TRADITIONAL TANTRA YOGA

“One who abides in ‘kula’ [the apparent world] but is ‘akula’ [undifferentiated absolute] is ‘kaula’ (i.e. Shiva). She in whom this kaula or Shiva abides in identical form is kauliki. The entire range of [apparent reality] (kula) abides as such because of its being rooted in the light of akula.”

-Tantra Illuminated-

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Kula is a term in sanskrit कुल kula, which means family lineage.
If śakti is Kula, śiva is Akula.
All that is manifestation, testimony and teaching is Kula. The absolute pristine is Akula.
The union of Kula and Akula generates अमृत amṛta, undeath, nectar of immortality.

This nectar which cannot be produced through sacrifices (śiva himself defines the offerings of blood, flesh etc. Asadagama where आगम āgama means principle theory conception and Asad means NOT SAT, improper -asadṛśa- etc.) but only through:

• 1) direct experience

• inference.

• testimony (scriptures).

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The Kaula Tantra Tradition has its origin in the timeless understanding of advaita, non-duality. As early as the Upanishad practitioners were cultured with the knowledge that “aham brahmāsmi,” I am Brahman, the undifferentiated absolute. Advaita is the understanding there is only one reality or one “substance” in all the cosmos and all that we perceive is only seemingly different forms of that one absolute or divine reality. 

The Trika Kaula tradition, a subset of the broader Kaula tradition, is one of the most “extreme” schools of non-duality which one can see in its non-adherence to social or cultural norms regarding diet, sexuality, appearance, etc. the Kaula tradition also accepted as members all classes or castes, all genders, all social backgrounds, etc. Trika Kaula instructed practitioners to achieve self-recognition through recognizing moments of ananda (absolute innate bliss) in their day to day life. Practitioners were cultured to know themselves AS Devi, the aspect of the divine who morphs herself into this cosmos. This was very different from most previous, as well as subsequent, perspectives which emphasized, and still do, specific practices like rituals, deity worship, asceticism, etc. as the only way to liberation.

 

In fact, the very idea of liberation is discredited in the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra, a seminal text of the Trika Kaula Tradition:

 

“For me there is no bondage; nor is there any liberation. These are merely [concepts] with which people frighten themselves. This [world] is [merely] a reflection in the 

[universal] mind, like the sun on [the surface of] the water.”

Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra

Translation by Christopher Wallis, 

 

How can there be bondage if there is only the divine expressing her potentials which are ALL the result of her bliss. Except of course if she binds herself in order to have a desired blissful experience, like someone who asks to get tied up by her lover. Therefore the experience of “liberation” is just another experience she created for herself and is just as divine and worthwhile as any other experience. The concept and desire for liberation are creations of fear, which in Sanskrit is the same word for ignorance. And in the Trika Kaula Tradition, ignorance is the result of the absolute INTENTIONALLY veiling or knowledge of herself. 

The  Tantrik perspectives are for those who want to explore the perspective that they and everyone and everything are the divine dancing, there is nothing to do to become divine except know it. There is no compulsion or moral coercion involved in the Tantra perspective.

You are the divine whether you are aware of it or not. So, if you are aware you are the divine expressing here, or have a sense of it, or have a desire to become aware, the tradition is here,. We can share the tools  for you to explore yourself and the cosmos you expressed in order to experience all your blissful potentials.  

 

 

I have created all worlds at my will without being urged by any higher Being, and dwell within them. I permeate the earth and heaven, and all created entities with my greatness and dwell in them as eternal and infinite consciousness.

— Devi Sukta, Rigveda 10.125.8

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(/ˈdeɪvi/; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is Deva. Devi and Deva mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence'.

Devi, with texts such as the Devi Mahatmya, she manifests as the ultimate truth and supreme power. She has inspired the Shaktism tradition of Tantra. 

The Devīsūkta of the Rigveda (10.125.1 to 10.125.8) is among the most studied hymns declaring that the ultimate reality is a goddess.

Devi identifies herself in the Devi Upanishad as Brahman in her reply to the gods stating that she rules the world, blesses devotees with riches, that she is the supreme deity to whom all worship is to be offered and that she infuses Ātman in every soul.Devi asserts that she is creator of earth and heaven and resides there.Her creation of the sky as father and the seas as mother is reflected as the 'Inner Supreme Self'. Her creations are not prompted by any higher being and she resides in all her creations. She is, states Devi, the eternal and infinite consciousness engulfing earth and heaven, and 'all forms of bliss and non-bliss, knowledge and ignorance, Brahman and Non-Brahman'.

