The modern world is a culture of great variety and diversity. Everywhere we see changes; new developments. On all levels man is broadening his concepts and views, accepting new and more efficient ways of living and achieving his multidimensional goals. The modern mind is completely different to the mind of other cultures and times. It is very practical and aggressive. It works with terrific speed and is always discovering things. The modern man greatly admires the idealism and the tenets of Christianity, Vedanta and Buddhism, but he is unable to assimilate or practise them because they do not fit into his present pattern. With this understanding, people today must seek another way of spiritual life which fits the changing patterns of their life and which their minds can accept. Tantra is the correct system for the people of today.
Tantra does not accept any kind of limitation, whether religious, cultural, tribal or national. There is no need to make a departure from your current status of life, nor should there be any disrespect for it. The attitude of tantra is that one should not suppress or renounce one’s weaknesses, nor hate certain aspects of one’s personality. The frailties of man can become part of his spiritual life and practice. In this way the mania of ‘pseudo-purity’ is avoided. In some spiritual paths one develops an egoistic idea that he is the purest being while everybody else is a sinner. If there is any science or any religion in the world which has respect for human weaknesses, it is surely tantra. Tantra is the lone beacon of tolerance which understands the laws of natural evolution to which every individual is subjected. That is the fundamental difference between tantra and other systems of spiritual consciousness.
When you suppress the mind, you suppress spiritual advancement. The mind is suppressed on account of guilt. This guilt is present in everyone and it is the greatest barrier in spiritual life. Tantra is the middle way, and the principle is: Do not interfere with the pattern of your life.
The mind is also limited by its conditioning and you have created these conditions for yourself. You have created definitions, but these definitions are not absolute. They are man-made definitions, created by socio-political thinkers for the community, for the nation. These things have nothing to do with man’s spiritual progress. If the light is covered by a veil, you have to remove the veil, and that is why I request you to give a thought to this tantric system of yoga.
The whole world is a slave to philosophy and principles. Teachers are behaving like priests or clergymen, preaching something very high. They are asking you to break your minds, to create a split personality. In one corner of the room you practise yoga and in another corner you read Freud. That is a split; that is a conflict. What spiritual illumination can you expect then? What do you believe in: the Puritanism of yoga or the psychology of Freud? You have to put this question to yourself.
Spiritual life has to be discovered on the basis of your own culture. Whether it is yoga or Vedanta, Bible or Koran, Gita or Mahabharata, please remember that there should be a uniformity in your life and your spiritual practice. To be very clear, if you drink whisky, your religion should not say it is bad. If you lead a life of sexual interactions, your spiritual faith should not contradict and criticize that. If you take non- vegetarian diet, your spiritual faith should not condemn it. Only when spiritual life is in accord with daily life can you balance your conflicts. This is the path of tantra.
The principle of tantra is very simple. In tantra, everything becomes a stepping-stone to evolution. The mind stuff, which is constantly evolving is not clogged or blocked. The mind is like a child. If you pester it constantly saying: “Oh, you are bad” it soon becomes neurotic and weak. That is why tantra says to treat the mind with respect.
You try to control the mind, but you can never do it. In the name of control, you kill the mind. It is like slapping your child left to right, for everything. If he laughs, you slap; if he weeps, you slap; if he plays games, you slap. What will happen to your child? What is going to happen to your mind? This mind is your best secretary and it is sick and tired of slapping and control.
Have you ever thought about whom you are controlling, and who is controlling whom? Are you not trying to control yourself? This means that one tendency of the mind is punishing another tendency of the mind. One tendency is the controller and another is the controlled one. Thus you create two divisions in your mind. You are inimical to yourself, you oppose yourself, you are fighting with yourself. Is this the way to spiritual life? This is why you are stranded in spiritual life. In fact, the whole of humanity stands stranded somewhere in between external life and spiritual life, and no one knows which way to go.
In the history of mankind, spiritual life began with tantra. The cosmic nature taught man to live in a particular way and thereby evolve. Tantra literally means the expansion of mind and liberation of energy, and all the practices of tantra are aimed at this.
The idea of expansion is very important. The human mind functions in limited situations and is dependent on the sensory channels. The senses supply information and then the mind knows. It has a limited field. It is important for the spiritual aspirant to understand how to expand the mind. This process occurs when the mind is able to know without the sensory channels. When you sit for meditation, the mind expands, it is able to experience things without the medium of the senses.
Tantra has a different definition of meditation. Unconsciousness is not meditation. In the state of meditation, both the internal and external dimension of consciousness are combined. In the beginning we try to become master of inner consciousness at the same time. For example, if you are inside, you can see the room very well, but you are unable to see outside. If you stand at the threshold, you can see both inside and outside. Then there is no ‘outside’ and ‘inside’; both are the same.
You must remember that in order to have an experience, you need the help of the senses, but you can also have an experience without the senses. This means that there are two kinds of awareness: one is through the senses that is called the worldly experience. But when you are able to be aware without the senses that is called the inner experience, the transcendental experience. Who is experiencing both of these? One and the same self; the seer is one and not two. This is an important point that you have to remember in tantra. External experience is one type of spiritual experience. You should have both awareness functioning at the same time, which is the total, homogeneous complete experience.
Most people think that in the states of dhyana and samadhi, the external experience is finished. In fact it is not. This is one mistake that we have to correct. In meditation and samadhi you are able to have both internal and external experience at the same time, because you are the seer. When you are able to experience inner and outer awareness at the same time, this is known as the expansion of consciousness. When the expansion of consciousness takes place the energy automatically liberated.
28 August 1979, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, Antwerp, Belgium