Informative

The Origin of Tantra

Mythology around Tantra

To understand the origin of Tantra, it’s important to understand how the word was derived. In the Vedic times, ancient books and texts were called Sutras. A few examples are Yoga, Patanjali and Kamasutra. While Sutras were books and texts, Tantra was just passed verbally from master to student to ensure the sanctity and secrecy of the Science. The reason behind the secrecy was to ensure that only students who were prepared and initiated by their Gurus could practice it. Anyone who wasn’t prepared and ready to use it could bring about serious harm to themselves and their environment with the power of Tantra.  

Mythology around Tantra

Tantra was first described in Indian texts as early as 300-400 CE when the Hindu and Buddhist texts were being written down. The Hindu Mythology, however, mentions that the knowledge of Tantra was passed by Lord Shiva to Goddess Parvati. There are two stories behind this – 

In the first story

Lord Shiva has confined all his knowledge and powers at the beginning of Kalyug so no one could use them to harm others. This didn’t sit well with Goddess Parvati and she asked the Lord, “what about the good people and the Gods during Kalyug? What will they do?” To this the Lord smiled and replied, “Whatever has to happen will happen”. The Goddess was however persistent and she kept on asking the Lord to not confine all his powers and knowledge. Finally, the Lord one day lovingly asked the Goddess to sit in his lap and explained to her, that a very small part of his powers has been confined and that Tantra will remain awakened and conscious even during Kalyug. Anyone who is properly initiated by their teacher practices Tantra, will not face any difficulty in doing so. 

In the second story

Goddess Parvati sees Lord Shiva teaching all the Sages and Saints and asks the Lord, “What are you teaching them? I want to learn too”. Saying this, she goes and stands in front of him asking him to teach her what he was teaching the sages. Lord Shiva then asks the Goddess to come and sit on his lap. She refuses and insists that he teach her. He says, just come and sit in my lap and she says no first you teach me. This goes on for a while when the Goddess finally gives in and sits on the Lord’s Lap. This is when he begins merging her with himself, when he starts taking her in and thus teaching her all his knowledge and powers on an atomic level. As Parvati merges with Shiva, she learns everything there is to know on an experiential level. 

Tantra Now

Tantra is widely practiced in the modern world in different traditions and countries and is also classified into White and Red Tantra, but more on that in our next blog. In the meanwhile, if this fascinates you and you’d like to learn more about Tantra, Read – https://www.chamundaswamiji.com/why-is-tantra-misunderstood

Tell us in the comments section what else you’d like to know about Tantra and how you found this blog.