3. An Intro to Tantra

Transcript

Shivan Shakti are the two principles of Tantra. They reflect the vastness of awareness and all the energies that flows within it. The whole is made up of two opposed but complementary forces like yin and yang.

They represent the duality behind all energies existing in the universe, the energies we find inside of ourselves and externally in the infinite cosmos. There is a beautiful saying, as above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul. It is commonly known that in the beginning of creation there was a splitting of the primordial principle and so duality came into being.

Along with the split came a strong force that is constantly striving to reunite the different parts of the division. There is a charge and an attraction of the plus and the minus. Shiva and Shakti exist inside of us and outside of us as these two opposing but dependent forces and energies.

Apart and united, they can offer us a deep and broad perspective on our essence as human beings both on a physical and cosmic level of existence. Shiva, the divine masculine represents consciousness and awareness and Shakti, the divine feminine represents life force energy, all that which is manifested and created within awareness. They represent, respectively, the masculine and feminine, the sun and the moon, fire and water, yang and yin, steadiness and change, awareness and bliss, stability and transformation, mind and emotion, mountains and valleys, and all other innumerable variations within a dualistic world.

Together these energies complete and complement each other. In Indian mythology, the story of Shiva and Parvati is an archetype romance rich in symbols and meanings to provide us with an understanding of how the wisdom that lies behind the concepts of Shiva and Shakti operates. Shiva and Parvati's marriage is the great cosmic partnership, the union of Shakti in the form of the goddess Parvati, the supreme yogini with Shiva, her yogi husband.

As the story goes, Shiva is supposed to be functioning in his cosmic role as the great destroyer, bringing about endings so that there can be new beginnings. However, after the loss of his first wife Sita, in mourning, he retreated to his Himalayan mountain cave and immersed himself in a state of unbroken deep meditation. Living the life of a recluse, Shiva immersed himself in the stillness of the void, reveling in absolute freedom, that he became utterly unconcerned with the affairs of the cosmos.

During this time, his cosmic tasks are not done and his teachings are not heard. The other gods realized that something needed to be done to re-engage Shiva into his cosmic role. So they asked the great goddess to incarnate again to bring Shiva back to the world.

The eternal Shakti took on the form as Parvati, or daughter of the mountain. She is divinely beautiful, cosmically adorable and from the moment she can speak, she talks about Shiva. When she is 16, she goes to the grove where Shiva sits in meditation.

She brings him food that he never eats. She lights candles that he never sees. And she longs for him to open his eyes to see her.

The god Brahma, the creator god, recognized that Shiva's desires needed to be awakened. So he enlisted the help of Kama, the goddess of pleasure and desire. Kama sent soft spring breezes with the scent of jasmine to the grove where Shiva and Parvati were.

Parvati became more enchanted and her love for Shiva grows. Kama waited until Parvati was directly in Shiva's sight of vision and holding his bow, he let loose the irresistible arrows of love. The inciter of desire, inflamer of lust, exciter of infatuation.

As they strike Shiva's heart, he is aroused by the most unmeditative feeling of desire. Shiva opened his eyes and saw Parvati and a stirring arose in his heart. When the sensations moved down to his groin, Shiva realized what had happened and opening his third eye, he sent out a beam of fire that killed Kama.

Shiva returned to meditation. Parvati, now deeply in love with Shiva, knew that he is touched by her but not willing to give in on his feelings. She knew that she couldn't have Shiva unless she cultivates in herself the qualities of stillness, stamina and devotion.

She realized that she will need to earn his love through yoga. Parvati goes to the mountains and for a long time, hundreds of celestial years, she dedicates herself to her yoga practice. Eventually the fire of her yoga begins to penetrate the upper worlds.

Shiva in his meditation began to feel the heat and remembering Parvati's beauty, he sensed his unwavering devotion to her. He recognized that while solitary meditation has its own joy, he was now awakened to the bliss that comes from relationship and he realizes that she is his eternal lover. And so Shiva and Parvati marry and consummate the divine marriage.

After years of marriage and lovemaking, the teachings of yoga emerge from their spiritual conversations. In their domestic bliss and love for each other and in their arguments that arise, Parvati and Shiva maintain a tension of opposites. Parvati asks Shiva questions and in doing so draws out of Shiva his insights.

Their presence inspires him to turn into himself to find words to express truths that come from the place beyond words. In making love with Shiva, Parvati draws the transcendent formless absolute down to earth. The endless conversations are consciously offered as a gift to human beings who long for the secrets of enlightenment.

So the story of Shiva and Shakti is also depicted in more visual form in the androgynous deity called Ardhanarsivara who is depicted with one side as female and the other one as male. Ardhanarsivara represents the ultimate union of Shiva and Parvati into the one unified being. The right side of the androgynous being wears a tiger skin, has long hair with locks and carries a trident.

And the left side is more curvy, full breasts, wearing a lotus flower skirt. And in this way the left side of the body represents the feminine, Shakti, and the right side of our body represents the masculine, Shiva. The story of Shiva and Parvati can be understood on so many different levels as an inner archetype.

In a sense one can say that the story is our own inner journey to wholeness. It teaches us how to operate the divine masculine and the divine feminine as cosmic energies within us, both men and women. But ultimately it takes us beyond all polarities, especially those of gender, male and female.

And their union also acts as a role model for being in relationships with others. Thus the stories allow us not only to learn about wholeness, completion and union within ourselves, but they also guide us in how to understand the same dynamics operating within the relationship with others. What I think is the most interesting fact to draw out of this divine union of stories to come back to what we discussed in the second episode, that if any one side of ourselves remain in the shadow, we do not live a life of fulfillment.

We feel that we are missing out on something. If there are imbalances in either the masculine and or the feminine within, the potential is for this imbalance to not only make us feel incomplete, but we also play out and project it onto others. And here a quote by Sadhguru.

Tantra, unlike the majority of contemporary religions, has a deep respect for the feminine as a spiritual authority. Interestingly, Shiva is often referred to as the ultimate man, symbolizing the ultimate masculinity. However, Ardhana Rishvara shows us that half of him is a fully developed woman, showing that it is essential for a man and a woman to consciously nurture and celebrate the feminine and the masculine inside.

The Parvati and Shiva love story shows that Parvati, or Shakti, is Shiva's capacity to express himself in action and that without her, he is inactive, he is inert. He is the divine feminine that is behind action, the force of evolution in the cosmos as well as internally in our own bodies and lives. Without Shakti, the awareness of Shiva remains still and does not engage, nor help us in the worldly plane.

His spirituality has no role in worldly affairs. Parvati, on the other hand, is grounded in the world. Let's take a deeper look at Shakti.

Shakti is the transformative energy behind all evolution. Shakti is fluid, flowing, and powerfully flexible. Shakti energy can be wildly sensual, raw, and expressive.

In the process of transformation, Shakti takes form as a passionate energy that inspires us to go beyond our comfort zone and limits, and to deepen our relationship with consciousness. Shakti can play out as thoughts, emotions, ideas, and inspirations. In meditation, she manifests as visions and insights, and feelings of bliss.

It is Shakti who helps us embrace our human desires and our sexuality as an important aspect of our spirituality. Shakti not only complements Shiva, she completes him. And then let's take a little deeper look at Shiva.

Shiva represents absolute consciousness or absolute reality. He is the transcendent aspect of consciousness. Shiva remains outside and beyond all worldly affairs, and is the unchanging knower, the witness awareness that both observes and contains the dance of Shiva.