What is Tantra?

-- Chaitanya Prabhu

Tantra encompasses Life in all its diversity, its beauty, and sexuality. It is essentially a “weaving together” of different philosophies, ideas, and practices, and it provides a holistic road-map for our way of life and also infuses our existence with meaning.

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Orgasms are indescribable but Tantra offers many orgasms that are not associated with the acts of sex. Many people compare sexual orgasms to the ultimate “high,” but tantric techniques offer non-sexual orgasms and this site will describe some of them – that’s why the name Tantrasm!

I have been practicing Tantra for over 25 years now...

... and it has made me a much better person in every way. I was an atheist, but it may be realize that there is a god. But this god is a type of consciousness that is at level 4. Tantra showed me that there are higher levels of consciousness above god all the way to level 0. So, though I continue to be a self-proclaimed atheist for sociopolitical reasons, my intelligence has opened up to higher levels of conscious states of being.

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Tantra showed me that we have different “consciousnesses” and that’s why it’s almost impossible to adequately and satisfactorily define consciousness. However, that does not stop us from experiencing different and higher orders of consciousnesses. In this context, when I learned about Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (some 8 or 9 different intelligences), it was easy to associate them different states of awareness.

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Tantra and Existentialism

I have come across many authors of Tantra, the most important being Christopher Wallis. In one of his books, ‘Tantra Illuminated,’ Wallis provides us with a scholarly introduction to the history of Tantra and the origins of its philosophical systems. It’s always a good idea to know a little bit about the origins of something so as to put it in context.

I am also an existentialist – at least, I’m deeply passionate about existentialism and existentialist philosophers (Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus to name a couple). But, before reading any of these philosophers, I was a big fan of Franz Kafka. And, though academicians may disagree, I classify Kafka as an existentialist. Not surprisingly, Sartre and Albert Camus also consider him to be an existentialist, so I needn’t worry. 

Why mix Existentialism with Tantra? 

The answer is simple: the questions regarding our existence and the meaning of life are eternal. Two or three thousand years ago, human beings asked the same questions:  “Why are we here?” “Why do we exist?” “What is the meaning of life?” “What is the point of life if it is to end in death?” “Why are we not immortal?” “Is there a God?” “Is the universe infinite?” “Are there aliens out there?” “Why is life full of pain?” “Why is life so painless, happy, and boring?” You get the drift!

I believe – from my practice of Tantra – that such existentialist questions were better answered by the Tantriks. They used prevalent beliefs, invented Yogic practices, and defined a philosophical system that explored the psychological depths of our awareness and consciousness.

Tantrasm.Com

I want to combine the physical and meditative practices of Yoga, philosophies of Tantra and Existentialism, and modern psychology to provide a system of living. Consciousness and the mechanisms of our intellectual awareness are vital to this understanding. The scientific research into consciousness (Roger Penrose is one such researcher) shows us how we think and how we perceive reality. Are we different from any advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Hopefully, Tantrasm.Com will let us know.

There are no other sites or books that combine these separate perspectives to complete the big picture of our mind and of our existence. No other site or book explains Tantra in a modern language. If you find one, do let me know.