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..:: Enlightenment
XIV/ Tantra ::..
10/01/2010
- Alan Schneider -
It would appear that the Great Force which directs my (and all other
human) actions – a force referred to in this series as The Self – has determined that one
additional essay is required to complete the sequence on Enlightenment,
an essay on the subject of Tantra. The term “final” is, after
all, so conditional in human affairs…
Tantric
scholar David Gordon White has defined Tantra as follows:
“Tantra
is that Asian body of beliefs and practices which, working from the
principle that the universe we experience is nothing other than the
concrete manifestation of the divine energy of the Godhead that creates
and maintains that universe, seeks to ritually appropriate and channel
that energy, within the human microcosm, in creative and emancipatory
ways.”
This is
about as accurate and summative as a description of so expansive a
subject can be, with the caveat that the term “Asian”, which originally
was fairly appropriate at the time this definition was offered, must now
be deleted, since Tantra and neo-Tantric practices have become
worldwide in scope today. Why is this? Because Tantra involves
the ritualization of human sexual activity in its assorted forms of
expression, and, particularly with the advent of Freudian theory, this
has become acceptable where once it was considered dark and
forbidden. Yes, sex sells anything and everything, including any
spiritual theory or practice upon which it focuses! For this reason,
most main stream interpretations of all relatively prevalent religious
traditions shy away from Tantra as being too seductive and implicitly
erotic for inclusion in legitimate faith, supposed Freudian (and
scientific) acceptability notwithstanding. The subject of Tantra is
simply too hot to touch in the popular consciousness – but not too hot
to be sought out in surreptitious physical practice by legions of
practitioners and devotees!
Freud
once described all religion as sublimated (i.e. symbolic,
indirectly expressed) sexuality, noting the evident similarity of the
various states of religious excitement and ecstasies in many belief
systems with the stages of sexual arousal and orgasm in physical
biology. Jung took this a step further (i.e. to a higher level of
symbolism) with his theory of the archetypes of the collective
unconsciousness, wherein the archetypal symbols of faith and spiritual
expression are defined as the specific precursors of human
consciousness, including sexuality. The implication here is that
sexual expression that is not directly manifested through the sex act
will still emerge in symbolic form with comparable or greater
intensity elsewhere in consciousness, and must be expressed in
some form as the consequence of that most basic and fundamental aspect
of the human condition – the differentiation into the male and female
physical forms. This is the essence of Tantra – the elevation of
Freudian libido (his term for vital sexual or life force) first
to recognition as a spiritual force present in physical
sexuality, and thence on to higher and higher levels of increasingly
potent symbolic spiritual levels. This duality of form is a
fundamental expression of the Tao – the polarity of force
generating all manifestation in the universe – along with light and
dark, hot and cold, strong and weak, love and fear, and the great
multitude of other polar extremes through which the Self appears
to be expressed. The human Taoist expression of male and female is the
one upon which the philosophy of Tantra rests.
The
libido was Freud’s characterization of another, much more anciently
recognized force, known as the aforementioned Tao in Chinese philosophy,
arguably the Mojo of many primitive (and modern) African systems, the
Chi of Japanese and other Pacific island cultures, and, above all, the
Kundalini of India and South Asia – almost all historically Asian as
White observed. Of these, it is the Kundalini, through Kundalini Yoga
practice, which has been expanded most thoroughly and completely as the
explanation of the action of Tantra. This is the theory which I have
found to be most plausible as the explanation of Ascension and
Enlightenment after a lifetime of investigation into many traditions,
and the one which I will offer here.
And, as
is frequently the case, we must depart initially from the comfortable
security of absolute science to begin this presentation by accepting the
premise that the Self is the origin of all consciousness, something
which cannot be objectively proven as yet. As the Creator of all
knowable manifestation (i.e. everything present within the Universal
Field of Consciousness that is the Self) the Self expresses
manifestation in an infinite variety of processes and forms in The
Presence of Universal Love. Even the frequently seemingly cold and
impersonal physical universe is the result of this Divine Love radiating
forth from the Self. At this latter level of cosmic vibration, the
condition of the Self has become quite dense and impacted, resulting in
the perceptible world of the Physical Plane and, above all, Karma,
the spiritual action which agitates this Plane into moral consequences
and expression. Karma is the Self manifest on the Physical Plane,
particularly the “Karma” known as the physical human body. This body
is essentially trapped in its native sensory condition, at least
initially wholly dependent upon the senses for all information about,
and subsequent knowledge of, its condition and circumstances. The
Freudian ego cannot penetrate this shroud concealing the Truth of
Consciousness from the organism.
