Podcast Ep. 8 ~ Yoga Tantra Explained

This episode is taken from a series of lectures given by Dr Swami Shankardev to a yoga group in 2005. It focuses on tantra.

He briefly describes the difference between yoga and tantra and how tantra fits into the profound philosophical systems of India.

Out of the myriad systems that arose over the millennia, six systems called the shad darshana, became the most famous. The six systems are:

1. Gautama’s Nyāya
2. Kanāda’s Vaisheshika
3. Kapila’s Sāmkhya
4. Patanjali’s yoga sutras
5. Jaimini’s Pūrva Mīmāmsā
6. Bādarāyana’s Uttara Mīmāmsā (also called Vedānta)

Tantra lies outside of these six. It is a vast, sprawling amorphous system that enables you to liberate energy to expand your consciousness so that you see that everything in existence has consciousness at its center.

The tools of tantra are mantra and yantra, name and form. By vibrating matter with a mantra, a name of the divine, the power within a sacred form or symbol, a yantra, is liberated. The world is seen to shine with divine radiance. You become a seer. Consciousness’ is then experienced as the eternally unchanging reality, all-knowing and full of bliss.

Get our FREE Introduction to Yoga Tantra

Big Shakti Podcast Links

Podcast Transcript ~ Episode 8

This episode is taken from a series of lectures I gave to a yoga group in 2005 tantra. It focuses on tantra. I briefly describe the difference between yoga and tantra and how tantra fits into India's profound philosophical systems.

The six systems of Indian philosophy – Shad darshana

Out of the myriad systems that arose over the millennia, six systems called the shad darshana, became the most famous. The six systems are Gautama’s Nyāya, Kanāda’s Vaisheshika, Kapila’s Sāmkhya, Patanjali’s yoga sutras, Jaimini’s Pūrva Mīmāmsā, and Bādarāyana’s Uttara Mīmāmsā, which is also called Vedānta.

Tantra lies outside of these six. It is a vast, sprawling amorphous system that enables you to liberate energy to expand your consciousness so that you see that everything in existence has consciousness at its center.

The tools of tantra are mantra and yantra, which mean name and form. By vibrating matter with a mantra, a name of the divine, the power within a sacred form or symbol, a yantra, is liberated. The world is seen to shine with divine radiance. You become a seer. Consciousness’ is then experienced as the eternally unchanging reality, all-knowing and full of bliss.

The difference between Yoga and Tantra

Tantra is a broad system. When individual awareness finds itself trapped in matter, it starts to panic because, ultimately, it realizes this body is mortal and suffers. Certainly, there are good times, but there are also some bad times. And it's the bad times that push us towards philosophy.

Tantra is a very broad system that utilizes methods for liberating energy trapped in maladaptive mental and psychic patterns. When energy expands, awareness expands at the same time.

Tantra is an amorphous system that contains many traditions and paths. It's a very broad system. As a philosophical system, the yoga philosophy of Patanjali, Raja Yoga, is a moral and ethical discipline demanding extreme asceticism and extreme purity. You know, you eat certain things. You've got to be extremely strict in yoga as a philosophy, as a classical system of philosophy, and this is Patanjali.

No one is practicing yoga in this sense today. Yoga focuses on consciousness, while tantra focuses on energy. Most people today practicing some form of yoga are practicing tantra, methods that expand energy to create yoga as some form of connection. However, the form of yoga practiced today is not yoga as defined by Patanjali's classical philosophy. It is a yoga tantra.

So, the terminology here is very confusing. Because you have both philosophical systems, and then you've got trade names. You've got, you know, Raja Yoga, Transcendental Meditation, Hatha Yoga, Power Yoga, Hot Yoga. These different brand names of yoga are very different from the philosophical branches of yoga.

Yoga tantra is an ocean of knowledge, methods, philosophies, ideas, techniques, and practices, all designed to bring about a union. Tantra, Yoga, Samkhya, Vedanta, Mimamsa, Nyaya, and Vaisheshika form some of the great philosophical systems. These branches of philosophy are studied at the highest university level, as any Western philosophy would be studied.

Shad darshana

They form a path—Nyaya, logic, Vaisheshika, scientific observation, Samkhya, cosmology, and theories of how the universe forms. The macrocosm, how did that form? The microcosm theory. Then, yoga is the practice that enables the realization of the theory contained in Samkhya. The practical aspect of Samkhya. How do you, knowing about these hierarchies of elements in nature, connect your awareness to those elements?

To have that experience, to free yourself from being trapped in matter. Samkhya is the philosophy that describes all the elements that make up life. Then, after you've got yoga, you use the awareness you've trained to form a relationship with higher forces, Mimamsa. Mimamsa is the system of connecting to the deeper Vijnānamaya kosha as a living experience.

In the maps of Vedānta, we think of Vijnānamaya Kosha as a grey circle on a two-dimensional page, sandwiched between many other grey circles. And yet, Vijnānamaya Kosha is a hierarchy of interlocking beings, mandalas, mantras, and forces beyond our comprehension, beyond the five senses.

