1. UK 79- 18 Gururaj. Today, we are going to talk about the science of Tantra, by special request. Now, the science of Tantra has been so misunderstood in the world today that because of some of its teachings, it has degenerated into sexual orgies. From Tantra has originated what in India was called the Vam Marg and they had communal orgies where a basin was placed and a woman was required - it was done in groups - to drop some article of hers, like a hanky or something, in it. And after going through various rituals, the male members of the group used to take out an article and that article he has taken of the particular woman would be his partner. And this was done all under the name of Tantra Yoga. This was a total degeneration and lost the true meaning of what Tantra should be. Although there are certain sexual Yogic rituals involved but it was for the purpose, it was for a different purpose which I will explain as we go on. The main purpose of Tantra was to be able to transmute all actions performed, including the sex act, into something very refined, something so Divine that one expands one's awareness. The very meaning of the word Tantra, the word Tan, the root Tan means expansion, expansion of one's consciousness. That is one of the central teachings of Tantra, where every action is taken for its own value and that action is performed to its maximum potential. And that was the basis of Tantra. Good. It is totally opposed to other systems that teach of detachment, that teach of asceticism because the Tantrics believe that detachment is totally unnecessary but attachment is necessary. But to be attached in such a way that one could get the maximum value of the object. If you are sitting down eating a meal, let the table be well laid and let the cooking be so well dished out, that you'd enjoy the maximum value of what you are eating; eating not swallowing, there is a difference. Good. So, every action in life, including the sexual act, including walking, including seeing, hearing, touching, feeling, should become sublime. One should have total awareness of every action one performs. Most of our actions are in a habit pattern, many things we do, we do habitually without even knowing that we are doing it. An addicted habitual smoker for example, if he was really aware of his smoking, he would cut his smoking down to its minimum amount. But he's sitting there chatting to you and without even being aware of his smoking, by automatic reflexes, his hand would just push out to his cigarette case and he would light up the cigarette without needing it. A reflex action, a conditioned action because of habits that he has acquired. So most of life is habit, ninety percent of life is habit. A pers on has a pattern of going to bed at twelve and he'll go to sleep at twelve. If he has a habit of waking up at seven, he will wake up at seven, in a habit form. But that very person can will himself - for example, a very simple device is to repeat to yourself while you are going to sleep that ‘I am going to wake up at four o'clock’ and you will find that you will awake at four o'clock. Your clock will be wrong but your waking time will not be wrong. So, the mind is capable of all these things and the mind is capable of moving away from set patterns.

2. UK 79- 18 So, to repeat, the basic teaching of Tantra is to getaway from set patterns and become fully aware of the actions we perform. We are sitting down in our chairs, how many of us are fully aware of our sitting down? How many of us are feeling the bottom of the chair under our rear? How many of us are fully aware that we have our hands crossed? It's just a reflex action. How many of us are really aware that our arms are folded? It's just something done. Tantra teaches awareness in everything performed, including one of the vital biological functions, one of the strongest urges in man, which is sex. So to be fully aware of that aspect, is one of the aspects of what Tantra Yoga is all about. They do believe that what is here is above. And if you cannot be aware of what is here, meaning the physical source, then how can you ever be aware of the higher self? So their way, the Tantric way, is to start from the physical body, the awareness of the physical body and then to lead oneself to the awareness of the subtle body that is within one, and from there on, one becomes aware of the spirit. So, their process is from the exterior to the interior. Our process is from the interior to th e exterior. There lies the difference. Yet, yet within our teachings too, there are certain Tantric principles involved. Our teachings combine the best that could be gleaned from all knowledge of the world. Good. So, when they say that what is above is also here, they mean that be aware of yourself. Be totally aware, be totally aware of the surroundings, of the environment. Feel those vibrations. Feel the vibrations in your body and from there, through various rituals and practices, one becomes totally aware of the inner self, for the real aim of Tantra Yoga is to reach the unified state which is Yoga. That is why it is called Tantra Yoga. Yoga means union, to reach the unified state. Now this can be achieved through various means as we know, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and amongst all, Raja Yoga, and amongst all these several forms of Yoga, we have this Yoga as well, which has been totally misused and abused. Therefore I do not encourage it. Fine. But the philosophy underlying Tantra Yoga is very sound, very sound and totally verifiable, by modern science. Tantra Yoga is very old. Some of its ritual relics have been found in Harapa when excavations were made and they found that they were about three thousand years old. Now, Tantra came to India mostly from the Tibetan/Chinese border. It came from the Tibetan/Chinese border and it got consumed in the way of life that was in India at that time and also by the Aryan influx into India. And therefore Tantric teachings contains within itself teachings of the Vedas, the Vedantic teachings, teachings from the Great Epics and teachings from the Puranas. So Tantra combines within itself, with the knowledge that was brought from across the borders from Tibet and from China, it has also accepted the principles of Vedantic teachings. And the central principle of Vedantic teachings is this, that the Atman and the Brahman are one, the individual and the universal is but one. The little 'i' merges away into the big 'I', into a oneness. Now this is also the basis of Tantra and therefore our teachings do accept this principle and we cannot say that it is of Tantric origin. It is. Tantra is a mixture of many theories and many teachings of all kinds of Sages that existed. Good.

