Tantra I

Tantra - The Serpentine Ascent - Part I

Occult Vibratory Chemistry existed in India by the name of Tantra.

Tantra is derived from two Sanskrit words - Thanoti ( to expand ) & Trayaten ( to liberate). This Science has the power to expand and liberate !

Expansion means to grow beyond one's boundaries. Expansion upto Infinity. Thanothi means the expansion of Consciousness ad infinitum.Individual consciousness should expand to Universal Consciousness for mergence in
the Supreme Self.

Trayate means to liberate, to liberate man from bondgage, from the Seven Deadly Sins which bind him to the sublunar world. The purging of mortal dross is a must for Self-Actualisation and the " inner enemies of man " Lust, greed, anger, jealousy, sloth, covetousness & attachment ) are the real blocks in the way of Self Actualisation

Liberation is not possible without expansion of Consciousness. When our individual Consciousness expands to Cosmic, we feel whole & are liberated from the thraldom of matter.

The Upanishadic Philosophy was based on the Five Concentric Sheaths known as the Five Koshas. The outermost concentric Sheath, the Anna Maya Kosha, is known as the Material Sheath. It envelopes the other four sheaths -
vital, mental, intellectual & bliss.

Tantra, on the other hand, speaks about the Six Chakras, dynamoes of Cosmic
Energy in the human body.

These Chakras are ( in ascending order)

1. Root Chakra ( Muladhara )
2. Anal Chakra ( Manipura )
3. Solar Plexus Chakra ( Swadhistana )
4. Heart Chakra ( Anahata )
5. Throat Chakra ( Vishuddhi )
6. Eyebrow Chakra ( Ajna )

The Five Great Elements ( Earth, air, water, fire & ether ) & Mind reside
in the Six Chakras.

Earth-Principle resides in the Root Chakra
Water-Principle resides in the Navel Chakra
Fire-Principle resides in the Solar Plexus Chakra
Air-Principle resides in the Heart Chakra
Ether-Principle resides in the Throat Chakra
Mind-Principle resides in the Eye Brow Chakra.

The Microscomic representative of the Macrocosmic Shakti ( Cosmic Power ), the Kundalini, sportest as the Six principles in the Six Chakras in Her Cosmic Play.

O Infinite Power ! Thou art the Mind-principle in the Eye brow Chakra
In the Throat Chakra , Thou sport as the Ether-principle
In the Heart Chakra, Thou sportest as Air- principle
In the Solar Plexus Chakra, Thou art Fire-principle
In the Navel Chakra , Thou exist as Water-principle
In the Root Chakra, Thou art the Earth _Principle, O Mighty Mother !
And in the Crown Chakra, Thou sportest blissfully with thy beloved Consort !

She lies coiled in human beings as the Coiled Serpent Power ( Kundalini). She rises during Mediation and Yogic processes.

Her rise can be felt by the meditator. When She rises, a subtle warmth will be felt in the body. Voice changes. Voice becomes musical, " propertied as the tuned spheres". The personality of the native becomes very attractive due to the influx of Jupiterian energy. Wisdom and learning grace the individual. When She rises furthur, torrential bliss will be felt. And when She reaches the Crown Chakra, it is Cosmic Consciousness for the native !

She sports as Universal Power in the Macrocosm; and in the microcosm as the coiled Serpent Power!

Infinite Power of the Absolute art Thou!
The Cause of the Universe as Maya
The entire Creation is Thy Play
Thy blessing is Bliss Absolute !

The essence of all sciences art Thou
All women Thy manifestations !
The visible Universe Thou art
And the dormant Serpentine Power !

One of the pioneers in Tantra Research was Sir John Woodroffe , who had written many scholarly treatises on the subject. His magnum opus is the "Serpent Power", which is a scientific treatise about the Kundalini. His
practice of Tantra endowed him with personal magnetism. He became the cynosure of all eyes. There was a special lustre on his face, he possessed the Golden Tongue of Good Report & there was a spiritual halo around him. He had developed his Auric Field ( the human electro-magnetic field ) due to Tantric techniques and bacame a dynamo of spiritual energy. His masterly book is a scientific diagnosis about Tantra.

