Scientific and beneficial aspects of tantra cult

Introduction

Since my childhood, like many other persons in our country, I had fear and misgivings about tantra and tantriks. My mother, a simple lady, believed that tantriks possess supernatural powers which they always use for mischievous purposes and doing harm to others. Stories and rumors abound about the blood chilling activities of the tantriks, esp. the vamachari (left) tantriks and the kapalikas.

My father, a rational Advaita Vedantic, considered tantra as a non-Vedic esoteric practice, and had warned me that most of the so called tantriks (plenty of them roaming in rural areas) are in essence very vicious criminals without any conscience; most of them being drunkards and womanizers without any supernatural powers.

They use magic tricks and utilize poisons to perpetrate harm on his enemies or enemies of persons employing them. So to me and most of my friends during our youth, a tantric was a horrible creature like the Dracula in the western world.

Another disgusting thing about the tantriks was sacrifice of animals and even human beings, esp. young children. However, sacrifice to mother goddess Kali is not confined to the tantriks alone.

This heinous practice is still common among ordinary people performing worship of the mother goddess.

Mother Goddess Kali, Worshipped by Tantriks

Later on, during my college life I happened to visit a famous Kali temple at a place called Tarapith (abode of goddess Tara i.e. Kali) in the Birbhum District of our province, West Bengal.

Close to the temple, there was a famous cremation ground of the Hindus inside a vast compound enclosed by walls. As soon as I approached the entrance of the compound, an elderly person cautioned me, “Boy, be careful while you move inside the compound. The approach road to the cremation grounds is lined with tantriks most of whom are vicious criminals taking shelter here to avoid arrest as police cannot enter a religious site.” This incident enhanced my repulsion to tantra and tantriks.

However, an incident suddenly changed my negative attitude towards tantra cult. My health had broken down because of chronic bronchitis and conventional medical treatment was of little use.

A specialist physician opined that the problem was congenital and could not be fully cured by medicine. He referred me to a learned person practicing tantra. At first I was reluctant to seek help from a tantrik, but when the doctor said that he was not a saffron clad fake tantrik but a Professor of Philosophy of a renowned university, I changed my mind and decided to visit the professor.

The professor prescribed a few very simple breathing and meditational practices and posture which in course of a few months cured me completely from the bronchial malady and my health showed signs of rapid recovery.

This novel experience made me interested in tantra and I started studying books on tantra and practicing simple asanas, mudras and breathing exercises under the guidance of the tantrik professor.

But as regards the theories I started differing with the professor and the tantra books and it dawned upon me that the cause of widespread prevalence of fake tantriks is rooted in the tantra books themselves. As preached by the standard tantra texts and by the teachers of tantra in various religious sects, tantra has been made to be esoteric, and shrouded by mysticism, superstitions, surrealism, and mixed up with spiritualism.

The worst have been the abundance of rigorous rituals, most of which have nothing to do with tantra and use of thousands of unnecessary awkward looking and awe inspiring yantras (instruments).

So, I resolved to endeavor to give a scientific interpretation of tantra and to make tantra free from its esoteric nature, unnecessary rituals and yantras, superstitions, spiritualism, mysticism and surrealism.

We are to remember that no rigorous practices like tantra are necessary for spiritual uplift. Tantra may help, but tantra as such is not spiritualism. Bhakti (devotion) to the supreme is the essence of spiritualism (Basu, 2011).

Faith, simple meditation, and cultivation of ethical thinking are enough for spiritual achievements. However, it cannot be denied that disease free sound health and equanimity of mind achieved through yogic or tantra practices facilitate meditation for spiritual uplift, but without bhakti, tantra or yoga as such cannot lead to spiritual uplift.

So, it is high time that modern and enlightened students of tantra should endeavor to unveil the scientific truth of tantra and make it free from esoterism (enabling everybody to get access to interpretation and practice of tantra), occult practices, meaningless rituals and yantras, superstitions, surrealism and mysticism, and its wrong association with spiritualism.

