Finding Self in Tantra
“Tantra is ‘an attempt to place kama, desire, in every sense of the word, in the service of liberation… not to sacrifice this world for liberations sake’”
“Tantra is ‘an attempt to place kama, desire, in every sense of the word, in the service of liberation… not to sacrifice this world for liberations sake’”
The practitioner of Tantra seeks to attain liberation, a goal defined through harmony or resonance with the divine, by subverting the dominant or status quo, and replacing it with its opposite hierarchically. This cultivates spiritual development through integration of paradox. In narrative and iconography there is the Goddess instead of the God. The fierce woman instead of the submissive. The warrior aspect of the sacred, not simply the benevolent. Still within each iteration is its opposite. Eastern philosophy is able to pulse along the spectrum seeking to gain balance in their exploration of the Totality.
I had a brief understanding of Tantra prior to taking a course through my studies, (I am studying for my Master's of Divinity and Masters of Art of Social Change at the Starr King school of the Ministry an affiliate of the GTU [Graduate Theological Union] of UCB [University of California in Berkeley]) We explored a book by David White. I had some undergrad coursework on tantra, and my yogic/ayurvedic intensive trainings and practices, as well as through awareness of popular appropriation.
Reading Tantra in Practice I found myself so clearly expressed. I found Tantra was an accurate term to describe my own multi-religious integrative perspective and experience. I feel represented as an individual vested in many of the traditions described in this text, and as a result of my core interest in trance induction methods for the (nis karma) Spirit channeling liberatory appeal. Also as someone interested in the full potentiality of the human being I have always been intrigued with the topic of the siddhis.
As a highly intuitive and empathic being the veils have always been thin, and I have felt the need throughout my life to develop psychic defense. I found countless points of resonance in this comprehensive perspective of Tantra written by David Gordon White. Before this course I had otherwise no more accurate label for the context of my own unique relationship with reality.
As a highly intuitive and empathic being the veils have always been thin, and I have felt the need throughout my life to develop psychic defense. I found countless points of resonance in this comprehensive perspective of Tantra written by David Gordon White. Before this course I had otherwise no more accurate label for the context of my own unique relationship with reality.
I appreciate that in tantric spiritual practice the utilization of trance induction states of divine convergence is “a ritual technique …for combatting demons” (White, 10). The idea is if you are ready to handle more of the totality, that you will lift the veils between your self and various energetic beings, both benevolent and malevolent. Thus the practices or states are utilized consistently in experience with these various beings. Understanding the siddhis in the context of tools along the path also seems more integrative then to only note them as the temptation of super powers.
Utilizing the Atman/Brahman or holographic link of pure self to explore waves of energy toward the liberatory state of dissolution into oneness. Like the Parmahansa Yogananda chant I resonant with “wave of the sea dissolve in the sea.”
I felt viscerally drawn to the description of the “spontaneous existential gesture of the condition of liberation” (White, 581). In fact I read this repeatedly to let it sink in. I completed my praxis in a previous course on mysticism with, a spontaneously arising gratitude practice. I considered my experience of mantram. Upon enough consistency of recitations, it weaves the sound current into your spirit to be a spontaneously arising principle of practice.
I am a practitioner of Qi gong, and I understand historically that all the practices I have learned in every school to once have been a dance between the soul of a person and the universe. This point is so very important to my perspective of reality and the deep truth of my being. Though I know a variety of energetic practices to cultivate the self I always feel a push and a pull from the universe that modifies or creates new energetic movements of liberation. I know that spontaneous existential gestures communicate the presence of Spirit. I understand this to be true communion.
I am a practitioner of Qi gong, and I understand historically that all the practices I have learned in every school to once have been a dance between the soul of a person and the universe. This point is so very important to my perspective of reality and the deep truth of my being. Though I know a variety of energetic practices to cultivate the self I always feel a push and a pull from the universe that modifies or creates new energetic movements of liberation. I know that spontaneous existential gestures communicate the presence of Spirit. I understand this to be true communion.