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Devi is the creative (defined as feminine) polarity of the Absolute. “She” becomes the universe and everything. This is her play or क्रीडा (kriidaa). Svatantra is the freedom of the Divine to express Her infinite bliss, ānanda. Non-dual tantra understands that YOU ARE the Divine. And that She is expressing Herself as YOU. So you also have the freedom to express your blissful potential (svatantra).

Trika Kaula understands that we are the divine expressing. We are ACTUALLY the divine, not vehicles of the divine, not inspired by the divine, ACTUALLY the divine walking and talking and experiencing HERSELF in the playground of HERSELF. Tantra Kaula focuses on experiencing life. You can think of every being as a fingertip of the divine, connected to the body of the divine but having it's own experience of life; feeling hot and cold, rough or smooth, comfort or discomfort. Through the knowledge of Tantra we have the opportunity to know we are the divine finger feeling all there is to feel and experience as this finger and choose how we experience the hot and cold, the comfort and discomfort.  

 

At one point this worldview was considered secret and was not shared with those uninitiated into the tradition. Now, over a thousand years later times are very different and as the Dalai Lama has done with the traditions of Tantrik Buddhism, perhaps it is time to open these ways of living life to share with people who want to embrace them. Trika Kaula was also radical for understanding that practitioners could reach self realization without being ritually initiated. Furthermore, they understood that initiation was actually the integration of the knowledge/awareness of ones own divinity. 

 

Many in the modern spiritual world claim this view will lead to spiritual bypassing, skipping the necessary steps to “actually” realize you are divine. But is it not the divine playing with the experience of spiritually bypassing? And in day-to-day life the one who has not integrated their divinity will be the one to loose connection with himself and his community. And isn't that a powerful barometer to one's self awareness and honesty? While there is benefit to bringing awareness to the possibility of false self-integration, withholding  knowledge may not be helpful.

This breif write up may have brought up more questions than it answered.  If the concepts described create delight or intrigue you and you desire to play more with them come visit us at DEVIPUR and we will explore this world during our time together. 

At Devipur we recognize you have made it all the way to us and we celebrate in sharing with you as another finger of our one divine body. 

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Tantra is the path that recognizes the majesty of life in all expressions of being.
It is the sublime Art that celebrates life and is based on the laws of human nature, the primordial and divine one.
Tantra is not a religion but a culture and a spiritual science devoid of imposed dogmas with a holistic approach to the study of the universe from the point of view of the individual.
A science that includes methods to enter the subconscious and dive into the depths of the unconscious to cleanse the personality, the deep complexes and fears that prevent us from living.
It is a process of inner evolution and where the emotional, aesthetic and sexual impulses are a precious source of spiritual energy; the deeper levels of consciousness, not reachable through conceptual thinking, are directly obtainable through the use of appropriate symbols; effective practice that engages body, speech and mind is the only means of highlighting the values that are already implicit in the individual.

Tantra, contrary to Western beliefs, does not teach the art of sex or how to improve one's sexual performance but can give a high value and meaning to the conception of sexuality by entering into a sacred dimension, where for Sacred means. " Love and respect for the multiform transfiguration of life".

Tantra teaches to free oneself from inhibitions and accept life in all its fullness by awakening all human and cosmic energies.

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Tantra is an authentic internal revolution, it is stripping off all religious beliefs, morals, constraints, prejudices, etc. It is to create the internal space that is necessary to conceive the infinite and the timeless truth. From the moment the mind empties and adapts to what really happens, when we learn from our deepest interior, everything becomes a mantra, which is the fabric, the basis of life, in which one puts everything and which magically takes on many. different forms of infinite creativity. Tantra breaks the taboos, beliefs and dogmas imposed by any religion.

 

What subjects do the tantras deal with? Of the same fugitive essence, of the cosmos, of the centers that radiate the divine (paradise), of astrology, of genesis and apocalypses, of the spirit, of the soul and of the body; of magic and alchemy: in a word, of theosophy and occultism. This layering does not involve or follow a practical plan, or formula. It limits itself to modeling the mystical mentality and affectivity of the tantrika.​

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Tantra is and will remain a dominant force not only in Indian but worldwide spirituality.

While we can recognize the place of the popular and New Age forms of Tantra as the entry point into these teachings, it is important to recognize the broader and deeper scope of actual Tantra which is more than that and can be very different from them.

Tantra is the practical and energetic application of all the wisdom of life, time, space and energy

FULFILLING THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IN YOUR AWARENESS!