In recent years, there has been mushroom growth of tantra societies in the western countries and the Indian gurus with some basic knowledge of tantra have taken the pioneering role to establish such societies which are sources of lucrative income for them and their western agents. Unfortunately these societies are doing more harm than benefit to tantra and generating a vulgarized interpretation of tantra in the minds of people in the west.

The basic objective of tantra practice in these societies is sexual gratification. This is contrary to the basic objective of tantra, viz. to uplift body and mind of the student practicing tantra.

Tantra and Yoga

A clear distinction between tantra and yoga is necessary as there has been, in recent years, a mushroom growth of fake yoga and meditation societies all over the world, passing off as yoga and meditation, cumbersome practices borrowed from tantra books. They are mostly businessmen striving to earn money from the gullible by promising spectacular super-natural healings and other achievements which have no real or scientific basis.

Yoga is purely a spiritual practice. It is based on simple meditation and ethical practices. The objective of yoga is spiritual uplift for union with the supreme. So unlike tantra, it has nothing to do with mundane gains, magic powers, magic cures or super natural powers – it does not make false promises of this or that gain.

Pure yoga is of four kinds:

1. Raj Yoga (Basu, 2011a) as enunciated by Patanjali in his famous treatise ‘Yoga Sutra’. There are controversies about the date of compositions and it appears that it was composed sometimes in between 100 B. C. to 100 A. D. Yogasutra of Patanjali mentions a simple and pleasant posture (Padmasana) and simple pranayama unlike the complicated postures and pranayamas as prescribed in tantra texts or hathayoga (based on various tantra practices) texts (Vivekananda, 2015).

2. Karma Yoga (Basu, 2011c) as enunciated in the Hindu sacred text Gita (Telang, 1882, Goodwin, 2015). Karma Yoga is based on spiritual achievements through unfailing and detached devotion to one’s duties.

3. Jnana Yoga (yoga based on jnana or knowledge): This yoga consists of spiritual achievement through knowledge and wisdom (Vivekananda, 2015a).

4. Bhakti Yoga: Spiritual Achievements through devotion to the supreme as exemplified in the Gita of the Hindus, Bible of the Christians and Quran of the Muslims (Basu, 2011).

Now-a-days all cumbersome things based on cults of various tantra sects are passed off as yogas. The term yoga has a better marketability because of general respect attached with it, whereas tantra has a bad reputation in the society. Among the collection of tantra practices going under the name of yoga, most mention worthy is Hatha yoga, popularized since the composition of the book Hathayoga Pradipika by Swami Svatmarama during the 15th century A. D. (Svatmarama, 2015).

It is basically a collection of tantra practices, which have no direct relevance for yoga, skipping many mystical and esoteric rituals of tantra. Some of the practices ensuring sound physical and mental health, however, may be helpful for Yoga proper. Nevertheless, on the whole, it is not a treatise on yoga, notwithstanding its name, because its purpose and methods of practice are radically different from that of yoga proper.

Essential and Proven Beneficial. Aspects of Tantra

The essential major aspects of tantra, the results of which can be verified with existing knowledge of science, are depicted below. Actually these basic practices are made mysterious and esoteric through innumerable rituals and use of yantras which have nothing to do achievements through tantra.

I shall here mention only the ones which may have beneficial effects on our health or help us in achieving various feats like athletics, boxing, martial art, dancing and music etc. and those tantra related practices the method of working on the body and mind of which could be comprehended by the preliminary knowledge of school level human physiology and bio-chemistry.

There are however, many feats achievable by tantra, which have been observed by me and many reliable persons. But the scientific cause and effect relationship are only under research. I would skip discussing those practices here.

A. Physical Aspects

Stage-1: Asanas (postures) here I give an exhaustive list of Asanas. These asanas make the glands, nervous system, blood circulation, respiratory system, digestive system, excretory system, muscular system and all organs of the body function perfectly.

Most of the shortcomings (except genetic ones) of the organs and physiological and bio- chemical functions of the body are removable by these asanas. A multitude of complicated asanas are not necessary for achieving disease-free sound mental and physical health.

Complicated postures are prescribed for achievement of higher tantra related goals like supernatural or magic power (most of which are likely to be imaginary and based on false promises).