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Tantric
Sex
from the June/July issue of
Creations Magazine
by Swami Nostradamus Virato
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With all the
negative front page news about sex in recent months--from sports stars to the president of
the United States--it becomes vitally important to explore the dept of this misunderstood
phenomenon from a new perspective--a cosmic one
We came into this body through the act of procreation--in other words--sex. Unless you
were conceived by artifical insemination, you wouldn't be here unless a man and a woman
had sexual intercourse. While we are in a body, this pleasure underpins much of our
lives. Whether you recognize it or not, sexual energy runs much of your existence.
Unfortunately, most of us have lost or misused the special ingredient of this energy
phenomenon that moves us beyond mere physical pleasure to a deeper and more satisfying
state of wholness. At one time, long before political correctness permeated our culteru,
humans cultivated sexual pleasure to transcend into higher dimensions of conciousness.
Millennia ago, people achieved a high degree of energy--called by many names such as Chi,
Ki, vital force, Kundalini--using it to enter a state of Divinity. Their spiritual
philosophy held sexuality as a divine rite, an experssion of union or yoga.
Sexuality touches every part of your lives, and it's sad that this most pleasurable
life-affirming phenomenon--the act of creating our very birth--is today tainted with fear,
abuse and general negativity.
In contemporary society,
neurosis and deviant behavior has almost become the norm. Our present social and cultural
structure supports separation and has created division among individuals and
nations, manifesting in violence, war and in general, a world without beauty and love.
Western (and now even Eastern) culture uses sex for manipulation--sexy models are used to
sell cars, soap and other products--while at the same time supressing genuine sexual
expression. By making sex so powerful, we have also created the perfect environment for
neurosis, sexual misconduct and violence.
Tantr, the art of
spiritualizing sexuality, offers practical tools to transmute fear and attachment into
love and universal power. Like the spring flower freeing itself from the frozen snow,
Tantra is again budding, offering the Aquarian Age an alternative--a way to reverse the
negative envergy on the planet and a way to release one's self and achieve transcendence.
Put simply, Tantra is the total surrender or letting go of all mental, emotional and
cultural conditioning, so that universal life energy can flow through us like a river,
without effort. It is a letting go into the universal oneness--into love. When fear is
released, Tantra remains.
The word Tantra has
many definitions. Some cholars claim it comes from the Sanskrit or Hindi word for fabric
or tapestry, meaning that it is woven into one's life. Others say that it comes from two
Sanskrit words tanoti and trayati. Tanoti means to expand consciousness
and trayati means to liberate consciousness. One might then say that Tantra expands and
liberates consciousness, making it the fabric of existence.
Tantra is the highest possible
synthesis between love and meditation. While not a religious philosopy, Tantra embraces a
deep spiritual understanding of life and an ancient art of living in harmony with
existence. It is a poetic science of super sexuality that dates back thousands of years,
not only to India and Tibet, but to the Far East, Polynesia and indigenous of all parts of
the world, including North America's native Cherokee culture. It was used as a vehicle to
achieve cosmic consciousness and union with divinity.
Tantra treats sexual energy as
a loving friend rather than something to be supressed or talked about secretly in low
tones. It does not deny sex or consider it a hindrance to enlightenment and Heavenly
Grace. To the contrary, Tantra is the only spiritual path that says that sex is
sacred and not a sin or an act to God, whether within marriage or not. Tanrikas are God-loving,
rather than God-fearing.
There is a beautiful word for
sex in the Sanskrit language--Kama, which means sex-ove together, undivided and
indivisible. In tantra, sex is always loving. Almost everyone is familiar with the 7th
century classic The Kama Sutra, a Tantric treatise on lovemaking. Kama is also
the name of the Hindu Goddes of Live. Love is what Tantra encourages--total unconditional
love which includes the mind, spirit and body. Tantra doesn't tell you to control or
supress your sexual urges to reach God, but rather, supports developing this vital envergy
in order to achieve union with Divinity. The essence of Tantra is the full expression of
being--a merging with, rather than a withdrawing from. It is the ultimate yoga,
which is Sanskrit for "union."
