The Tantric Path: An Exploration of the Divine Within
Tantra. The mere utterance of the word sends a surge of electricity through the speaker and the listener alike. It is an incantation, a spell, summoning the divine essence—the unmanifested masculine and the manifested feminine, the cosmic forces behind all existence. Tantra is a dance of knowing, a Jñāna, a Gnosis, and, simultaneously, a yearning for dissolution. In an era where material reality reigns supreme, humanity stands at a precipice, longing to forget what it once knew. To allow all knowing to fall apart and to Re-member. To come together. Tantra, then, is not merely Spirituality but a Science—a profound study of expansion and dissolution.
Across ages and cultures, divinity was often expressed through the union of the masculine and the feminine— Yin and Yang, Osiris and Isis, Gaia and Uranus, Shiva and Shakti. Ancient temples were dedicated to the Shiv Lingham, curled within the Cosmic Yoni, uncurling, erect. viper like. Across cultures and ages, people gathered in circles to observe the ritualistic union between a man and a woman. Too sacred to have ever been written down, these rituals found form in poetry, art and dance. The ineffable was expressed through the physical body, and seldom spoken about. This sacred union, known as the Hieros Gamos (Sacred Marriage), was celebrated in high temples and stone circles.
With the onset of new religion, many such practices were chased away by puritanical dogma. What was once sacred became profane and was chased into the depths of the unconscious minds. The very symbols of this rituals – the Lingam, the Yoni and consequently the union of the two creative forces, became known as Sin.
And yet, there exists a perfectly preserved set of scriptures and practices performed by secret sects around SouthEast Asia. These scriptures called the Tantras helped adepts realise union within their own bodies. Away from prying eyes, the technology of Tantra aimed to fulfil Hieros Gamos within one’s own body. Often requiring intense discipline that comes from meditation and yogic practices, Tantra was perfected over thousands of years which enabled it to grow and transfigure depending on changing situations. It is said that the old scriptures will be lost and new ones will replace them, owing to the dynamic aspect of Tantra, which shapeshifts depending on the needs of society (Swami Satyananda Saraswati). But at its core, the objective truth remains. The truth that all of reality is the result of the merging and transfiguring of two dynamic forces – Consciousness – often described as Divine Masculine and Energy, the Goddess..
Shiva and Shakti.
Shiva with Shakti on his mind.
This union is the very reason behind the birth, maintenance and dissolution of the Universe. In Tantra, the concept of God is obliterated, because one realises Divinity within one’s own Self. There is therefore nothing external, everything is within.
The limited form of the human body opens up to the limitless realms. As Swami Satyananda Saraswati says “it {Tantra} is the method of being swallowed into the infinite, of being sucked into the infinite through a whirlpool of material objects and energies. The world is used as a stepping stone to the beyond, to that which is indescribable. The objective universe is used as a launching pad into the eternal. Tantra aims at expanding the experience of everyday life, of enjoying and living life to the full, as a means to higher awareness. It encompasses all aspects of life, whether in the material world or that which is transcendent.”
In Tantra, therefore humanity realizes that it is the Soul of the Cosmos. Through man, the universe begins to knows itself. The human body takes centre stage as the seat of Shakti, the Cosmic Feminine, who longs to unite with her formless self – Shiva, eternally resting as Pure Consciousness.
The Scriptures
Although expressed across different cultures, in India, Tantra was synthesised into form. This form came in a myriad and dizzying array of scriptures. Some claim that the scriptures had Vedic roots; others argue that they existed independent to the Vedas owing to a separate style of Sanskrit in which they was composed.
Around 14,000 texts once existed in ancient India and many of them have now been lost. Of the few that remain, many have not been translated and those that have been translated seem to contradict eachother. Tantra, thus becomes a paradox, a point where meaning both exists and dissolves—Neti Neti, not this, not this. An echo of the Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, existing and not existing simultaneously. Divine and Illusion, a dance where the illusion itself is divine.