3. UK 79- 18 Now, as I said, the basic aim of Tantra is to find that wholeness. Now, that wholeness is symbolised by Shiva and Parvati, meaning the positive and the negative aspects of all creation. Now, when we use the word negative, we use it in the sense of the wires that bring us electricity in this room. You have the positive wire and you have the negative wire and both are needed in polarity, to bring about the oneness of the light. So, the purpose of Tantra is to awaken, as they would call it, the Shakti force or the Parvati, normally referred to as Shakti, within oneself and allow the Shakti to merge with Shiva. Here Shiva is not represented as in the Hindu trinity as the lord of disillusion or destruction, but here Shiva is represented as the impersonal God, Brahman. And the process would be this, that the manifestation of the Manifestor has to merge away again into the unmanifest. So that which is manifested goes back into the unmanifest. Now, this is very well proven by science and this is very well accepted by most philosophies in the world, western as well as eastern, for the principle remains the same that we go back from where we have come. Scientists of course talk in scientific language. They maintain that from this explosion we always speak about and through the propulsion in this universe, matter again condenses itself into what is known as the black hole. So, in a space, say four miles square of the black hole, the entirety of the universe is contained. And that in Sanskrit, in Hindu theology is called Pralaya where there is a state of equilibrium. So the purpose of Tantra is the same, is to reach the state of equilibrium by merging the manifestation with the Manifestor. Of course they use symbolic terms, such as Shiva and Shakti. The Shakti is represented by the Kundalini Yoga which forms a part of Tantric teachings. Now, on my last trip I made two tapes I think it was on Kundalini, so you could refer to that and we do not need to go into the various facets of the various chakras or vortices of energy that links the subtle body within man to the grosser body. And it is only by the, by the proper linking, by stimulating the vibratory processes, by heightening the vibration of the subtle body that we could really transfer those energies to the grosser, physical body. So to repeat again, the Tantric process is the same as the Vedantic process. It has the same principle of Christianity, to find ourselves in the position, t o develop to that state of consciousness where 'I and my Father are one', where Atman and Brahman is one and in Tantric terminology where Shakti becomes one with Shiva. So, that is the aim of Tantra. Now Tantra also divides up or has other names for Shiva. Shiva is known as Purusha. Purusha means the male element in all creation and Shakti means the kinetic energy. Shiva or Purusha is represented as being static while the energy that is manifested from Shiva is forever in motion. It is kinetic, it is dynamic. So therefore in that cult of Tantra, if we wish to call it a cult, greater emphasis is put upon the female side of creation, for all manifestation is regarded in their terms to be the female aspect of that wholeness. So, the Manifestor is male and the manifested is female which forever is in motion and she is really the creatrix of this universe. They believe that it is not Shiva that created this universe. - what

4. UK 79- 18 a lovely compliment to women - it is the woman that created the universe although she got the force and the power from Shiva. So, all manifestation we see around us is Shakti, also known as Prakritti. Prakritti means nature and nature is regarded to be feminine. So we have the two terms, Purusha the male element and Prakritti, the female element. So, there too the Manifestor and the manifestation which are but two aspects of the one wholeness. Now we know, science has proved this, that in every male there is some woman and in every woman there is a bit of man in her. This is unavoidable. So if you study Hindu mythology or Tantric mythology you'd find a statue of Shiva, which is half male and half female. And the name for it or the Sanskrit term for it is Urdanarishvara, Urda, half, Nari, woman, Ishvara, Lord, the Lord that is composed of half male and half women. And in various parts of India, those of you that have been there would have seen these statues. It is the expression of a wholeness according to Tantric terms that the male component of the universe can never be on its own. It has to have its female counterpart. So this statue, which people worship according to their ways, we won't go into the rightness or wrongness of it, they worship this Urdanarishvara, which is a combination of the two forces, male and female. So, they maintain that one cannot do without the other, it is a partnership. And that is our view too in modern days. It is a partnership, for the two forms the wholeness. And it is the misinterpretation of this wholeness between male and female that has brought about so many malpractices. Originally the concept is solid and sound because every philosophy accepts the creator and creation, Manifestor and manifestation, Shiva and Shakti. Every theology, every philosophy accepts that principle because in creation or manifestation there has to be a polarity. And