More on Tantra
More on tantric philosophy
One Eastern manifestation of the chakra system is Tantra. Tantra is a hidden, esoteric part of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions and is often denounced by their more orthodox teachers. Like more familiar aspects of these traditions, Tantra's teachings describe how to experience God through raising energy from the lowest chakras to the highest. However, some of its techniques involve overtly sexual activities.
According to Tantra, the universe and everything in it is permeated by a secret power, emanating from the single Source of All Being. This power manifests itself in three forms: receptive female inertia, dynamic male energy, and the harmonious union of the two.
These three forms of one power underlie every movement in the universe and every activity in the human organism. Through rites and rituals, the Tantric practitioner experiences the chakras in his or her body and identifies them with the chakras of the universe and the male/female polarity in God. In Tantra, everything in creation is divided into positive and negative, male and female, passive and kinetic, electric and magnetic energies.
Every man and woman embodies a dominant side of the secret fundamental forces that control the universe. In order to experience God, the Tantric must, literally, join him or herself to the opposite manifestation of this force. When an intense physical union occurs between a male-electrical dominated individual and a female- magnetic dominated individual, the couple provide a conduit for cosmic force, which flows through them and into the earth. Thus, sexual intercourse is a serious religious ritual to facilitate the experience of God.
Tantric texts are often "how to" sex manuals. However, rather than concentrating on pleasure, they detail the mental states to be achieved during sexual activity. The Tantric sexual act is a long, deliberate process requiring control of thought, breath and movement, Tantra maintains that properly channeled sexual activity is the fastest and most direct process for raising the kundalini up through the chakras. In other words, Tantra transforms sexual activity into spiritual experience.
The object of Tantric sex is not to discharge primal lust, or even to make love in the usual sense of the term, but rather to participate in the essential male/female polarity of God.
Source: William Blank (Read the full article Torah & Tantra on the Durga Tantra School website under Tantric Lessons)