However, the Self has left within every human body the means of
rediscovery of the Divine Presence in the form of an initially dormant
“packet” of the Kundalini Energy symbolically present in the Sacrum at
the base of the spine. The Kundalini Energy is the Self in
microcosal form – a little package of God symbolically nested at
the skeletal foundation of the organism. It is interesting that
neither Freud nor Jung, although postulating the existence of libido or
archetypes, could say where they were to be found, but Kundalini Yoga is
quite specific about this – the base of the spine. This specificity
is the foundation of all Yoga practice – not solely Kundalini Yoga –
and, as a result, any postural Yoga system is working with the
activation and release of the Kundalini. This is why the practices of
Hatha Yoga and many schools of meditation can result in spontaneous
release of the Kundalini along the sequence of the spinal Chakras –
often with severely disruptive results for the unprepared
practitioner. The Kundalini represents God seeking reunion with God,
the ultimate force in the universe, and something to be treated
with great respect and caution in application!
The
theories of most schools of Yoga and meditation are aware of this risk,
and proceed slowly with the spiritual development and training of
the aspirant for that reason, at least in the case of the correctly
trained instructor working in a valid spiritual lineage. One
should always make a point of selecting such an individual for any
spiritual undertaking – the generic study from a generic guide can be
very risky indeed.
The
sequence of the first three of the total of seven Chakras
– the symbolic spinal energy centers of human consciousness – are all
concerned with the operation of the limited sensory consciousness of the
body on the Physical Plane. Chakra One, Muladhara, expresses the basic
survival valence of the organism – work, cleanliness, habitation,
transportation, eating, and sleeping in the material world. Chakra Two,
Svadhisthana, expresses mating and sexuality, as we enter adolescence
(and perhaps even long before that, if Freud was accurate in his
theories of infantile sexuality). It is with the onset of the
influence of Svadhisthana that the hitherto dormant Kundalini Energy
which is the driver of Tantra becomes active within consciousness. In
the cases where the child has experienced a relatively benign, largely
trauma-free existence, the initial demonstration of the Tantra involved
is largely Left Hand in nature – focused on external sexual
interest in a physical partner. In cases where significant trauma has
taken place for the individual, the customary Left Hand orientation may
emerge in distorted, perverted contexts, and may also emerge prematurely
in a Right Hand orientation toward spiritual practice. These
are the two Paths of Tantra – the Left Hand physical and the Right Hand
spiritual. Many people predominantly experience the Left Hand Path for
most of their lives, as it processes in adulthood through Svadhisthana
into Chakra Three, Manipura, the social Power Center, and primary
focus of ego awareness in the organism as the predominantly social
process that it is. This Center was discussed at some length in my
last essay, entitled The Ego, and represents the terminus of the
Left Hand Path in consciousness.
The
Paths of Tantra can diverge at either Svadhisthana or Manipura toward
Chakra Four, Anahata, The Heart Center, and first genuinely spiritual
Chakra. I say this because this is the Center where selfless love,
compassion, the conscience, and the Soul are focused and
symbolically expressed in the organism. In order to continue working
with the Right Hand Path, this Chakra must be successfully
entered and experienced in consciousness, and represents the Gateway to
all of the higher levels of consciousness and spiritual attainment to
follow: Chakras Five – Vishuddha, the Throat Center – Six, Ajna, the
Brow Center – and Seven, Sahasrara, The Crown Center.
The
progression of the Chakras from the perspective of the Ascending
Kundalini is that of decreasing literal sensory experience and
increasing intuitive spiritual experience. Muladhara is very
literal and material, anchoring as it does the physical survival of the
organism and the Karma that it represents. Svadhisthana is also very
material and literal, at least as it pertains to the Left Hand Path and
associated physical sexual practices, but this is also where the
possibility of spiritual symbolic manifestation associated with
sexuality – the Right Hand Path – begins. Manipura is the focus of
social reality, and the manipulations for power, prestige, and advantage
– all abstract symbolic concepts that have, however, clearly defined
literal material expressions. Anahata marks the great divide between
the observably physical and the intuitively spiritual – all of the
characteristics associated with Anahata must be sensed intuitively, as
opposed to experienced literally. Vishuddha is the focus of vibrational
manifestation in human consciousness, representing the spiritual power
of chanting and atonement to elevate perception beyond Anahata. Ajna
is the so-called Third Eye – the Inner or All-Seeing Eye of the
advanced perception that occurs well beyond even the intonation and
tonal vibration of Vishuddha – manifesting as the extrasensory
perception of psychic events, power, and insight. Sahasrara is the
literal Seat of the Godhead, the abode of Shiva, Vishnu, and
Brahma, existing beyond all human (i.e. even remotely ego-based)
consciousness – and the location of the Jungian Self, the origin of all
Being.
