Tantra: A love story
Tantra is one of the most misunderstood paths of spiritual journey. Up till now it was shrouded in mystery and was condemned for its black magic or bizarre sexual practices. But that is only a distorded version of tantra. The more I studied tantra the more I found its approach highly refined and aesthetic. One needs to have a sophisticated and sensitive understanding of life all around.
Tantra means the technique, a method; it is a scientific formula of experimenting with life energy. It is to be practised, not to be discussed like philosophy. Tantra is beyond morality, this is why from the huge tantra literature there are very few documents and treatises that have survived the wrath of the moralists. One such treatise is Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, which means the technique of going beyond consciousness. This treatise is unique in many ways, and one of them is that it is the only spiritual book which begins with questions from a woman. In fact, this book is a love story between the ultimate man and the ultimate woman called Shiva and Devi. When love deepens, the longing for melting and merging with the loved one becomes intense and in that moment the form of the beloved starts disappearing, and this creates panic in the woman. Devi asks, “Oh, my beloved, how can I become one with you? I am surrounded by the mist of my mind, how do I reach you, my precious? Who are you? Where are you?”
And Shiva magnanimously answers her in a language of love we have yet to learn. Holding the hand of his beloved, Shiva moves step by step picking up the mundane experiences like breathing, hearing, touching, looking, eating, desiring, and asks Devi to transform them into perceiving the formless. Their love-filled dialogue goes on weaving a tapestry of multi-dimensional meditation techniques. Shiva presents 112 ways of opening the invisible door of consciousness.
“Don’t live on the surface, penetrate each experience and touch the bottom where the form dissolves into the formless,” says Shiva.
Osho has elaborated these meditations bringing out their glory and the subtle nuances. He has practised all these techniques and has found that all of them lead to the same state: emptiness. According to Osho, the unique feature of tantra is total acceptance of life. It is only through the total acceptance that you can grow. Use every energy you have with deep sensitivity, whether it is sexuality or anger or greed or fear. They are nothing but the raw material for transformation. The baser element is transformed into its refined quality. Sex becomes love, anger becomes compassion and greed becomes generosity. This is the tantric alchemy.
Amrit Sadhana is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune.
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