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eastern philosophy
May 2009 
Tantric Philosophy
Posted on Dec 4th, 2008
by 
Lelazjia
Lelazjia
I've been philosophizing with myself about Tantra for the past few weeks, and would love to get a conversation going with others besides the voices in my own head. :-) I've been studying Tantric Philosophy for the past year as I've deepened my yoga practice and begun Anusara Yoga teacher training. I think some of my friends out here are tantrikas, so I'd love to hear from you!
For several years, I've resonated with the word BOTH when I think about my mission in life. I first understood it to mean being BOTH connected to Source AND fully living on earth, and I've been delving deeper into that concept each year. Then this past year, I had the great fortune to sit for two days at the feet of Paul Muller-Ortega absorbing his brilliance on Tantric philosophy, and I realized I was Home. I had finally found the words and the container, so to speak, for what I've always felt in my soul.
I've always rebelled at the idea that to find God, one has to withdraw from society, renounce all worldly pleasures, turn within and block out the world. Why on earth would we have agreed to come to earth only to renounce all the juiciness of being on earth? We can be out of body and in Spirit any old time; being incarnated and playing in the school of Life on Earth is truly a special treat. Shouldn't we make the most of it? HOW can we make the most of it?
Tantric philosophy suggests that Everything is God (Shiva). There is nothing in the cosmos that is not God; everything that IS, is God. Shiva takes Himself and slows down His vibration enough to take form, and He takes a myriad of forms so that He can observe Himself from a myriad of angles and know Himself better. As He slows down his vibration and takes form, these forms (some of which are human) become cloaked in Maya (illusion), so that we forget that we are God. And the whole cosmic purpose of this game is to see how cloaked we can become and still Remember who we really are. It becomes a dance of forgetting and remembering, and absolutely everything we do can become a tool for enlightenment, for remembering. Everything is sacred, or can be. In my first blog post, I mentioned going to the store and looking into people's eyes. It's a Tantric game called "Do You Remember?" Ok, I just made that up. :-) But that's really what it is--looking into another's eyes to find the God within. You can't play the game when you don't remember yourself in that moment.
Who wants to play this great cosmic game with me now?
Love to all,
Johanna
For several years, I've resonated with the word BOTH when I think about my mission in life. I first understood it to mean being BOTH connected to Source AND fully living on earth, and I've been delving deeper into that concept each year. Then this past year, I had the great fortune to sit for two days at the feet of Paul Muller-Ortega absorbing his brilliance on Tantric philosophy, and I realized I was Home. I had finally found the words and the container, so to speak, for what I've always felt in my soul.
I've always rebelled at the idea that to find God, one has to withdraw from society, renounce all worldly pleasures, turn within and block out the world. Why on earth would we have agreed to come to earth only to renounce all the juiciness of being on earth? We can be out of body and in Spirit any old time; being incarnated and playing in the school of Life on Earth is truly a special treat. Shouldn't we make the most of it? HOW can we make the most of it?
Tantric philosophy suggests that Everything is God (Shiva). There is nothing in the cosmos that is not God; everything that IS, is God. Shiva takes Himself and slows down His vibration enough to take form, and He takes a myriad of forms so that He can observe Himself from a myriad of angles and know Himself better. As He slows down his vibration and takes form, these forms (some of which are human) become cloaked in Maya (illusion), so that we forget that we are God. And the whole cosmic purpose of this game is to see how cloaked we can become and still Remember who we really are. It becomes a dance of forgetting and remembering, and absolutely everything we do can become a tool for enlightenment, for remembering. Everything is sacred, or can be. In my first blog post, I mentioned going to the store and looking into people's eyes. It's a Tantric game called "Do You Remember?" Ok, I just made that up. :-) But that's really what it is--looking into another's eyes to find the God within. You can't play the game when you don't remember yourself in that moment.
Who wants to play this great cosmic game with me now?
Love to all,
Johanna
Access: Public
Well, you HAD given me a heads-up, Johanna. So let's see now.
Surprisingly, here's something I read today,from Yoga Vashishtha, which is I guess in the tradition of Vedanta.
“This infinite and eternal light is in the heart of all: in its light the three worlds shine, as a mirage.
When the infinite vibrates, the worlds appear to emerge. When it does not vibrate, the worlds appear to submerge, even as when a firebrand is whireled fast a fiery circle appears.”
How interesting to read that Shiva slows down for the world to appear; and light begins to vibrate for it to happen!!! Somewhere in the oneness these two apparent paradoxes converge.
Or co-exist?
Yes, well the tantrikas were the original plagerizers (how's that for an oxymoron?).
They would say that when Shiva closes his eyes and turns inward as for contemplation, the world disappears and when he opens them he breathes it into existence again.
I think they might also say that when the infinite vibrates into the physical, the world appears to emerge. They were masters at taking the best of all the other philosphies and weaving them together into their philosophy. In fact, one of the meanings of tantra is “to weave together”
You see why Im so drawn to this with the essence of BOTH? :-)
Lelazjia, I think this is one discussion we COULD have on Living Metaphysics. I am at the end of the book; and this could be an interesting conversation. Perhaps Eli would play too….
Johanna… a rich and complex cosmos! Taking into account the diverse Hindu and Buddhist forms of Tantrism.
Yes, rightly understood, its a cosmic game.
I posted two texts at the PlayPod with a certain reference to the theme of cosmic play:
Play: The Movement of Love
Maybe interesting too in this context.
Great article Albert, thanks so much for sharing it here. I found that as I read it, I was in such joy, thinking YES, let’s PLAY!!
yes…giving our deepest gifts -as David Deida too says:
“Feel what you want to give most as a gift, to your woman and to the world, and do what you can to give it today. Every moment waited is a moment wasted, and each wasted moment degrades your clarity of purpose.”
www.deida.info
And playing is so full of moments where waiting is not necesssary.
What do you think about this games design in Beta? Will enter the globalmarket in spring 2009:
True Valuables
I looooove David Deida! I had the great fortune of attending a workshop he gave at Kripalu (in western Mass) this spring.