it is by bringing into conjunction the polarities within oneself that one fully realises the meaning of Urdanarishvara, then only are you a complete integrated being. Now this can be interpreted in moral and ethical values as well. We know that the male has certain characteristics which are dominant in him and we do know that the female has certain characteristics which are dominant in her. The male has the aggressiveness, he is the hunter, he is the doer, the boss in the house, the king of a castle. He has that, those ways, he has those ways inherent in him. I don't know if I told you this, one fellow told me that "I buy my own pants but my wife chooses the colour!" (Gururaj laughs) Ah, yah. But that is good, that's a good partnership. Perhaps the chap is colour blind and he can't view things objectively, so why can't his better half, better half, choose the colour. Yes, fine, good. So from the word Udanarishvara, which leads to the highest level of existence where Shiva and Shakti is involved, to the finest subtlest level of creator and creation, Manifestor and manifestation, from that word Urdanarishvara was derived another word, called Urdangina. Urda means half, Ungina means body. That means your female counterpart is half of yourself. That is why I keep on saying to people that I am guru not for monks or aesthetics. I am a guru for

5. UK 79- 18 householders, whereby living in this world, mundane or not, one can find fulfilment by being able to have that partner in life. That partner fulfils so much within man and the man fulfils so much within woman. The man teaches the woman a bit of aggressiveness, of course I'm not referring to the rolling pin, yeah, but there has to be that aggressiveness. By aggressiveness, I mean that force or the power of assertion which is quite well demonstrated in many countries of the world where the time of woman's slavery has gone and she could stand up and be equal to her man. Oh yes, oh yes, there has to be that equalness not necessarily equality, but equalness. When I use the word equality, I mean that man has his dharma and woman has her dharma. Man has his duties to perform and woman has her duties to perform. So in that sense I use the word - there is no equality because there is a division of labour, but within the boundaries of each, there is an equalness in the performance of their dharma. So, this is one of the principles of Tantra, where that equalness is found and yet at the same time greater emphasis is placed upon the woman. And when I start talking later about the worship that is involved and how the woman is worshipped and elevated to the state of a goddess, it's quite a ritual that they go through - we'll speak about it as the talk goes on. Fine. So the difference there is this, although recognising Purusha or Shiva as the Manifestor, they also put greater emphasis on the manifestation which is the energy that sustains and keeps in motion this universe. Shiva is sleeping while Shakti is active. You have seen pictures - some of you might have visited Sudjuraho, that's in Madyapradesh, Central India, where you have beautiful temples with fantastic sculpture showing various sexual poses and most of the time the female is more or less the active partner rather than the man. And you’d find that. And that was just to show that the energy, the female aspect, the manifestation, the energy is of greater importance as far as the universe is concerned than even the Manifestor because the Manifestor sits aside. He is the boss, so called, he sits in his office and the orders that are given in the factory are carried out by the energy involved in the workers because that boss, the Purusha, could do nothing at all although he is the Manifestor. He can only be self-contained within himself and there would be no creation if this energy was not set free. And this energy that was set free is regarded by the Tantrics to be the female counterpart. I've got a few notes here. So to achieve the union between the Manifestor and manifestation, certain psycho-yogic practices are necessary. Now, these practices would include meditation for example, contemplation for example, Kriya yoga and various other forms, for they are interconnected, including Kundalini Yoga, they are interconnected to the very sexual act. They're interconnected to the very sexual act because if a person has not developed that heightened awareness of oneself, then it would be difficult to become aware of one's partner or one's beloved. It would be difficult to become aware of the potentiality of the partner. So all these Yogas with yantras and mandalas and meditation - we use some of Tantric

