TANTRA AND YOGA

Santi Vicente, Sadhaka from Spain

From times immemorial India has been known as the land of the mysterious and magical, a land of Rsis, Yogis and ascetics.

The Vedic Rsis are the progenitors of the Indian spiritual ethos, of Indian culture and philosophy. From the magico-mysterious domains of the Atharva Veda, mantras, rituals, mystic practices were forged into Tantra.
The primal Being who propounded Tantra is considered to be Shiva – the archetype of the Yogis. There is a story of Shiva initiating his spouse in the secrets of Tantra, in a boat on a lake, so that none could hear the secret doctrine. Matsyendranath, transforming himself into a fish heard the secret doctrine, and it is said that Shiva was pleased with his enthusiasm, and for his earnestness, Matsyendranath learnt Tantra from the very lips of Shiva, albeit in the form of a fish!

Tantra became a pan-Indian vogue from the 6th Century of our era. The teaching and practice of Tantra remained a secret, to be learnt directly from the teacher. Thus it became a secret and esoteric doctrine. Generally it was not accessible to the layman and to the untrained.

The philosophy of Tantra was an amalgam of the knowledge of Samkhya-yoga and of Vedanta. The bi-polar view of Reality had two aspects, Shiva – Pure Consciousness and Shakti – the female creative Divine principle. The Tantric sadhana consists in unifying these two principles into a unifying whole. A variety of rituals and Yogic practices are used for this purpose, most of which can be learnt only from a competent Guru.

Published in the Aug 2010 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine.

UNCONCERNED OBSERVATION

A woman is cursed to see but does nothing else. She enjoys sitting at the window.  Once she sees a charming prince who waves out to her.  She gets carried away, gets up from her chair, goes to meet him and dies.  She had stopped being just an observer.

The Yogi is an observer. He sees others carrying on, acting – reacting and suffering.  He just sees, unconcerned.  He is just an observer.  We can’t remain like that.  We enjoy the drama of actions – reactions. For us there is no sense just in experiencing peace.

This quality of being an observer, being aware and not getting involved is considered as the highest in Yoga.  Awareness about things is primary,    carrying out actions is secondary. We don’t catch the source, the presence, because, we are too involved in things emanating and actions. Involvement with material things has its disadvantages; we can get involved and get carried away from the source. Even a little involvement leads on and on.  Man happily living in a jungle is given a cow.  Looking after the cow, fear of wild animals keeps haunting him and he gets so busy that he loses his peace.  Even slightest involvement with the material things robs us of peace and quiet. When we suffer, we want to give up involvements and be interested in the spirit. But after a short while we again get busy.  That thorough understanding and detachment never comes.

The Yogi enjoys the experience of whatever we consider as the highest. We don’t attain it because we can’t remain neutral to whatever is happening around us.

Published in the Oct 2010 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine.

THE VEDAS

T.M.P. Mahadevan.

His holiness Chandrashekhar Saraswatui Vyasa classified Vedic literature.                                                                                                               

It was vast, five thousand years back there were 1180 branches of the Vedas.

Today we have only 8 left.  

The division contained all details about performing activities from birth to death.

Kural in Tamil is equal to the Vedas. It is part of Indian culture.

Five thousand years back Vyasa classified the veda into branches (Shakha) to make it possible for a simple individual to study and benefit. The Shakhas have a threefold division.

The kings of those days granted srotriyam village to scholars who studied the Veda all their life.

No tax was levied on such villages even till this day. India is the only such country where generations of families performs duties relating to spiritual welfare without engaging themselves in ---- profession. Upasana mantra are recited. In Kerala Nambudiar Brahmins are known for their vedic study.

Gayatri Japa should be done without fail. Gayatri is the quintessence      
of the Vedas.


Published in the Sept 2010 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine.

PLEASURE AND MORE PLEASURE

Our desires have to be understood. Likes and dislikes are a fundamental trait of all living beings. Just because you like something you should not keep indulging in it, till it harms you and ruins you. There are objects that are pleasure giving. But we can not blindly pursue till they hurt and ruin us. If we are in our senses we stop when pleasure starts leading to pain.

A foreigner descended upon a small village that was simple and did not boast of a factory or any of large machines . It was simple and poor but quite happy, peaceful and content.

The foreigner gathered to gather the villagers and spoke to them about their nearby town, where the people worked together in a large factory and earned good wages. Some of these men went to pubs and enjoyed drinks. Liquor was tasty. He made a few to actually drink it and inquired if they liked it and gave more. Some consumed a lot of alcohol and were dizzy. Later they went away He kept up this “introduction to alcohol sessions” on and off . And very shortly many in the village became alcoholic. The foreigner made money. This is the power of allowing desires to have free run. Controlling these deep seated urges, instincts, needs rigorous work. The understanding and deep effort to stop these instinctive desires like for food, for drink, for sex, is not easy.

By repeated practices and deep insights one begins to recognize and control them. So often in old writing they talk of person immune to heat and cold, pleasure and pain etc.

Suka, a young boy passed through a pond full of unclad young girls, frolicking and bathing. Suka does not even bother to look at them, but looks ahead to reach a very wise man, Janaka, to learn about spirituality! That was his upbringing.

Published in the November 2010 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine