HISTORY OF TANTRA
Dr. Georg Feuerstein, is a leading expert on Yoga and Tantra, let me quote a bit from his book "Tantra: the Path of Ecstasy":
"Consider for a moment that the Dalai Lama is a tantric adept, and those visions of sexual bliss that the word "tantra" conjures up in most people's minds would quickly dissolve! Tantra is more than the sex play of popular articles and books." Georg Feuerstein, conjures up a much richer world of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and theology. Tantra is a form of devotionalism, in which ritual sounds, gestures, and actions figure prominently. Reverence of the guru as god also plays a part, but Feuerstein tempers our suspicion by repeating the admonitions of tantric texts down through the ages to choose carefully. As much prudence must also go into reflection on the disciple's own person, who engages in strict yogic discipline designed to conquer the six enemies: "desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride, and envy." Feuerstein draws on the ancient texts to describe the tantric path in great detail, including realization of the subtle body, directing energy through the chakras, and, yes, sex. Taken together, tantra becomes a vivid, multifaceted path to self-realization.
With further kudos to Dr. Feuerstein:
In his Tantric teachings, Buddha taught a special practice called "transference of consciousness into another body." Those who are skilled in Tantra have a profound experience of exchanging self with others. During my Tantric Healing Ritual, I am seeking to remove any feelings you may have of anguish, sorrow and stress and replace them in you with feelings of amazing comfort, joy, blissful well-being and compassion.
From the beginning, Tantra has straddled both Hinduism and Buddhism. Hindu Tantra is also called "Kundalini Yoga" and Buddhist Tantra is also known as Vajrayana Tantra. There are, however, many differences between Hindu and Buddhist Tantra. I am a practitioner of Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism.
The most common distortion is to present Hindu Tantra as a mere discipline of ritualized or sacred sex. In the popular mind, Tantra has become equivalent to sex! Nothing could be farther from the truth! It seems that some confuse Tantric bliss (ananda) with ordinary orgasmic pleasure.
Tantra is a highly complex tradition and it can be a dangerous path that leads fools into greater bondage and only wise practitioners to freedom and bliss. True Tantric practitioners are called heroes (vita) because they must navigate in treacherous waters that demand constant vigilance and great inner strength.
With the arrival of Tantra in the Western Hemisphere, this ancient tradition is experiencing new challenges. All too often students transfer Western competitiveness to their spiritual practice, where it has no place. They want to be masters overnight and have their own students before they are ready for the tremendous responsibility this entails. This attitude has led to a mushrooming of Neo-Tantric schools, many of which are little more than caricatures of traditional Tantra. The same criticism applies to numerous Yoga teachers and schools, but where Tantric or Tantra-style teachings are involved, the danger of self-delusion and abuse of power is particularly great. Unless the Tantric teacher is of high moral caliber, he or she can do considerable damage to students. I assure you that I approach Tantra with the deepest humility and I respect my clients whom I treat always as honored guests in my home.
Many are attracted to Neo-Tantrism because it promises sexual excitement or fulfillment while clothing purely genital impulses or neurotic emotional needs in an aura of spirituality. I am not fooled by these silly ideas.
Tantra in particular awakens latent abilities that must be managed wisely and in the spirit of compassion and kindness toward others. Any misuse of these abilities or powers will have severe karmic consequences, both for the disciple and for the teacher who granted initiation and transmitted the teachings and the energy supporting them. Tantra is a powerful tool, calling for maturity, self-knowledge, and good-heartedness in its handling. The fact that Tantra has never been easily accessible protects both the Tantric tradition and would-be disciples. This is as true today as it was a thousand years ago. Those who are truly ready to receive initiation and transmission are sooner or later bound to come in contact with the right teacher and tradition. I am blessed and honored that my guru is a righteous and good man. If the law of karma holds true at all, we certainly must expect it to apply to this situation. We are drawn to teachers and teachings because of our inner resonance with them. So long as we look at our disappointments on the path as learning experiences, we will continue to grow. Honesty and integrity are our best protection whether or not we have found a teacher.