6. UK 79- 18 practices as well - meditation is to expand our awareness so that we could encompass all that is manifest within ourselves. So how is it done in Tantric Yoga? In Tantra it is done, you cannot as I always say approach the abstract because that remains a conception. Somebody said there is a god, so we believe there is a god. And there is one if we can experience that god. And sages, yogis, true gurus have experienced the abstractness, have experienced the Manifestor but for the ordinary man to reach that stage, he has to first try and experience manifestation. And that manifestation, fully experienced will make him know and experience simultaneously that which is unmanifest. So because he's reached the totality of manifestation automatically and without effort, he would know the unmanifestor as well. So in these psycho-yogic practices which culminate in the sex act, all these preparations are necessary of practising these Yogas. And when I said earlier that it has degenerated and become orgies, was because of man's lust. And this is not the teaching for today. Tantra could be ideal for the person that has achieved mastery over himself, for the person that has total control over all his senses, that has so much awareness that the interpenetration of man and woman could be so sublimated that the Manifestor and the manifestation becomes one. So, then the real value of Maytuna, that is the Sanskrit word for coitus, is really known, otherwise it is just a physical act, a biological act like urinating, passing faeces. It could be nothing more, totally physical, perhaps with some heightened activity or heightened emotions or heightened passion. Yes. Then he remains on a total animal level. But by being able to sublimate this very drive, this very energy, one draws to oneself the subtle forces within oneself, the Kundalini power as well as the spiritual force into such a oneness that you are totally merged away, you are totally lost. You are not aware of the body any more. You are not aware of the mind any more. You just are. It is an "isness" where the highest form of bliss is experienced. If we could use an analogy, it would mean an orgasm which is a million, million, billion, billion times more powerful th an the animal orgasm. So this is the aim of Tantra of how to elevate one's energies, how to increase the vibrational rate of the various chakras or vortexes of energies, how they could interflow, how the energies could interflow between the various subtle chakras and reach gradually to that heightened awareness whereby Shakti becomes one with Shiva in the Sahasrara Chakra. Now, this is on the individual level between man and woman, husband and wife. But the same process if you think carefully, is happening all the time, in all creation. Everything is germinated - the birds and the bees, you know about that. How many don't? (Gururaj laughs) Yeah. Everything. Even a flower cannot grow without it being germinated. So this is happening on a universal scale. Why should it not happen on the individual scale while still preserving whatever moral standards we have to preserve? Whatever our conceptions are, whatever our beliefs are, is a different matter altogether. We are seeking the union, the totality, the oneness between man and woman, so that it could become like that statue, Urdinarishvara, where both are combined into one wholeness.

7. UK 79- 18 So all these psycho-yogic practices is just but a preparation. Without that preparation, without that self-control, without that deep understanding, without the realisation or some intimation or knowledge or the discrimination between Manifestor and manifestation, it could just become an animal act. Now, as I said before, there is a sect in India called the Vammargis, very Leftist, they believe in the five M's, M for Mary. They believe in the five M's and it has degenerated so much that without the five M's that union cannot be found, an idle, untruthful justification of their acts. Those five M's are - I've got it somewhere here - those five M's are Mudia which means wine, Mansa which means meat, Matsia which means fish, Mudra which means parched cereal and then Maytuna which means sexual union. So these Leftist Tantrics practise this and it has even been incorporated in their rituals where they must have the wine, they must have the fish, they must have the meat and cereals to go with it. We might call it bread - I don't know why they forgot the soup! (Gururaj laughs) because it seems quite a course doesn't it? Well, you start with the fish and then go to the meat and (General laughter), and of course the Mudia or wine follows, the, the, the white with - how does it work? - white with fish and what goes? I know very - red with meat. I don't know what they consume with Maytuna, each other, beautiful, each other. So, instead of sublimation it is a degradation, a degeneration where these senses are lost, where they would insist on the consumption of grosser foods, for example, and the imbibing of intoxicants and they lose their senses by too much wine and then indulging in the sexual act. And they say ‘We indulge in Tantra and we forget ourselves. We find that union’. How untrue. It is like saying that you would have some psychic experiences going on a trip by taking LSD. So this was the ancient form of trip taking, mood making. You see how things can generate from a very sublime principle of finding that union, that spiritual union to something which just is but debauchery. And many of these practices are done in groups. Phew! Right. So it is actually venting one's lustful desires that has been practised instead of sublimation. Yet what has caused this, because one of the principles of Tantra is this, that you must rise by that which you fall. Listen to this very carefully, that you must rise by that which you fall. So you become degraded by excess of wine, excess of this, excess of that, so use the same very means by which you have fallen, to rise up again. That is their theory. We don't know how practical it is, because if a person is an excessive drinker, I don't know how he can get out of it by more drinking. So it seems a contradiction, but this too is the justification used by, not the real Tantrist, not the people that sublimate but the Leftists that use the teachings of Tantra for their own lustful needs. Now, Tantra has contributed something very beautiful to this world. They have contributed a very beautiful art form and some of you might have seen Tantric paintings and Tantric sculptures. The Tantrist is, very seldom would want to express his senses, he very seldom wants to express what he hears or sees or touches. He wants to express something