The heart and vocal nervous centers are intimately related physiologically. Bhava Shuddhi or purity of Heart makes the voice innocent and musical. The true Initiate is he whose voice is true and who possesses the Golden Tongue of Good Report!

The Cosmic Shakti is the Force behind the Universe & the entire Universe is her play & display. Kundalini is Her microcosmic representation. She has been depicted as the Mother Goddess in Pagan philosophies.

Nature is visible Intelligence; Intelligence is invisible Nature. The Spiritual & the Natural are not different. That which is spiritual is natural in its ascent & cause. That which is natural is spiritual in its descent and being.

She is the female component of the Ultimate and all systems deal with the male and the female components of Reality. The male component is He ! Consciousness and Force, the Supreme Self and Nature, Matter and Spirit, Being and Becoming, the One and the Innumerable, the Formless and then a delirium of Forms - She and He, two in one, inseparable ! He, outside Time, outside Space, pure Being, pure Consciousness, the Great White Silence wherein everything is contained in a state of involution, contained, yet formless !

She flings forth from Him in an outburst of joy, again to find Him playing in Time, She and He, two in one , inextricable! Can Nature exist without her Lord ? Can He exist without Nature ?

This is the Purusha and Prakriti of Sankhya, the Brahman and Maya of Vedanta , the Sive and Shakti of Tantra !

Without Him, I exist not
Without Me, He is unmanifest ! - The Mother of Auroville

It is due to Her Grace that a man becomes a material success. It is She who gives the successful man the indomitable Will Power needed for success.

On the other hand, it is also Her Grace which giveth spiritual success. It is She who gives the devotee the necessary Self-knowledge, makes him do altruistic acts & leads him to Self-Actualisation. In other words, She has two aspects, material & spiritual and Her Grace is absolutely necessary for success in both the spheres. .

It is said that She, as the Prakriti ( Nature ) of Purusha ( Supreme Self), is the base of the Universe & when She becomes supremely pleased with the devotee, confers on him Self-Actualisation !

She is the Creatrix, She is the Mediatrix, She is the Dispensatrix and the Executrix of the absolute mechanism of Universal Justice.

Power is Divine and not to be condemned

It is this Power aspect of Consciousness which India has depicted as the Divine Mother. It is a mistake of the ethical and the religious mind to condemn Power as something unworthy because it is in its very nature corrupting and evil. Despite arguments to the contrary ( Power corrupts and absolute Power corrupts absolutely), Power, Shakti, Will is the mover of the worlds and basically is spiritual in origin and divine in character !

A Power to call Eternity into Time
And make the body's joy as vivid as the soul's !.

The highest philosophic concept is that of the Philosopher-King, he who possesses powers both eternal and temporal. They were known as Raja-Rishies in India. Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, King Janaka were all Raja-Rishies. Marcus Aurelius & Augustus Caesar in the West were also reputed Philosopher-Kings. They did not renounce power !

Tantra as related to Astrology

Tides are caused by the Moon. The human body is 65% water. ( Even the Archbishop of Canterbury is 65% water ). If Moon can effectuate tides, what effect will he have on the human body which is predominantly water? And what about the effects of other planets ?

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Tantra & The 18 Sciences of the Philosophia Perennis

The 18 varieties of Knowledge ( Vidya ) are all the gross manifestations of Tantra.

Everything has been reduced to the biune principles of Consciousness and Force and this Union of Being and Becoming is the Universe.

The 18 Vidyas ( types of Knowledge) are

The Six Auxiliary Sciences - Vedanga Sastras ( Astrophysics, Kalpa, Nirukta, Phonetics, Grammar, Poetics)

The Six Main Sciences - The Four Vedas - ( Rik, Sama, Yajus & Atharva ) -

Poorva Meemamsa This deals with Karma Kanda

Nyaya Shastra Logic

Mythology - The 18 Treatises of Mythology

Ethics - The Science of Character

Ayurveda - The Science of Medicine

Dhanur Veda - Archery

Gandharva Veda Musicology

Artha Sastra Economics

The six auxiliary sciences have been defined as Apara Vidya ( Relative Knowledge ).

