THE TANTRA

In the far distant past there were many practices given to women. Lord Shiva brought Tantra into a systematic approach. But Tantra had its first origins before the time of Shiva in the ancient matriarchal societies and then the practices developed first by women in those ancient societies were established and systematized by Lord Shiva. Tantra was not given for men. It was given originally to women and later become practiced primarily by men, but in the beginning it was not for men. It was developed in those ancient societies where the God­dess ruled and the power of women was in the forefront. Over time, with the decline of the position of women, these practices were altered and be­came primarily the practices of men initiates. But even at the time of Shiva, and for several thousands of years afterwards, there were women who were initiates and who formed schools or societies in which the Tantric practices thrived. Over time these were rooted out, and as the women lost status they also lost their rights to these practices which first came about in the society of women.

           Now it is said that Shiva gave the Tantras, and in fact he did. They were given to his wife Parvati and conveyed to oth­ers. Those teachings contained many mystical practices for the development of the human being and practices which were directly designed to dispel darkness and ignorance from the human mind. Now is a different age, many things have changed. Women again move to the forefront, but their an­cient roots have been covered in the darkness of the past and their spiritual roots are unknown to them. Now women emerge and the time of the Mother comes again. But now she will share her throne, and male and fe­male will co-exist in a kind of harmony. The age of patri­archy comes to a close, and with it the dominance of men over women.

            You know, in this age of patriarchy one of the greatest sins that was done against women was to instill in them a dislike for their feminine bodies. This is the greatest harm that patriarchy has done to women, because the root of female power, both physically and spiri­tually, lies in her body. Women come to feel shame for that which they should feel proud. They come to feel revulsion for their own sexuality. It has been held upon the alter of patri­archy that the ideal woman is a virgin. She has no connection with her body. She is pure and pristine because she is untouched, because she has separated her spirit from her femininity. Thus she be­comes the ideal of patriarchy, the disembodied woman.

            You know, in the ancient times this was not an ideal. The ideal was that of the mother who gave birth to life and fed all the world from her breast. She is the mother of life, not a vir­gin. And so in those ancient times the ideal for a woman was that of the mother, rich with life, fertile, filled with abun­dance. She is the Goddess who nurtures the world, and it is in this life that the spiritual power of women is truly alive. A women is not more sanctified by vir­ginity, nor more holy by absti­nence. She is the mother of life and her body is the temple of life. This is the ancient teaching. From her all life has come and by her love, by her infinite grace, by her compassion her children will be fed and grow and thrive upon her breast. So you see, the power of women is thus in their woman­hood and in their bodies, not in the dis­embodied virgin who has never felt or experienced her womanhood.

Now in the ancient schools where Tantra was taught and practiced for the transfor­mation of consciousness – the transformation of self from identification with the little to the great – the women in their mystery schools learned to see themselves as extensions of Mother, of the great Goddess from whom all life has sprung. They learned to appreciate their womanhood and to make that womanhood the source of their spiritual potential­ity, of their spiritual knowledge.

            So what is the Tantra for women? In the path of Tantra all that is limited, all that is confined, all that is imma­ture becomes transmuted. That which is small comes to iden­tify with the Great, and all that is hidden becomes revealed. There can be no hidden part, no secrets that are not known and no shame for your femininity. It is your greatness. Your womanhood is your greatness, and from this you may be­come as the Great Mother of all life, one whose divine com­passion feeds the earth and who gives birth to divinity in love. So you see, in the path of Tantra the rights of a woman to her own body are foremost. She cannot think she is merely disembodied. She must recognize her womanly expression and mature in that expression, transmuting the physical into the psycho-spiritual so that the girl becomes the Mother, becomes the Goddess herself. And, do you know, this Goddess is the wife of Lord Shiva, she is the complement of Purus'a.

Now there are those who, in the arrogance of patriarchal approaches, began to say that women cannot achieve full lib­eration because she can only become the Goddess, she can only identify with Prakrti and not Purus'a and therefore she cannot attain full and complete libera­tion. This was the thinking of those men who dominated the religious thought of perhaps the last four or five hundred years. But these men were only foolish, old men. They did not see clearly due to their prejudices. Otherwise they would have clearly seen that the female form, like the male form, has both Purus'a and Prakrti. These foolish men did not realize Purus'a and Prakrti are close like this [crossing the index and middle fingers] and the Goddess is not apart from her beloved. She is one with him.

            These two – Purus'a and Prakrti – are in an endless dance, and in that endless dance they come ever together in divine union. A woman who has fully surrendered herself into this dance of her divine femininity will find that she is but a reflection of the Supreme Cogni­tive Entity. And in her great compassion for the infinite creation which has sprung from her, and which she keeps alive with her love, she will come to find her greatest joy in fulfillment of her union with her Divine Spouse, the Divine Consciousness which is at the base of all created beings. And so creation will come to its resting point in the Supreme Cognition.

            Thus through the Tantras and the pursuit of the feminine a woman may pass not only into the realm of the Goddess but into the full realization of the cognitive witness-ship of manifestation. This path is the ancient path of Tantra given for women many thousands of years past. Today again it becomes relevant as women emerge from the darkness of oppres­sion and begin to experience themselves and the divinity of their feminine forms. When the heart is open, when the mind is clear, the Mother may emerge with her great compassion for all beings and show herself in her daughters. Then this world will take a different turn.

            You see, the time has changed, the time is not the same. The ancient schools were in the matriarchal period and some few thousands of years after that, but that time period has passed forever from the world and the time that comes is yet again different. It will not be the same, and so the teachings cannot be the same. There will be aspects taken from those teach­ings, but they will not be identical. This will be a time of balance in the human race and in the human psyche, for human beings have matured. They are more intelligent, they are more prepared. So during this time the spiritual practices must reflect this. Though there are simi­larities and though based in those ancient practices, still the Tantras for this time must be a little adjusted.

These teachings are already coming forward upon the planet, and they will come with more clarity. They begin to emerge. You will find them from many sources, but the time is not ready for the Tantras. But it will come and it is the Mother who will heal this wounded earth. Without women coming to the front, this planet will die. Let the Mother come at this time of need and save the children, and let that her daughters embody her power and her strength.

SIXTEEN POINTS
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRACTICES OF THE TANTRIC SCIENCE

"The very import of the history of human welfare is the history of struggle and strife. Even the sweet gospels of peace could not be preached in an environment of peace to work peacefully --that is why I say that peace is the effect of fight. This endeavour at the well-being of the human race concerns everyone--it is yours, mine and ours. We may afford to ignore our rights, but we must not forget our responsibilities. Forgetting the responsibility implies the humiliation of the human race. In order to march ahead on the road of human welfare, we will have to strengthen ourselves in all the arena of life. The whole seeds of welfare in all the spheres--physical, mental, moral, social and spiritual--are embedded in the sixteen points. Hence be firm on the sixteen points".

In the Shiva's iconography, god of yogi and creator of Yoga, each attribute has a particular meaning:

Shrii Shrii Anandamurti,
Ananda Purnima 1976

Ac. Shriidhara / +39 349 8523007 / shriidhara@gmail.com