8. UK 79- 18 beyond that in his art and thereby go beyond the third dimension and reach the fourth dimension. Some of these paintings and sculptures are so beautiful that if you are of concentrated mind you could just by looking, go into a different dimension altogether. So, as with everything, good and bad can evolve out of everything, even from something which is not good, something good can come. And from something which is good, bad can come and even something better can come. So this was a great contribution to art by the ancient Tantric artists. They have in their art a symbol of two triangles, one pointing up and the other pointing down which we do find as a symbol in other religions as well. The one represents Shiva and the other represents Shakti. Don't confuse this with gurushakti, that's something different. One represents Shiva and one represents Shakti, intertwined, so that it forms a five-pointed star. Now, these five points in turn - you see all Tantric art is very symbolic and being symbolic it can convey a different dimension to our vision and to our understanding - good - so the five points in that star, we're taking this particular picture as an example, the five points represent the five elements that constitute the universe. Earth, water, fire, air and aether, those are the five constituent s of the universe. So the five constituents of the universe cannot come about without the conjunction of Shiva and Shakti. So you see how beautifully, in a very simple diagram, it could show us the entire meaning of creation. It could take us into a different dimension altogether. So, here in these two triangles, one facing up and one down, you would find it also to be the combination of static and kinetic energy and which is of course the basis of the functioning universe. And whenever we see differences, it is just because of various forms of concentration of these energies, various different forms of concentrations where a certain substance would seem more subtler, while another substance which would seem more grosser. Now, behind this all they worship a Goddess, Goddess called Kali, the Goddess Kali. So, the Tantrics, their object of worship is Kali. Now, the woman is symbolised as Kali, the woman is symbolised as Kali, the woman being the energy in the world, the woman being the motion in the world, so that if I could offer you all my weaknesses, all my discrepancies, if I could offer all that to you, the very motion that you are creating will destroy my shortcomings. Therefore, the Goddess Kali is usually known as the Goddess of destruction, but destruction in the way of our shortcomings and not destruction in the sense as opposed to construction, to destroy our weaknesses, to destroy our sins. So in this machine, this universe that is all motion, symbolised as the Goddess Kali, who in turn is symbolised as one's beloved, I penetrate you with all my weaknesses so that you could destroy it. And here too, Kali is always pictured as black. The word Kala comes from Kali, black. Now, here too science verifies this as we spoke about just now, the theory of the black hole where everything, the entire manifestation is sucked in, right, where in blackness, all different colours, all hues are absorbed and all colours

9. UK 79- 18 cease in that blackness, in that which is black. So it means all manifestation because it has been manifested, it has to return into the Manifestor. This is the symbolism of Kali, that is the Goddess that is worshipped mostly by the Tantrics, that the entire universe, the entire manifestation represented as all the various things we see around us, consolidates itself into the Goddess Kali, which is black. So all these various colours and hues of manifestation disappears and that oneness of Kali is there, which is the counterpart of Shiva. So here Kali, another name for Kali is Shakti and Shakti is the counterpart or the manifested aspect of Shiva. If you have a lamp there will be a shadow under the lamp. It is because of the light of the lamp that the shadow occurs. Destroy the shadow and you destroy the light. Destroy the light and you destroy the shadow. Those are two aspects, the female and the male aspect of all creation, of all manifestation. And this brings us to exactly one o'clock and we shall - this clock has manifested hour one. All leads to one, even the clock! Good. So this evening we shall continue with this talk where I will discuss the various ritual forms, the various worship forms. Some of them are aesthetically not so appealing but I've been requested to talk about it and I will. Okay. END