Tantra
Tantra, tantric yoga or tantrism is any of several esoteric traditions rooted in the religions of India. It exists in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Bonpo, and New Age forms. Tantra's roots are in the village life of ancient India.
The word "tantra" first appears in the written record in the middle of the first millennium CE. Tantra has persisted and often thrived throughout Asian history.
In its Indian forms, tantra can be summarized as a family of voluntary rituals modeled on those of the Vedas, together with their attendant texts and lineages. These rituals typically involve the visualization of a deity, offerings (real or visualized), and the chanting of his or her mantra.
These practices are usually said to require permission from a qualified teacher or guru who belongs to a legitimate guruparampara or teacher-student lineage. Thus tantra shares some similarities with yoga.
Common variations include visualizing the deity in the act of sexual union with a consort; visualizing oneself as the deity; and/or "transgressive" acts such as token consumption of meat or alcohol. Occasionally non-standard or ritualized sex may be undertaken. This accounts for tantra's negative reputation in some quarters, and its reception in the West primarily as a collection of sexual practices.
History of tantra
The history of tantra is, as most religions' radices are, obscured by time. Many tantras offer mythical explainations for their origins, often setting themselves as given word from either Shiva or a goddess such as Devi. Scholarly depictions of their origins are often as varied, variously ascribing tantras to pre-aryan, Indus Valley civilizations or similar aboriginal, tribal groups or as integral part of an Indian cultural fabric. In reality, no definitive accounting of the origins of tantra can be made owing to the significant polyvariance of the term tantra in Sanskrit.
Tantra, which in its earliest written form was a distinctly iconoclastic, private and esoteric practice, evolved into a number of respected, exoteric orders (sampradaya). It is convenient, although somewhat false, to group the orders into two catagories: left-handed and right-handed.
Left-handed tantras (vaama marg) incorporate five sacraments (pancamakarapuja) of fish, meat, parched grain, wine and sexual intercourse into ritual practice. Right-handed tantras, on the other hand, advocate the visualization of these antinomian practices.
Both groups rejected many aspects of Brahamanic orthopraxy, most notably the caste system and patriarchy. Despite this, Tantra was accepted by some high-caste Hindus, most notably the Rajput princes.
Nowadays Tantra has a large, though not always well-informed, following worldwide.
Hindu tantra
Tantra exists in Vaisnava, Shaiva, and Shakta forms, among others. Extolled as a short-cut to self-realization and spiritual enlightenment by some, left-hand tantric rites are often rejected as dangerous by most orthodox Hindus. The popular perception of tantra among Hindus espoused in Indian journalism, equates it with black magic.
Some tantric aspirants simply feel the union is accomplished internally and with spiritual entities of various kinds. For this reason, almost all tantric writing has a gross, higher and subtle meaning.
This tripartite system of understanding readily obscures the true purport of many passages for those without the necessary background or deeper understandings so crucial to tantra. Thus, a 'union' could mean the actual act of sexual intercourse, ritual uniting of concepts through chanting and sacrifice, or realisation of one's true self in the cosmic joining of the divine principles of Shiva and Shakti in Para Shiva.
While Hinduism is typically viewed as being Vedic, the Tantras are not considered part of the orthodox Hindu/Vedic scriptures. They are said to run alongside each other, The Vedas of orthodox Hinduism on one side and the Agamas of Tantra on the other.
However, the practices, mantras and ideas of the Atharva Veda are markedly different from those of the prior three and show signs of powerful non-Aryan influence. Indeed, the Atharva Veda is cited by many Tantra texts as a source of great knowledge.
Tantra exists for spiritual seekers in the age of Kaliyuga, when Vedic practices no longer apply to the current state of morality and Tantra is the most direct means to realization. Thus, aside from Vajrayana Buddhism, much of Tantric thought is Hindu Tantra, most notably those that council worship of Lord Shiva and the Divine Mother, Kali.