Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy
Georg Feuerstein
Language: English
Pages: 244
ISBN: B003FD0FMC
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Publish Year note: First published in 1998
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Tantra—often associated with Kundalini Yoga—is a fundamental dimension of Hinduism, emphasizing the cultivation of "divine power" (shakti) as a path to infinite bliss. Tantra has been widely misunderstood in the West, however, where its practices are often confused with eroticism and licentious morality. Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy dispels many common misconceptions, providing an accessible introduction to the history, philosophy, and practice of this extraordinary spiritual tradition.
The Tantric teachings are geared toward the attainment of enlightenment as well as spiritual power and are present not only in Hinduism but also Jainism and Vajrayana Buddhism. In this book, Georg Feuerstein offers readers a clear understanding of authentic Tantra, as well as appropriate guidance for spiritual practice and the attainment of higher consciousness.
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face, but according to the Kaula scriptures, so is the Kaula system. 15. According to Abhinava Gupta, who lived in the tenth century CE, there were ten early Kaula teachers (see Tantra-Āloka, chapter 28), not counting his own immediate lineage or the sons of Macchanda, who, since they are remembered by tradition, in all probability were his successors. 16. The most important Kaula scriptures are the Kula-Arnava-Tantra, Kaula-Jnāna-Nirnaya, Samketa-Paddhati, Kaula-Avalī-Nirnaya,
own literatures—the Purānas, Āgamas, Samhitās, and Tantras.4 These alternative literatures, considered sacred by their respective communities, share many teachings, ideas, and linguistic expressions with the Vedic corpus while in many ways representing a distinct orientation and style. In traditional terms, they all belong to the kali-yuga. There are also numerous commonalities between these various literatures themselves, cosmography being one of them. According to the Puranic-Tantric picture
numerous. But, O Goddess, difficult to find is a guru who removes the disciples’ suffering. Numerous here on earth are those who are intent on social class, stage of life, and family. But he who is devoid of all concerns is a guru difficult to find. An intelligent man should choose a guru by whose contact the supreme Bliss is attained, and only such a guru and none other. The Tantras list additional qualities to be looked for in a true teacher. To cite the Kula-Arnava-Tantra (13.70, 86, 88–89)
however difficult, arbitrary, or incongruous they may seem. The teacher has no reason to burden the disciple with an unnecessary program of self-purification. Very likely the guru will recommend a course of action that has borne fruit in his or her own case, and he or she also will take the disciple’s needs and abilities carefully into account. Milarepa was given the apparently senseless chore of building a tower only to have it torn down again and again. This was Marpa’s way of helping his
speeded up to the most subtle level of nature (prakriti), and hence they are said to have become reabsorbed into the cosmic matrix. The intelligent Goddess power henceforth—or at least for the period of kundalinī arousal—takes over their respective functions. This esoteric process is the basis for the bhūta-shuddhi ritual, in which the elements are visualized as being purified through their progressive absorption into the divine Shakti. This practice, which is discussed in detail in the