I highly resonated with the understanding that, “Tantra is ‘an attempt to place kama, desire, in every sense of the word, in the service of liberation… not to sacrifice this world for liberations sake’” (White, 8). This soteriology seems more effective for liberatory pursuits as it doesn’t create a dualistic perspective between desire and liberation. The creation of a dualistic binary is a microcosmic representation of the experience of separation. Separation being the antithesis of liberation, as liberation is often understood in terms of oneness or unification with divine consciousness. Integrating the paradox or creating (tai chi yin yang esque) interwoven binaries seems to be the best unification method. It appears to me that a practitioner on a path that is further able to integrate any binary paradoxes is more apt to effectually recondition their consciousness to experience liberation. Unlike a practitioner whose tradition’s perspective considers with antipathy desire. Surrendering rigidity, like the description of the great seal of the absolute meeting a more malleable form of the reconditioned yogin to be graced with divine imprint.
The seal of the absolute makes me think of the Mandelbrot set (nicknamed the thumbprint of God) a math equation and symbol of perfection. A fractal with infinitely smaller representations of itself hidden within it's geometric design. The great seal of the Absolute is described as a liberatory seal of perfection which is noted as “mudras of consciousness.” (582, White) Surya Yantra Surya Mudra Surya Mantra
Mudras being like yantras in that they are like physical manifestation of an ineffable divine presence. The very act of reading White’s description of the great seal, with my mind witnessing paradox falling into Wajd (ecstasy) through the potent content, I am spurned to create Jamal the beautiful in my own creative exploration. These points of divine inspiration are a fractal manifestation of the sacred. To think how just discussing or analyzing discussions of the absolute can bring a liberatory energy is another reflection of the fractal holographic universe, “communicate (nivedanda) the direct experience (anubhava) of the Absolute.” (White, 584)
The paradox is the meeting and inextricable relationship between pairs of opposites. In the tantric context this is contemplated through aspects of divinity. Divine intelligence is nudging us through this thing called tantra toward integration of paradox to expand our relationship with Totality. “Such a state is not understood to exclude the dynamic swirling and abundant variety of the world. Rather it is the full revelation of the intrinsic and unchanging source from which this kaleidoscopic drama of samsara continuously emerges and manifests.” (White, 582).
The path towards integration of paradox is a clear theme both in spiritual pursuit, and in experience of human life. It becomes clear that all the seeming negative experiences form one end of a necessary (for maturation or evolution) continuum of occurrence. In gratitude for our losses and gains, and humble observance of our attachments and aversions, we cultivate intimacy with the Beloved.
Reading about tantric mandala brought many things to mind. Tantra in Practice seemed to bring to us mandala as a “key to understanding” (White, 9) (jnana yoga) positing it and Tantra again as liberatory agents. The description brought to mind yantras and Masaru Emoto’s water research that proved human emotion (energy in motion) effected geometric molecular formation. Mandalas are described as an “energy grid that represents the constant flow of divine, demonic, human and animal impulses in the universe, as they interact in both constructive and destructive patterns.” (White, 9) The subtle reality of this is perceived at least in part through Emoto’s experiments. He freezes and observes the molecular changes of water intentionally beamed by human consciousness of varying controlled emotional states. Emoto’s research proved that the geometries of molecules (energy grid) are in a constant state of flux in constructive and destructive ways which is effected by human impulse.
The mandalic description in Tantra in Practice also brought to mind the image of things rhizomatically shaped. Basically networks like the internet or neurons, dna, molecules as well as tree roots or the very structure of the universe.
The microcosmic macrocosmic similarities, and other forms where you can more clearly observe energy grids effected by impulse. These too are mandalic aspects of reality. “The mandala is the mesocosm, mediating between the great and small…as well as between the mundane and the sublime (the protocosm of the visible world of human experience and the transcendant-yet-immanent metacosm that is its invisible fount)” (White, 9). To me it also feels like the relationship of Prakriti as the manifest form of Purusha, or to think of the Tao in form. Though it is truly this unseen mystery and void, it is wisely known when honored as omnipresent cosmic sublime perfection.
The microcosmic macrocosmic similarities, and other forms where you can more clearly observe energy grids effected by impulse. These too are mandalic aspects of reality. “The mandala is the mesocosm, mediating between the great and small…as well as between the mundane and the sublime (the protocosm of the visible world of human experience and the transcendant-yet-immanent metacosm that is its invisible fount)” (White, 9). To me it also feels like the relationship of Prakriti as the manifest form of Purusha, or to think of the Tao in form. Though it is truly this unseen mystery and void, it is wisely known when honored as omnipresent cosmic sublime perfection. 
