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Tantra-yoga refers to the spiritual disciplines that constitute the vast and complex Tantric tradition of India. The term Tantra itself is
derived from the verb root tan which means ‘to spread, stretch or expand’ or sometimes ‘do in detail’, and can be translated as loom, warp, that which is woven, rule, ritual, doctrine, scripture or religious treatise. All of these meanings find their reflection in the spiritual and cultural movements that have contributed to a tradition that has drawn upon a multiplicity of previously existing religious rituals, spiritual practices, religious doctrines and philosophical principles, and woven them into a novel synthesis that seeks the Divine through the mundane. In more general terms, though, the term tantra can refer to the Tantric tradition as a whole, to particular schools of thought and practice within that tradition, or to the Tantric scriptures themselves (which may also be referred to as agamas, or ‘what has come down from tradition’).
The origins of Tantra are obscure, though there is general agreement that it emerged in the form that we currently recognise it within the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions sometime around the middle of the first millennium CE, reaching maturity by about 1000 CE. By this time Tantra had become influential in philosophy, literature and iconography, as well as among ascetics and yogins. However some scholars and proponents of Tantra have argued that the Tantras are at least as old as the Vedas, pointing out that there is evidence to suggest that goddess worship, which is one of the defining characteristics of Tantra, was present in Vedic times.
Setting aside the issue of the relative ages of the Vedic and Tantric traditions, these two interrelated currents of Indian spirituality have been sharply distinguished by orthodox Hinduism which accepts the authority of the Vedas. Features of Tantra such as its rejection of the caste system, the status it gives to the feminine principle and the inclusion of women in its religious rituals and practices, and especially the spiritual practice of ritual sexual union (both actual and symbolic), are considered heresies by orthodox Hindus who regard the Tantric tradition as a whole as nastika or heterodox.
Given the enduring prestige of the Vedas in India, it’s not surprising that Tantra describes its relation to the Vedic tradition quite differently. The Mahanirvana Tantra, an esteemed eleventh century Hindu Tantric text, does not position itself in opposition to Vedic revelation but holds that the worth of Vedic principles and practices cannot be fully appreciated in the current age. The Vedas are said to have been given for the first of the four yugas (ages or cycles of the world), the satya or krta, which was an era of truth (satya) and virtue. In the second or treta-yuga and the third or dvapara-yuga these two qualities diminish to a point where the Vedic rites lose their effectiveness. Tantra is prescribed for the final or kali-yuga, which is the present age, characterised as it is by spiritual ignorance, greed and suffering.
At the risk of oversimplifying an incredibly rich, varied and complex tradition that remains to be adequately researched and documented, what distinguishes Tantra from other Indian spiritual traditions is its attempt to bring existing spiritual practices and doctrines from many different paths into a comprehensive synthesis with elements that had been marginalised by orthodox Hinduism. The motive behind this project was the perceived need to promote all possible means in order to meet the spiritual challenges of the kali-yuga.
Accordingly the Tantras appropriated what was thought to be suitable for the age from Vedic rituals and mantras, the monistic philosophy of the Upanisads, the bhakti cults of the Puranas, and the methods documented by Patanjali in his Yoga-sutra. The various systems of sadhana (from the verb root sadh = ‘to go straight to the goal’) or ‘means of realisation’ that resulted from these appropriations combined yoga, bhakti, jnana, karma, mantra and ritual with practices maligned by established spiritual conventions.
These latter practices included most notoriously the so-called panca-makara or ‘five m’s’: the consumption of wine (madya), meat (mamsa), fish (matsya) and parched grain (mudra) in a ceremonial context that culminated in a consecrated sexual ritual between female and male initiates (maithuna). This practice was not a feature of all schools of Tantra, but it is emblematic of Tantra’s guiding principle that the Absolute can be realised in and through the human body. This principle subverts the tendency towards worldly renunciation in orthodox Hinduism and reverses its disregard for sexuality, the feminine, the human body and indeed physical existence as a whole, which in orthodox thought is the crucible of suffering.
Tantra’s reverence for the human body is indicative of its refusal to accept the traditional opposition between the enjoyment of worldly experience (bhoga or bhukti) and spiritual liberation (moksa or mukti). For instance where classical yoga urges us to suppress the activation of samskaras or latent behavioural patterns in order to transcend the world given to us by the senses, Tantra encourages us to enter more fully into that world and realise that all spurs to action are the play of the Divine (lila).
The Tantric approach is therefore neither to oppose our desires and inclinations nor to indulge or identify with them, but to shape their expression into a form of sadhana that seeks a living unity with the Divine. By recognising that everything ‘that is’ is an expression of the Divine, the dualism between the Absolute and worldly experience is dissolved. Liberation (moksa) is then no longer a matter of overcoming our attachment to the life of the senses through renunciation, but of transforming that life by realising the primordial unity of the totality of experience.
The Philosophies of Hindu Tantra
As mentioned above, Tantra developed along similar lines within the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. The most significant strands of Hindu Tantra are associated with the Vaisnava, Saiva and Sakta religious cults, though there are other schools of Tantra within and besides these. These three religious movements worship the gods Visnu and Siva and the goddess Sakti respectively. All three devas (from the verb root div = ‘to shine’) or deities are mentioned in the Vedas, however the development of their worship into the religious cultures that contributed to the flowering of Tantra around 1000 CE, which took place over more than two millennia, also included non-Vedic influences.
As the personal God of the Vaisnavas, Visnu is also worshipped in the form of his incarnations which include Rama, the hero of the epic Ramayana, and Krsna whose teachings are contained in the Bhagavad-Gita which is an episode from India’s other national epic, the Mahabharata. This strongly theistic tradition encourages the development of a personal relationship between the devotee and the deva which involves the intense devotional love and complete surrender that characterises Bhakti-yoga. Bhakti (from the verb root bhaj = ‘to love, worship, revere’) is also important for Saktas and Saivas, however where the distinction between the devotee and the deva that is central to any devotional relationship remains even after moksa (liberation) for Vaisnavas, Saktism and Saivism hold that moksa dissolves this distinction in the ultimate unity of Siva and Sakti. Vaisnavism is therefore addressed in more detail in the article on Bhakti-yoga, and the focus of what follows will be the philosophies and practices of the Saiva and Sakta tantric cults.
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