What is Hindu Tantrism ?

  

They believe only in the power of nature and liberation is to overpower the rules of nature. They do not feel cold even in snowfall or hunger even after keeping fasts for long-long months. This class is fascinated by the nature of Lord Shiva who is known as a destroyer of the world in the system of Hindu religion. But scholars point out that this sect is not associated with any Hindu philosophy,

 “Tantrism is neither Buddhist nor Hindu in origin. It seems to be a religious undercurrent originally independent of any abstruse metaphysical speculation, flowing on from an obscure point of time in the religious history of India,” Dasgupta in Obscure religious cult page 27.

 He further added, “Side by side with the commonly known theological speculations and religious practices, there has been flowing in India asimportant undercurrent of esoteric yogic practices from a pretty old time. These esoteric practices, when associated with the theological speculations of the Saivas and the Saktas, have given rise to Saiva and Sakta Tantrism. When associated with Buddhist speculations, have given rise to the composite religious system of Buddhism Tantrism. And again, when associated with the speculations of Bengal Vaisnavism, the same esoteric practices have been responsible for the growth of the esoteric Vaisnavite cult, known as Vaisnava Sahajia movement.”

These cults follow the black side of the reality. They maintain that the light which enlighten any image or object also have the shadow. If the enlighten object is true by the light of knowledge then the shadow of the object is also true and real.

Without real object, it is not possible to have a real shadow and if the object is not real then the shadow has also be false. The cults of mysticism follows the shadow of the truth and therefore the concept of spirit, occult, black magic, witchcraft are the rituals of this group which are thousand years old and still practiced at large in this land.

The secrecy is the major principle of such cults and therefore common people are not aware of these cults in true sense. Members of these cults came to worship and practice their religion on the places where common people move but their reason and methods are totally different. There dressing sense, life style and thoughts are totally different from the main stream.

There are different groups like Nagas, Aghoris, Naths and others who try to achieve the ultimate reality by different method. These groups do not live in society and remain away from social affairs, they are not sanyaisi or those who denounced the worldly things but a class of people that have their own society. These people shows certain rituals which they practiced and made common man astonished as living without food, water or inhale breath once in a day and living bare in freezing temperature.

There are evidences in history and also in literature in which such practice of occult, related to material world was practiced here on the land of spiritual idealism where the spirit is only the truth and nothing else,

“There are two basic trends in Indian culture, the Vedic and the non-

Vedic,” Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, in Materialism. Similarly,

Acarabheda Tantra of Viswas Kosa edited by NN Bose pg512 stated,

 “Worship the five principles, the sky flower, and the kula woman. That will be Vamacara. The ultimate female force is to propitiated by becoming a woman.”

These cults took the nature as feminine unlike of Vedic people who symbolized or animated the natural powers as gods, in male form but these cults who believed that nature and only nature is truth maintained that Nature is only feminine and nothing else. Because like Maha Purusa, the Shiva who is supreme conscious and to attain that stage they made the nature as female,

“It is currently believed that at the time of the first burst of rain, Mother Earth prepared herself for being fertilized by menstruating. During that time there is an entire cessation from all ploughing sowing, and other farm work,” The Cambridge History of India.

Still there are secrets in these sects and very little has been known about their metaphysics and culture because they never record their rituals or system and they also not mingled with society,

“The Tantra still remains as enigma to us, Very little work has been done in this domain and very little attempt has been made in the interpretation of its doctrines. But the fact remains that a vast literature has been written on it- a literature which is mostly found in manuscripts”

This group created their own way of liberation and were not agreed to the

Vedic concept of evolution or society,

 “The sects are generally opposed to caste, In the matter of eating cooked food, where strict orthodoxy is observed by the various sects of the Hindu-nearly all these sects are without any prejudice” added Tantra Paricaya.

Similarly, the Bengal Tantra maintained that human body is the micro organism of the universe and therefore they maintained their body as the universe faces the laws of nature. They face seasons as the universe faces the law of season and they maintained that as the universe remain peace and quiet so their body should attain the silence and quietness. M.M Bose in Post Chaitanya Sahjiya Cults of Bengal Calcutta 1855 stated-

“The most important of all things is one’s own body.”

“And Thou should attain peace only when the mystery of the body is known to thee.”

“One who knows the mystery of one’s own body.”

“Is the most wise one; this is the message of all the scriptures. “

The body is the basis of all the disciplines.”

Here (within this body) is the Ganga and the Yamuna, here the Ganga-

Sagara, Prayaga, Kashi, here the sun and the moon, Here are all the sacred places- the pithas and the upapithas. I have never seen a place of pilgrimage and an abode of bliss as perfect as my own body.”