When observing geometries such as the ones noted, but especially when experienced 3 dimensionally as artistic representations, (such as the Borobudur in Indonesia and Islamic mosques that convey tessellation formations or shamanic journeys and psychedelic trips) we can almost grasp the ever present ineffable form or mandala. I have always resonated with the liberatory context of form, and questioned the dualistic nature of aversion toward idolatry, which is just a conceptual perceptive of iconography. That which can be defined in one sense as honoring the sacred in form, and in another as subverting the position of the Absolute. One spiritual truth that I understanding on a subtle but visceral level is that the Absolute can not be contained. As such it will never fit fully into human consciousness. However, we strive as a people to know the Infinite through as many ways, including images and icons, as resonate. It is how we seek and maintain connection. God the Omnipresent Totality which can never fully be understood through our dimensional perspective. We must be aware of the limitation of iconography, but not forgo that aspect of the spectrum, in turn continuing towards limitation rather than expansion into the Infinite. It is not either or but both and. As Tantric theory shows utilizing the opposite helps to liberate us from our aversion. Aversion being just another form of separation.
Just as witnessing the unknowable through a 3rddimensional material representation in form can create that deeper knowing, so too we must understand, “the body is the indispensable organ for contact with the absolute” (White, 10). Rather than abhor in varying degrees our bodies, mortal lives, experiences, and conditioned aversions, we must appreciate their context, and utilize them for knowing, in variant forms, the divine essence. For more of the Totality will be eclipsed by our rigid identifications if we do not come to know It in a multiplicity of ways.
It was also amazing to see Dakinis noted as common Goddess forms in tantric worship. I have a personal affinity for the Dakini. One women role model stands out who had a dakini spirit, her name is Tenley Wallace. One of the Godmothers of my first son embodied this sacred feminine energy. Without touching on her actions she emanated grace. She is a master belly dancer and Qi gong practitioner. I remember vividly meeting her and thinking how amazing it was to see a woman who embodied the Goddess. I realized in that moment how I personally resonated both with embodying the Goddess within the self, as well as with my interpretive understanding of the Dakini archetype. 
I currently have a Dakini Goddess alter on my land. Coming from a sex negative culture I definitely feel the tantric quality of my personal adoration of the Dakini was a safe guard for my sacred sexuality. Which along with many other spiritual things for me is very intimate, and became privatized. “In fear of them I hide the Mother; I place Her carefully, secretly on the throne of my heart” (McDermott, 114) This quote alone speaks volumes to the intimacy of my relationship with the Beloved. The purity reflected in the image and concept of the Dakini, as raw vessel of sensual power, and the honoring of that context as sacred neutralizes subconscious cultural conditioning that demeans feminine sexuality. The Dakini creates a perspective and appreciation for the neutral reality of that energy.
The neutral context can be understood in terms of the relationship between purusha (pure consciousness) and prakriti (the prime material energy of which all mater is composed). Both pure but when misidentified create confusion in context of relation. We condition the raw neutral energy with our minds misidentification with prakriti. Whether this representation of prakriti is money, sex, devotion. We color our identification or misidentification with it as good, bad, wanted, abhorred. It just is. Tat tvam asi. Like the heart beat or the dhikr of the trees. There are varying levels of resonance, but to attune is simply discerning the difference between purusha and prakriti while aligning with the totality of being.
This brings vividly to mind the tai chi or yin yang symbol which portrays two different ‘separate things’ opposite things coexisting in interwoven inseparable reality. One existing within the other each of the other, and both necessary for the balance of creation. Without this relationship you have the void or primordial womb. There is nothing to abhor in this basic description of the reality of binaries. This awareness is what Tantra describes. Conditioning neutrality by subverting aversion through the integrative appreciation of the opposite of our socially conditioned ideal. 
This brings vividly to mind the tai chi or yin yang symbol which portrays two different ‘separate things’ opposite things coexisting in interwoven inseparable reality. One existing within the other each of the other, and both necessary for the balance of creation. Without this relationship you have the void or primordial womb. There is nothing to abhor in this basic description of the reality of binaries. This awareness is what Tantra describes. Conditioning neutrality by subverting aversion through the integrative appreciation of the opposite of our socially conditioned ideal. 
Bibliography
McDermott, Rachel Fell. Singing to the Goddess: Poems to Kālī and Umā from Bengal. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
White, David Gordon. Tantra in Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.