We have to connect. If we want to connect to the higher life, see this little life as part of a continuum of existence, understand that as a living experience, and participate in that as a living experience, then we need to start practicing Mimamsa. So, we use our yoga as a springboard into higher philosophy.

And that leads to Vedanta, which deals with Jnāna yoga, the yoga of knowledge. This is not intellectual knowledge but knowledge of the Self. A truly self-realized Vedāntin feels that they know God and God knows them. We are one. Vedanta, the end. Veda, anta. Anta means the end—Veda, of the Vedas, of all the traditions and the studies. Vedas refers to all the knowledge in the world, while anta means the end. Vedanta. Finished. I know it. There is nothing else to learn. Nothing to do. End of human evolution. Begin a new phase. Here, we approach the concept of a rebirth into a higher level of awareness and understanding.

Tantra is the system for this age.

Tantra is the system of this age. Vedanta is too hard. Mimamsa is very difficult. Raja yoga is difficult. In its original form, Raja Yoga is extremely difficult.

In Raja yoga, you are instructed to sit down for three hours and not move. That is the raja yoga definition of asana. You know the definition of asana in Raja yoga. Sit quietly in an easy, comfortable posture, and think of the infinite. That's it. And then, the pairs of opposites cease to have any power. That is Patanjali's. He hasn't got a list of asanas. He says to sit down, stop moving, and meditate on eternity.

Patanjali defines pranayama as stopping breathing at the end of exhalation. According to Raja yoga, when the breath is exhaled and stops automatically, that is pranayama. You sit down for three hours, stop your breath, and then go through the different stages of pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. This path is very difficult.

So, Tantra is the philosophy of the age. Use that by which you fall to raise yourself up. No suppression. Everything is allowed as long as there is awareness. Anything that wakes you up. Any path you have to travel. Certainly, the idea is to stay out of trouble. But for some people, they cannot stay out of trouble. Their path is trouble. That's their spiritual path. Into hell. Deep in their unconscious is a voice that says, “I'm going to hell, and you're not telling me otherwise.” It's called, in yogic terms, heedlessness. They don't heed. No heeding. They've forgotten how to heed. We're going to hell. I'm doing it my way. I've read all the books. Yeah, I know, but I know my own way into hell and out the other side, hopefully. Either they make it, or they don't. Drug addiction. It can be one of the great enlightening paths. I've met many drug addicts, you know, their lives have been torn into pieces, everyone's lives around them torn into pieces, who have emerged as shining saints at the end. And then they can support others who've been to hell.

I haven't been to that hell, so I can't support them very well. I don't know that hell. I've had other hells, but not that one. So they can support other beings through that, having burned in the fire. That's tantra. If you come out the other side and find a way through, the tantra begins when you start to use what you are entrapped in.

What is your cross to bear as a spiritual path, not as an indulgence? We teach Tantra, but we don't teach sexual gymnastics. We teach awareness. We teach you to face who you are, be who you are, accept who you are, and not be a hypocrite. Do not try to be what you're not. True Tantra is a system; it has philosophy, classical text, a lot of structure, and, at the same time, a kind of timeless process.

Tantra started with primitive people who faced the darkness with fire and killed the bear with a little flint knife. They put on their bear cloaks for the winter, dancing around the fire, trying to invoke the magical forces of nature to protect them from marauding saber-toothed tigers, and so on. So that was a form of tantra.

And then, it progressed into very sophisticated systems of thought and development. Samkhya and Tantra developed into the form they're in over thousands of years. Samkhya had three stages. Tantra started off as these very primitive forms, evolved into other forms, then into these incredibly sophisticated systems of working with chakras, working with inner energetic patterns, working with the mind, releasing old subconscious suppressions, managing, releasing that energy that's trapped in one thought going around. And around, and around, and around, and releasing that thought, releasing that energy, freeing that energy for a higher purpose. That was Tantra. And facing the mind, facing who we are.

So, the systems of Tantra we have today are the most effective and powerful, and Tantra is based on Mantra. Mantra Shastra, Mantra Sadhana is the key to Tantra.

If you want to know more about what we do at Big Shakti, please visit www.bigshakti.com, where you can see all of our products and offerings.

You can also sign up for our free newsletter. And when you do sign up, you're entitled to a 15 percent discount on your first purchase. And subscribers. Of course, we give generous discounts on all our products from time to time, especially when we release a new course, and we do have courses for everyone from beginners on the path to yoga teachers, sincere aspirants, psychologists, therapists, and health professionals.

Many of our courses are downloadable and can be done in your own time. We also run live online training every year. All of our courses allow you to experience and understand the powers and mysteries of your mind and spirit. Unwind, take a break from your daily activities, and learn how to use different forms of meditation to achieve inner tranquility, happiness, fulfillment, and spiritual awakening.

You will learn the keys to a healthy lifestyle, a calm, clear mind, emotional resilience, and spiritual insight.

Big Shakti Podcast Links