There is no tradition in Tibet or India of Tantric "massage" in the same sense that there of Tantric Yoga, Tantric Breathing, Tantric Mantras. But there is Tantric Healing. This method of healing is not a therapeutic massage, but here in the West this ritual of touching and stroking the body has evolved as the most effective means of conveying "Tantric Healing" which is a rubbing of the hands over the body of the recipient, while the Tantrika is in a meditative state, to convey the healing. In the past 40-50 years (since the fall of Tibet when Tantric Buddhist monks brought the Tantric arts to the west), Tantric Practitioners have brought their individual personalities and experiences into play to make this a more pleasant, soothing, and relaxing connection between the two people - the giver and the receiver. In Amritsar, India I have seen it done very roughly over the recipients' body but with very good results! However here, the tradition has evolved to do it more gently, tenderly, long strokes and varying degrees of pressure applied to ensure that the recipient feels refreshed, relaxed and radiant when the process is finished. As our two societies are so very different - in the East and the West - I am not surprised by these differences in technique. It shows that Tantra is alive and evolving! Within the past 100 years, both Reiki Healing and Therapeutic Touch Healing evolved from Tantric Healing.
Sat Nam Rasayan is an application of meditative awareness cultivated by Kundalini Yoga. By becoming increasingly aware of what the various aspects of their own body, mind, and emotions normally feel like and how they feel different when in the presence of another person, the practitioner can know things about other people, particularly imbalances.
By putting awareness on and providing energy to imbalances in the client, the practitioner provides an opportunity for change, without judgment as to how or when the change will occur. This practice takes the ego out of the equation for the practitioner.
Energetically speaking, characteristics in individuals follow from people who strongly embody them to those that don't, as they spend time together. It is similar to one of the laws of thermodynamics. When a hot body is brought into contact with a cold body, heat follows into the cold body until both bodies reach equal temperature. Character traits, emotions, intellect, physical imbalances, really anything works likewise on an energetic level. An easy way to notice this is with speech patterns. When two people send a lot of time together, they tend to talk and think alike.
The Tantrika yogi takes advantage of knowing this in that they notice the shifts that occur when they are around a given person or environment. The shifts in their own body due to external factors tell them a great deal about their surroundings. This is essentially how the practice of Sat Nam Rasayan tunes into problem areas. With awareness steadily put on a problematic area, the additional energy and the perception provide an opportunity for change. In fact, just from the point of view of perception, change occurs. Science and medicine are becoming increasingly aware that perception shapes reality. By observing a thing, the observer becomes a co-creator. How they view the object, their karmic view on reality, contributes to changing the object or putting greater emphasis on its next manifestation being similar to the last. Merely observing a thing can change it.
Sat Nam Rasayan is an art of energy and awareness.
The last living master of Kundalini Yoga and the Mahan Tantric of White Tantric Yoga, Yogi Bhajan said that to really understand a subject, you have to teach it. This comment was often made with respect to Kundalini Yoga. Even though it is generally forbidden to practice or teach White Tantra or the practice of Bhuta Shuddhi, I incorporate this practice in steps with each client as they are ready for it. I consider White Tantric Yoga to be the most transformational practice that I have encountered. Intuitively, I feel that I should be involved in it on a more regular basis and that I should make it available to others.
While I appreciate many forms of yoga and meditation, it is Kundalini Yoga that I find myself doing the most. I'm trained and certified as a teacher, teach periodically, and it is a good part of the yoga I do everyday.
One of the primary purposes of a Tantric Healing Ritual (Tantric "Massage") and the work on the chakras is to awaken and guide the Kundalini. The Kundalini is a very powerful, intense and healing form of energy that (for most people) is lying dormant at the base of the spine (the sacrum). To fully awaken this powerful energy can take years of devoted practice in the various disciplines of the Tantric Arts. Once awakened, the Kundalini will rise from its resting-place under the sacrum and move up the spine, energizing and healing, eventually re-circulating throughout the entire body.
The Kundalini is known to infuse a tremendous amount of energy into a person, and has an incredible ability to heal almost any affliction, be it physical, emotional or spiritual.
Tantra is Supreme Mental Discipline - through meditation we learn to control our thoughts, through breathing we learn to control our bodies, through our chanting of mantras we control our lives and destinies. No longer need we be the victims of circumstance in our lives, but we become the Masters of our fate.