The six main sciences as they deal with the Absolute have been defined as Para Vidya ( Absolute Knowledge ).

Absolute Knowledge and Relative Knowledge together constitute the supreme knowledge.

Integral Knowledge is the confluence of Absolute, Relative and Transcendental knowledge ( Sujnana, Vijnana & Prajnana ).

Vijnana - Relative Knowledge -

Knowledge of Relative Being is Physical Science. All scientific knowledge is relative

Sujnana - Absolute Knowledge. Knowledge of the Absolute; knowledge philosophic.

Prajnana - Knowledge or rather the experience of Transcendence. Experiential Knowledge.

Astrophysics ( Jyothish ) consists of three main brances -

Siddhanta ( Astronony ), Samhita ( Philosophy ) & Hora ( Astrology ). All of them belong to Relative Knowledge.

All sciences barring Vedanta ( The Science of the Absolute ) & Yoga ( The Science of Transcendence ) are relative by nature.

Mythology is the adumbration of philosphic verities. Sir Philip Sydney writes in " An Apologia for Poetry " that the great seers and mystics of yore hid Great Secrets in symbolic stories. ( " which of purpose were written darkly, lest by profane wits it might be abused"). Aurobindo in the Secret of the Veda writes that " this Wisdom is unfit & dangerous to the ordinary human mind and liable to perversion & loss of virtue, if revealed to vulgar and unpurified spirits". Hence the Seers hid the Mysteries in symbolic stories like the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Ramayana & the Mahabharata, books which deal with the Inner War in Man !

The Hidden Foe ( Ego) lodged in the human breast
Man must overcome or miss his higher fate
This is the inner war without escape.

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Economics, the Science of wealth, is considered as the 18th science. Among the Four Purusharthas ( Wealth, Ethics, Desire, Salvation ), wealth was considered important because without that the body cannot sustain. "Wealth is the fuel of outer life" averrs Artha Sastra, a treatise on economics. Weath is foremost and is the basis of Kama ( Desire ), Dharma ( Ethics ) & Moksha ( Salvation ) !

Sound Symbol of the Absolute art Thou

And the eternal Basis of Vedas triune

The Threefold Deity of Shakti Divine

O Fair Beloved of the Pure Existent !

Artha Sastra ( Economics ) while highlighting the importance of Wealth also warns about its hidden dangers and the pain involved in making money. On the positive side, the merits of Wealth are extolled

The wealthy man alone has friends

All relatives are produced by wealth!

Admired is he who is wealthy

And this world's true scholar !

On the negative side, the pain involved is highlighted. Making money is not a bed of roses !

Money begets pain in getting

In the keeping pain and fretting

Pain in loss and pain in spending

Damn the trouble never ending !

Tantra does not condemn the three Ws ( Wealth, Wine and Women ) as evil. Man gets fulfillment through the satiation of desires and only after enjoying finite bliss can he aspire for Infinite Bliss ! Karma gets exhausted after the desires for the mundane are fulfilled and man after becoming blase turns within to the Bliss of the Absolute Self !

Integral Consciousness am I, the primal Self !

In me there is neither Ego nor the Supreme Relative !

The Cosmic Power is all in all

As the Supracosmic Transcendence, Her Play is known only to Herself ! Unknown to even the Seers, Her ways are inscrutable ! The 18 sciences are She !

The boat divine to cross this wordly ocean

Thou abidest in all as intelligence

Heaven hides nothing from Thy view, nor Hell

O Quintessence of all the 18 sciences !

Article by G Kumar, astrologer, writer and programmer of . . Highly experienced with many correct predictions to his credit, he does professional natal charts , Z Files,click here.mailto:info@eastrovedica.com?subject=subscribeZF An integrator of East & West, his Astro blog is up at & his Philosophy blog at