Tantric Rituals in India

Tantric Rituals in India

Introduction:

Tantra is a Sanskrit term, which literally means wrap or loom. The term originates by the combination of two terms: 'tan' meaning stretch or expand and 'tra' meaning instrument. Thus, tantricism refers to the inter-religious spiritual movement, which originated in medieval India in the fifth century. The scriptures refer to the movement and state that it affected almost every major religion in Asia at that time. The prevailing religions in the early medieval period, including Shaivism, Buddhism, Vaishnavism and Jainism have all been influenced by Tantra and have developed some dimensions of it. The impact of Tantra did not remain confined to India only but spread to Tibet, Nepal, China, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia too. Yoga is said to be a modern and revolutionized form of Tantra, and the postural yoga movement falls under the same category, along with some other forms of American alternative spirituality groups.

Definition:

According to the definition presented by 10th century Tantric scholar Ramaka??ha, who belonged to the dualist school called the Saiva Siddhanta, Tantra is the body of teachings revealed divinely, which aims at explaining things that are important and also other things that pose hindrance in the worship of God. It also describes the specialized initiation and purification rituals that are essential for prerequisite of Tantric practices.

Salient Features:

The major salient feature of Tantra is the fact that it presents a world-embarrassing image of the entire reality as the one single being, which is independent, free and blissful Devine Consciousness. The practice and the phenomenon were open to adoption by anyone and everyone, thus spreading the spiritual liberation even to household, instead of considering it a personal property of monks only. It allows common people to get the benefits of this spiritual practice and inculcate the benefits in their daily lives, instead of considering spirituality as something different from the daily schedule.

Before the advent of Tantra, there was a conception that spirituality is totally the opposite of the daily schedule, and both of them cannot be combined at a time. However, Tantra negated the notion and allowed the inculcation of spiritual learning in everyday lives of people. Thus, the spiritual practices aim at creating realization that everything that exists is Divine, and also seeks to save people from the cycle of suffering and ignorance while brining about internal realization of divinity of the universe.

Although the majority of the teachings and practices of Tantra are not concerned with the image of sex, there is a common conception that Tantra is equivalent to superlative sex. However, the concept is wrong, and no such link exists, and emerged from the time when some non dual schools employed sexual rituals in order to achieve intensification and dissolve the boundaries created by the mind. It also assisted in expansion of awareness, but the original Tantra teachings were not based on sex.

Practices in Tantra:

Tantra is based on practices and ideologies, instead of being a single and theoretical system. It has a number of rituals ...