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Tantra Yoga is a potent power that can be harnessed for spiritual regeneration. It has long been used by Hindus for this purpose and also misused by many for perverted ambitions. The word tantra means 'expansion'. A student performing tantra yoga tries to expand levels of consciousness in order to attain the Divine. 'Shakti' or 'the cosmic mother' is the dynamic aspect of the Divine that this yoga centers on.
Tantra yogis aim to achieve oneness with the dynamic energy that pervades our system. They try and overcome individual limitations and release blocked energy channels.
Misconceptions about tantra yoga
Tantra yoga is meant to be used as a medium to achieve spiritual benefits, but it is often abused by some people for ulterior motives. Sexuality is not the motive of tantra yoga. Rather, it uses sexual energy and transmutes it into higher channels. Orgasm is not the goal; channeling the sexual energy is. Self-proclaimed teachers who have misconstrued the meaning of tantra as sex practices need to be kept away.
Tantra yoga aims to awaken and harmonize the male and female aspects within each individual. It aims to have the practitioner realize that the whole universe is a manifestation of Shakti, the cosmic mother.
Tantra yoga meditation
Tantra yoga is secret doctrine that can be learnt only from the teachers. However it is known to be based on these lines:
A student sits in a meditative pose and cleanses his/her mind of wayward thoughts and unhealthy desires. He/she then works up and experiences the life force through some techniques. Through the power of imagination, he/she directs the force to rise up the spine, from the base to the neck, and then into the forehead.
After enough accumulation of the life force in the forehead, the student directs it to move out from the forehead and form a body of light and energy a few feet away. The light body is made as large as a human body through imagination techniques. The student then directs love and devotion towards that dynamic body and makes it a mirror of his/her own soul. After a period of meditation, he/she directs the dynamic body to reenter the forehead and down the spine into the base.
Purposes of doing tantra yoga
Rejuvenating forces are experienced by the one who performs tantra yoga. He/she realizes that the life force within the human body is in essence divine - a part of the universe created by God.
Secondly, negative habits can be overcome using tantra yoga. Severe obsessions with smoking, drinking or overeating can be gotten rid of. Some techniques are taught through which the student develops extreme awareness of his/her bad habits. The techniques are unique; they help the sufferer enjoy the obsession as though God were enjoying it. Within a few sittings the student does not need the obsession to feel elated; the presence of the Divine is enough.
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