Sahaja Tantra - Newsletter

Next Tantra Training:

19th of december 2010 -

8th of january 2011 (South Africa)

„The path of Tantra“

(International Sahaja Tantra Teacher Training)

Philosophy of Yoga and Tantra  /  History of Yoga and Tantra

Tantra-Knowledge

„The great goal of life is not knowledge but experience.“

( Thomas Henry Huxley )

In this area we want to give the opportuntiy to all people who are interested in or passionate about Tantra to learn and inform yourself about the Sahaja Tantra teachings and to experience and explore the teachings on your own.
 

Philosopy of Yoga and Tantra

The goal of life is the ultimate liberation of suffering (Moksha) or the all pervasive experience of inner bliss (Satchitananda). In this definition most indian religions and also the yogic and tantric people agree. The basic view on the world is also shared in Yoga and Tantra alike. Both philosophies say: "The world and its phenomenas are illusionary and transient in nature. If you look for happiness in something transient you will be disappointed and suffer for sure some day because it cannot give you lasting happiness. Only by diving into the eternal being (into the "divine") you can find eternal freedom and peace."

The conclusions about this foundation though differ completely in Yoga and Tantra. While Yoga advises you to consciously withdraw from the world, Tantra advises you to consciously indulge into the world.

By advising you to acknowledge and walk through all the experiences in life Tantra developped as a counter culture and rebellion against the ascetic forms of Yoga.

The traditional Yoga includes expansive guidelines of commands and prohibitions which neglect and control especially enjoyment and sexuality and also give strict moral demands on how to behave in life. A Yogi is thus called "the one renouncing the world".

Tantric people on the contrary are often also called Bhogi, or "the one eating or enjoying the world". Tantra rebelled against the existing rules and offered a completely new attitude towards life: the devotion to the body, the senses, the sexuality, the enjoyment and the rejection of all moral value. Tantric philosophy could therefore be called amoral. A tantric is not immoral though. He is not against morality, he just does not care about morality but instead tries to be as aware and awake and conscious as possible in everything he or she is doing.

Both pathes bear challenges. For the Yogi there is the danger that he is not consciously letting go but instead is just suppressing his desires, wishes and passions. For the tantric there is the danger that he is not consciously living and walking through the enjoyments but instead losing himself in excesses. Therefore we could say that a certain kind of discipline is needed for both Yoga and Tantra alike: in Yoga it is the discipline of conscious withdrawl, in Tantra it is the discipline of conscious devotion.

In the list below you will find the main teachings of the two different philosophies summed up:

To do so we will soon offer a wide variety of basic and advanced online courses in the form of ebook-, audio- and video-teachings. Some of them will be free, others will have a cost that you decide for yourself.

If you want to be informed about the release of the online courses you can just register for the free Sahaja Tantra - newsletter.

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History of Yoga and Tantra

The cradle of all religions - even of christianity - lies in India. In India there exist numerous different religions and cults that exist in harmony together. The basic assumption is: there is only one divine energy but many different pathes to experience and express this divinity. Jesus for example is seen as just one of many prophets.

