-Kirti Tarang Pande
Originally Published in Daily Bhaskar
In my last Tantra article, I
promised that I will be sharing practices of Safe Tantra- ones that don’t
require a Guru’s supervision.
How it
works:
To understand & be able to use the power of Tantra in our
day-to-day world, it is essential that we first know what this day-to-day world
is and who we are.
Sankhya Darshan says that this seen world is created with
Panchamahabhoota (Five basic elements)-
1. Kshiti (Earth)
2. Jal (Water)
3. Pavak (Fire)
4. Akaash (Space)
5. Sameera (Air)
According to Taittiriya Upnishad, our Annamayakosa (our gross physical body) is an amalgamation of these
Panchmahabhoota.
At initiation level, we use Tantra as a technique of shuddhi (purification) of these
Panchmahabhoota. This prepares not only our physical body to receive, accept
& assimilate the explosion of our Shakti
but in the realm of realism, it imparts success to us.
Now the question is-
How to
purify Panchamahabhoota through Tantra:
Simply follow these five easy steps, one for each mahabhoota in
your daily life;
1. Kshiti (Earth)
Earth gives us stability. The stability is essential to us but
it comes with Tamas (inertia). This
inertia prevents us from taking necessary actions in the direction of success.
Therefore, in order to bring any kind of desirable change in our lives it’s crucial
that we minimize (if not eliminate) the Tamas within us.
This can be done by understanding how Tamas functions. In my
personal practice, I follow a simple thumb rule- anything that gives pleasure
now but pain later is Tamasic & should be minimized if not eliminated.
However, the thing with Tamas is, it’s addictive. So, here’s a
cheat trick to overcome Tamas addiction:
Cheat
Trick:
Shitali, Shitkari & Sadanta are three pranayams that help in
getting rid of any kind of cravings. Practicing each one of these three
pranayams 9 times daily help in quenching the Tamasic yearnings.
2. Jal (Water)
Majority of tantrics concentrate mostly upon water element,
because when it comes to physical body it’s the most important element. In
fact, there’s an entire field of Tantric Alchemy dedicated to it, it’s called- Rasa Vidya- the knowledge of Rasa. It’s
such an esoteric practice that there’s a test that one needs to pass before
getting initiation into it. The test is called-
Gagan
gamana, swarna karna (One should be able to levitate & turn base metal into
gold).
This external alchemy is taken as a proof of internal alchemy
that comes after an internal transformation. This transformation is a product
of purification of water element inside our body.
This purification, according to Taittriya Upnishad, must begin
at mental level. Water is Rasa in
Sanskrit, so are our emotions. In order to purify water element at physical
level, it is essential that we purify our emotions first.
In my daily practice, I find Mindfulness & a Tibetan
meditation technique called Tong Len the most effective way of purifying
emotions.
3. Pavak (Fire)
Placed in the middle of the five elements, fire acts as a bridge
between the dense elements (earth & water) and subtle elements (air &
ether). Therefore, to create balance in physical body purification of fire is
indispensable. As a result, we find fire as a foundation of both the paths of
Yoga- the known Vedic path & the secret Tantric path. In fact, the first
word, of the first shloka, of the first mandala, of the first Veda is Agni- fire.
Since the fire exists in physical body in the form of acids,
enzymes & melanin, the simplest way to purify it is through food.
This means, fixing number of meals, fixing meal time &
eating only that food which doesn’t aggravate our dosha (Vata, Pitta, Kapha).
4. Sameera (Air)
The job of air is to move. If it’s not in continuously moving at
right time & right rate, then it produces undesirable effects, especially
in tubular organs.
The easiest way to purify air is to purify the channels through
which it moves. In Patanjali Yogsutram, rishi suggested working on purification
of three major channels called sushmna, ida and pingala; before dawn and right
after dusk. He suggests so because while Ida & Pingala function the whole
day but these are the time when it is easiest to get Sushumna to work.
The best way to do this is by practicing nadi shodhan pranayam for
beginners & anulom-vilom (in the authentic way as mentioned in Patanjali
yogsutram) by advanced practitioners. In my personal practice, I do so every
morning at 5am, before stepping down from bed.
I can’t control how my day is going to be, but I can control how
it begins- by balancing my body, speech & mind through Pranayams.
5. Akaash (Gagan)
If we go by the definitions used in Riga Veda, Akaash in its
most complex sense is what we today call the quantum mechanical field, the
vacuum energy. In its simplest form, Akaash’s that from which the particles
that make this multiverse spontaneously emerge, some of them manifest
themselves and create the seen reality.
Therefore, the Riga Veda says that this
multiverse is in a continuing process of externally manifested space &
time.
This makes Akaash the trickiest of all the five elements- it’s
not only the subtlest one but has the most complex function! So, the
purification it has to be difficult.
No! Akaash maybe the most subtle thing around, it’s still a matter.
(According to me, this is the fundamental difference between modern physics
& Sankhya philosophy).
The easiest way to purify any element is to figure out what
creates the element & then removing the external particles. In Sankhya
Darshan, it is believed that the Tanmatras
create Akaash.
What are Tanmatras? Let’s leave that for another day, for now,
let’s stick to the purification of Aakash. Patanjali Yogsutram talks of
Pratyahara for this.
Pratyahara is simply cutting the food of the five senses. It is
only when we withdraw from our sense, we get the window to experience the
reality beyond the external manifestation of it.
At Home Yogis’ Home, we get a taste of that experience through
‘Naad’ meditation, in which through ‘Shanmukhi mudra’, we connect with the
impulse that create the sound of our breath.
By doing so, we don’t simply see things but we become a person
of ‘vision’. To be a successful leader in modern economy it’s essential to be a
visionary. We are going to discuss this in details next week.