Certain additional observations may serve to further enhance the
reader’s understanding of post-Manipura consciousness. Since they are
all more or less concerned with the body and physicality, the first
three Chakras exhibit a linear relationship with each other in
perception – they seem to demonstrate logical interconnects in the terms
that the ego understands and can at least attempt to manipulate. Now,
inasmuch as the following three Chakras have physical correlates, they
do not exhibit the same extent of linearity and logical
connectivity as the first three do. Rather, they represent three
regions of involvement that are spiritually complementary and mutually
supportive, but capable of independent manifestation. Compassion,
communication, and psychic insight are all linked together, and may
spontaneously arise and wane within their respective pervues
individually in response to the synchronous inputs emanating from the
Seventh level of Sahasrara, the director of all spiritual awareness and
consciousness. This level stands apart from the three preceding
Chakras in yet another realm, protected from any possible residual ego
vibration by a psychic barrier that acts as a variable filter permitting
only pure vibrations of collective consciousness to pass, and blocking
all others. Although it can be perceived from the perspective
of Ajna, even that level of activity still manifests too much ego
involvement to allow entry. Essentially, one must die and
surrender all subjective, personal knowledge (i.e. worldly experience)
to enter the domain of Sahasrara – therein to experience the Godhead and
the Self.
And the
Seers of history have identified another region lying even beyond
Sahasrara, referred to in Hindu Vedic cosmology as the Brahman –
the universal, omnipresent Essence of God permeating everything
everywhere, without being solely present in any one object or process
anywhere. This level is so rarefied that even to label it is
considered inappropriate, and this is done only to permit verbal and
written reference to this mode of experience, which really cannot even
be properly considered as experience, since that requires some
kind of subject observing some kind of object or process, and the
Brahman is none of these, transcending everything knowable or
conceivable. Here, the last traces of consciousness dissolve into
eternity in perfect peace as pure non-dual Bliss, without subject,
object, or evaluation…
Thus,
we have four discernable modes of consciousness defining existence – the
lower triad of three physical Chakras, logical and linear, but
spiritually superficial, followed by the next sequence of three
higher Chakras, spiritual, but not linear or logical in their
actions as the ego understands these things, followed by the Seventh
Chakra of the Self, serene and unmoved by all lesser vibrations, as
their Creator must be, and finally the Void of Brahman,
the great unknowable reservoir from which all manifestation issues, and
unto which all eventually returns, to be released again in some other
aspect at some other time according to the humanly inscrutable forces
present there. This constitutes the full range of Tantric
manifestation, from the first Left Hand manifestations of Svadhisthana,
through the Right Hand compassion of Anahata, to the ultimate level of
the Self and the Brahman lying beyond in Sahasrara. At the Brahmanic
level, nothing exists, and yet, everything exists in the apparent
logical impossibility that nonetheless constitutes the supreme Truth of
Consciousness.
To my
knowledge, only Kundalini Yoga, certain transcendental meditation
techniques, and the observance of specific austerities and worldly
non-attachment can successfully deliver consciousness from the confines
of the Left Hand Tantra that is natural to the physical organism, but
holds us in the first three Chakras. This is true, even if we revert
to the strictly scientific paradigm and terminology generally used in
these essays. The first three Chakras constitute the realm of Freudian
psychodynamics – superego, ego, and id (Manipura, Svadhisthana, and
Muladhara, loosely in that order, subject to the details presented
elsewhere in this essay). The following three Chakras correspond to
the realm of Jungian psychodynamics – as the Freudian id is passed
through into the region of the collective unconscious and the archetypes
– culminating in the experience of the Self at the Seventh, deepest
level, and finally vanishing into the infinity of the Void. As one
embraces particularly the practices of meditation and Yoga,
conscious perception can be and is carried through the Freudian
unconscious region (the id) into the Jungian collective unconscious,
where many forms of enhanced archetypal symbolic perceptions occur
according to the general design of the Self, manifest through personal
Karma (or destiny, if you wish). It is absolutely necessary to adopt
some kind of meditation regimen to liberate consciousness from the Mind
Trap of the lower physical Chakras, as a bare minimum of spiritual
practice.
