the forces at work in the universe, were used as aids to meditation and the achievement of spiritual and magical power.
Sadhguru Jakki Vasudev of the isha yoga foundation says that “People thinking in terms of “I have sexual needs so I will follow the tantric path,” is nonsense. In tantra, it is not that someone is using just sexuality to grow. They are using every aspect to grow. Unfortunately, there may be people who are attracted to such a path for the wrong reasons. They go because they want a spiritual sanction for their sexuality. Why do you want to bullshit yourself about spirituality? Handle your biology as biology; you do not have to give it other names”. This is indeed what people need to be clear off. No yoga practice is destines to satisfy primal instincts, they were all designed with higher purposes. False mockery of the true culture just to make the headlines has cheapened the way people look at tantric yoga.
An ancient art form of India has been washed out by western influences, today it looks obsolete nothing close to what our ancient rishis practiced. We have adapted and modified several cultural practices in the name of advancement and comfort, the deterioration of tantra yoga is one such.
Tantra Yoga