In Tantra, the orgasm is with
the universe. You become part of the primal energy of everything--all existence. In The
Kuma Sutra, genital contact is but one of the many kinds of intercourse. Tantrikas learn
to make love with everything, letting go of all barriers to pure bliss. Sex is sacred and
divine when you approach it frome your heart and body, rather than your mind. It is common
for Tantricas to "drop their minds" when engaging in Tantric lovemaking. When
the energy comes from a space deep within you--your essential Self--it connects you to
God/Goddess/All That Is--moving you into the realm of spirit.
The body is layers of invisible
energy in form and can be fully awakened if we let go into sexual energy. this is the way
of Tantra. It affirms the life energy within you in totality. Those on this path finde
themselves becoming more whole and self-confident, with a positive panoramic view of
everything. Tantra changes one's view of relationships as well. Tantrikas are less
codependent, jealous and neurotic. They tend to be harmonious, fun and energy-filled. In
the way of Tantra, you discover that the relationship you seek outside is already within
you. You simply need to learn to cultivate the Tantric vision, a vital, bliss-filled
approach to sex, love and life.
>Today, many people experience
to the used of energy for healing through Chinese medicine, Reiki, Touch for Health, etc.
Yet, few people, except for Taoists, use the body's most powerful energy center--the sex
center--for the achievement of divinity, immortality and enlightenment. In Tantra, sexual
energy is used as the ignition for firing the Kundalini force, the body's biological
life-energy system, merging it/you with universal energy. Mystics and metaphysicians call
this reaching or achieving Godhead, Nirvana, Samadhi, Moksha or union with Divinity.
However, while Taoism (which actually stems from ancient Tantra) says bring your energy inside
for longevity, Tantra says let it go--let it all go! There is no reason to hang
onto anything if eternity exists.
On the Tantric path, we learn
to use sexual energy in a larger way, not denying the physical (though nothing is
really physical) but going further, deeper, higher. We dance witht he electromagnetic
force field of our partner and that dance leads to Cosmic oneness. When this energy is
matched and balanced correctly through loving surrender with a partner, the sparks fly. In
that moment of sexual embrace and energy exchange, a couple may achieve a Cosmic orgasm,
with their essential selves becoming larger than the body. In Tantra we learn to open
ourselves to others, not only on the physical, but on all levels. Tntric partners often
consider themselves "soul partners."
Tantra says we can celebrate
life fully when the idea of separation, or otherness, disappears from the body and mind.
Then people can meet on all levels of consciousness--physical, vital, mental, intellectual
and spiritual. Tantra doesn't ask you to believe anything. In fact, it says let go of all
belief systmes. Seek out a teacher that can guide you through this experience, to help you
discover your oneness with the universe.
The art of Tantra should not be
mistaken for material hedonism. Perhaps it could be called "spiritual hedonism,"
which says, "eat, drink and be merry, but with full awareness." Remain aways as
you enter into sex, before the old habits come and take over. Remain conscious of the
energy. Tantra says Yes! to sex, Yes! to love and Yes! Yes! to undonditional love.<
If you can learn to be
conscious of the body and the breath, you can become conscious of the Universe. What
Buddha said can also be said of Tantra, The truth of the Universe can only be realized
within the framework of the physical body. While Tantra is associated with sexuality, it
is essentially a merging into oneness using the physical plane as the lanunching pad. We
create our own reality, says Tantra, and now this reality can be in the here and now, in
the body, through the Tantric orgasm. It's possible to study Tantra for years, learning
the meditations, techniques and nuances of its lifestyle, yet Tantra assumes you already
have all the knowledge you need to become enlightened immediately. DO IT NOW! Life wasn't
meant to be a struggle...
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To
learn more about Tantra, see website http://www.newfrontier.com/nepal
or contact The Nepal Institute, PO Box 17397, Asheville, NC 28816. (704)
251-2671
email: newfrontier@a-o.com
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