In the
theory of Kundalini Ascension, once Tantra is diverted from Left Hand
practice to Right Hand practice through the employment of the above
referenced techniques (and there are others), the Kundalini (or Freudian
libido, again, if you wish) is free to continue upward movement through
the sequence of the higher Chakras, successively enervating and
activating them, again according the map of personal Karma. Our
personal Karma is the Self’s Divine Love and Will manifest at the lower
vibrational levels of the dense forms perceptible in the physical senses
as the “real” world of manifest physical objects and events occurring in
three dimensions, with time as a forth. One’s map of Karma may or may
not even include higher spiritual activity according to the Divine Plan
of the Self for the Cosmos, and it is up to us to accept and understand
the wisdom of this, and the many other hardships and forms of ignorance
demonstrated on the Physical Plane. Even when one does succeed
in attaining higher spiritual consciousness and Enlightenment, even
Samadhi of the kinds already noted in this essay series, even
Buddhist Satori, this is to be understood as the manifest
Divine Grace of the Self, not willful personal achievement in any
sense of the term. Only the Self is real, acting and flowing through
individual human awareness as synchronicity, epiphany, and grace when
and where appropriate in the Psyche – the collective Soul of
humanity. By acknowledging this process as the ultimate mechanism of
Enlightenment and Balance on the Physical Plane we are liberated from
our worldly bondage and ignorance.
Some final
words of caution are in order regarding the panorama of Enlightenment
cast against the background of an as yet still relatively
unenlightened world. Enlightenment is not something to be sold in
the world marketplace, although many partially ascended Gurus and
would-be spiritual Masters purport to do so. Enlightenment is the
God-given gift of higher consciousness available to every human being on
Earth without regard to any other consideration, and the true
Guru and Master knows this, offering guidance along the Path without the
requirement of material compensation or monetary reward. An implicit
part of this guidance is the practice of deliberation and forbearance on
the part of the guide in never encouraging the aspirant to make a
goal of spiritual Ascension, a regrettably common feature of
achievement in our relentlessly ego-driven world culture today. If this
error in judgment occurs, the risk of inappropriate, psychologically
harmful Kundalini Ascension becomes much more significant for the
aspirant. No legitimate guide will ever order or otherwise direct
anyone to take any steps along the Path before they are ready, and this
readiness has been described in great detail by the Seers of history in
terms of the clear signs of preparation – the Initiations –
having been attained. Every spiritual tradition has a series of such
Initiations prescribed by the Guru, Gurus, or Masters associated with
it, and it is highly recommended that the aspirant seek out an
acceptable, legitimate tradition and work within its framework for at
least the initial period of some years of spiritual practice.
I did this, and so should you.
The
Kundalini is the most powerful force in the universe, capable of taking
us directly into the Divine Presence and beyond, but woe be it to the
naïve person who rashly rushes toward the Holy Self – the Angel
of God is there before the East Gate of Eden, armed with a Sword of Fire
that cannot be evaded for the sole purpose of destroying the remaining
ego of those who make it this far, and if you are identified in the
least way with your material mind, that Sword will destroy you,
or at the very least your sanity. Heed my words, and proceed slowly
along the Path of Enlightenment – you will arrive at and pass the
required Initiations in God’s good time, as it should be.
Please
try to understand that this world and Physical Plane is not in any
way intended by the Self to be perfect in the terms that ego can
comprehend – the sufferings that we experience are real on their level,
and must be accepted as such, and worked through as patiently as
possible. This can require a very great deal of patience and
tolerance on many occasions – life is a school, not a playground, and,
although the playground is there, the point of existence is to learn the
lessons set before us in the school room. It has always been thus,
and always will be in the schoolroom of the flesh and senses of
this life.
You have my
blessings for this work – the most important undertaking of which a
human being is capable – the quest for Enlightenment. Know that the
Path is long and arduous, with many deceptions and pitfalls along the
way, but persevere, and, above all follow your Heart.
- With Love, Alan -
(Copyright 2010, by Alan Schneider)
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