• Between 3.000 and 1.800 b. c. there exists a prearian indian culture with a mother cult. This is more african and ritual in nature. The female aspect with its fertile energy is worshipped. The term "shaktism" from "Shakti" (the female aspeckt) is created.
• After 1.800 b. c. the arian people move in waves from the west to north india. Their belief system has a more patriarchal structure and includes the concept of reincarnation including the structure of casts with its four-structured class-system. The highest cast are the brahman priests, the lowest are the so called untouchables.
• Between 1.500 and 900 b. c. the indian vedism develops and flowers. Natural spirits and gods are worshipped and sacrifized for; for example agni - the fire, vayu - the wind or yama - the god of death. Ritual words and prayers (mantras) are used.
• From 900 to 300 b. c. the brahmanism develops with its law of Karma (the circle of reincarnations). It is the so called law of cause and effect: "Everything you cause has an effect". Effects are not understood in the sense of punishment but more as learning experiences for the purpose of ultimately liberating oneself from the circle (Moksha). From this desire arose the highest possible goal in Indian philosophy: the liberation of all desires. In that time the highly evolved Upanishad-scriptures with its Vedanta philosophy (teaching of non-duality) were written. In the Vedanta philosophy life was regarded as a "divine play" (Leela).
• 560 to 480 b. c. was the time of Siddharta Gautama, the historical buddha (the awakened) who lived first as a prince in luxury, then went into asceticism and finally with 35 years found enlightenment by following the "middle way". After that he travelled around and taught for over 40 years. He held a number of highly intelligent speeches and transmitted many different meditation techniques that are leading towards enlightenment.
• From 300 b. c. the so called hinduism developped with its many different deities that are worshipped individually. Each deity represents one aspect of the divine whole. The most famous deities are Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Rama, Radhu, Lakshmi, Rudra and Ganesha. There are many statures existing from these deities.
• About the year 0 Patanjali wrote the famous Yoga-Sutra (Sutra = teaching scripture). He was teaching the classical Yoga with its eight-folded path (Ashtangha Yoga or Raja Yoga). It proposes a step by step development by following guidelines for daily living. The eight steps are called:: Yama (prohibitions), Niyama (commands), Asana (body positions), Pranayama (breath exercises), Pratyahara (pulling back the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) und Samadhi (enlightenment). In this Yoga presents itself as the counterpart to Vedanta. While Yoga says that you are separate from god and have to renunite, Vedanta on the contrary says that you are already one with god. You just have to recognize this.
• About the year 200 the Bhagavad Gita - a form fo bible for the Indian - is written. In it god Krishna points out the four different pathes to liberation to the questioning hero Arjuna: Karma Yoga (selfless acting and serving in the world without being focussed on a goal), Bhakti Yoga (devotion and ritual worship of god with the key prayer: „Thy will may happen!“), Jnana Yoga (self-realization with the question „Who am I?“), Raja Yoga (path of contemplation and meditation). Krishna advises everybody to find his unique way among these proposals. Krishnas favorite animal was the cow, therefore this is regarded to as a holy animal in India.
• About 500 Tantrism (or Tantra Yoga) develops, especially in Nepal, Assam, Bengale and Khajuraho. Tantra arises as a revolution in the Indian sprituality by teaching liberation through celebration, enjoyment and getting rid of morality. Meat and wine is consumed, craveyards are used as meeting places and sexual union is celebrated even with the so called "untouchables" from the lowest cast. The human body is worshipped as god itself (Shiva/Shakti). Then and now Tantra remains as a rebellious spiritual and anti moral for a small number of people. The tantric concept is: God will be reached by joy and by using the sexual energy.
• About 1000 is the flowering of the Vamacara Tantra, the left handed tantric path of concretely practiced sensuality and sexuality. Roughly said the flowering of Tantra was about 600 to 1200, so lasting for about 600 years. After that time the left handed Tantra nearly vanished until today. The so called right handed path (Dakshinacara Tantra) was more philosopical and ascetic (Dakshina = right, polite, decent; Vama = left, hard, dirty).
• Between 1100 and 1200 the Kularnava Tantra and the Mahacinacara Tantra arise in the cults of the Kaula and Kula and become the most important of the roundabout 200 shivaitic tantras. In their scriptures you find detailed descriptions about orgastic rites combined with drugs and sexual interactions in a spiritual context.
• About 1500 the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, an ascetic Yoga - scripture, is written and teaches liberation through body and breath exercises. The founder of Hatha Yoga is Matsyendra.
• In 1892 the Indian Yogi and student of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda speaks at the world congress of religions in Chicago about the universal religion and thus generates a worldwide interest in Indian philosophy. This is the beginning of spreading the four Yoga pathes in the US and later in Europe.
• About 1970 the tantric philosophy mixed with western psychology is spread in the west by the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (today Osho) and his student Margo Anand. The french therapist awakens the interest for modern people by books and workshops and initiates the development of the so-called Neo Tantra.
• About 2000 this Neo Tantra is starting to spread as largely as yoga some 20 years earlier.

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