The Rig Veda mentions the word Tantra – composed of two Sanskrit root words Tan to mean expansion and Tra, the means to, or instrument for, or broadly speaking technology or tool. Therefore, even before the scriptures arose, Tantra was described in the earliest records as a ‘Technology for Expansion’. This definition pertains to the fact that Tantra may not be a religion or a conventional spiritual dogma at all, but rather unveils itself as a set of techniques, a silent guide to awaken the cosmic power.
look into my dragon eyes
The Cosmic Power
This Power is often depicted as a Serpent residing at the base of the Spine, and goes by the name Kuṇḍalinī . The symbolism of the Serpent is powerful here because it repeats throughout the ages across various different cultures such as the Pythia from ancient Greece, the Egyptian Ouroboros and Norse Jörmungandr. The Serpent across our collective human consciousness is a symbol of death and rebirth, a profoundly mysterious phenomenon, equally as mysterious as the ineffable Kuṇḍalinī.
The waking of Kundalini from her unconscious state where she is dormant, in a state of Tamas – arouses her to take on a Rajasic (active) role as she begins her ascent. The concept of Tamas, Rajas and Sattva – the three gunas have been explored in the article - Ayurveda – which can be found here. The ultimate goal of Tantric Sadhana (practice) is to unite with Shiva – the unmanifested, supreme Consciousness, that is all pervading and eternal. Shakti finally then rests in her Sattvic (true) state in total union, where duality is completely obliterated and Shiva-Shakti become the Brahman. This is what the ancient Vedics referred to as Neti Neti – not this, not this, for the Brahman is ultimately inexpressible. It can only be spoken in terms of what it is not. This is the state of Samadhi, also known as Moksha & Nirvana.
This Chamatkara (Marvel, Wonder) is not unique to Indian Tantra, but has been experienced by mystics and sages all over the world. As Plotinus, the Greek Philosopher describes his own experience of the unknowable: “The one is every thing and also not every thing. It is not every thing because it is the source of every thing. It is transcendentally every thing, because there every thing is….or, more exactly, is not yet but is to be.”
Agamas & Nigamas
After the Rig Veda's mention, Tantra manifests as structured scriptures—Agamas across India. Shakti, the disciple, engages in a cosmic dialogue with Shiva, the Guru. A yearning to know the nature of reality:
O Shiva, what is your reality?
What is this universe full of wonders?
What constitutes the seed?
Who centers the universal wheel?
What is this life beyond the form that pervades forms?
How can we fully penetrate it, beyond space and time, names, and descriptions?
Dissipate my doubts!
Yet, intriguingly, another set of scriptures—Nigamas—paint a different portrait. Shakti assumes the role of the Guru, with Shiva as her disciple, engaging in extended dialogues about reality. A reflection, perhaps, of the inner dialogue within each of us—a cosmic mystery whispered through the ages.
Tantra Today
There is a growing yearning that is felt across today’s culture to experience transcendence, whilst living in this material realm, and that is exactly what Tantra promises. It is the realisation that all is divine, this beautiful body of the cosmos is the body of Shakti, the primordial power of Shiva.
Therefore if all is divine, then you too are divine and all that exists in your field of awareness is divine too. Your thoughts, your fears, your doubts, your insecurities, your joys, your longings, your impatience, every facet of you is divine.
Once you Awaken to this knowing, you automatically begin to become the observer and the dancer at the same time, but this time, you realise there is a larger force at play. In that force, you begin to melt and surrender. You begin to explore all facets of you. Even the skewed mental constructs that you once had, begin to take a new light. As long as you are able to witness, your thoughts no longer torture you. You begin to know that you are not your thoughts. As the hold of your thoughts are reliqushed, the thoughts themselves dissolve, until all you feel is the delicious weightlessness of profound peace and inner bliss.
You begin to embrace and seek out your divine powers. Every moment becomes one of deep anticipation, an opportunity to witness your spontaneous manifestation. You enter into a state of wonder, a profound realisation that there is nothing, absolutely nothing to do, but to simply allow the divine powers to flow though you. This atunement to reality, where you are fully immersed in your nature, in your truth, this very experience is Tantra.
Author: Luchele Brook