must be imparted by a guru ̄ and cannot be gained from texts. M. P. Pan-
dit writes: “No text gives the s ̄adhanain full for it cannot. The crucial
part, the lifeof the sadhana ̄ in fact, is communicated in person, in secret,
by the Teacher to the disciple.”^5
T ̄antric practice is not restricted to the performance of specific spiri-
tual disciplines, but it is meant to be integrated in all moments of life.
Characteristic of the T ̄antric approach to daily life is spontaneity and
acute attunement with one’s environment. Kakar quotes a contemporary
Tantrika ̄ , a Bengali economist in his early forties, whose family has prac-
ticed Tantra for three generations:
The true t ̄antrik is always in a state of nonsuppression and enjoyment.
The purpose of every moment of life is to experience ̄ananda. Ånandais
true enjoyment of everything that comes your way. If there is a heat
wave, I will not try to make it less by using a fan or an air conditioner.
Nor will I try to put up with the heat by turning my mind away and
bearing it in the manner of the Stoics. The true t ̄antrik puts himself, or
rather is, in a body-mind state where he enjoysthe heat... as he will
enjoy the cold. Ideally, a t ̄antrik is in such a state of attunement with his
environment, with what is possible, that his desire awakens just at the
moment that the universe is willing to grant it... he has developed his
capacity for attention and is intensely aware of where he is and what he
is doing at every single moment of time.... In fact, in his state of non-
suppression and attunement, a real t ̄antrik becomes aware a little earlier
that others when a storm is due or a heat wave is coming so as to be pre-
pared to enjoy them.^6A central principle of T ̄antric philosophy is kriy ̄a, the principle of sponta-
neous activity.Kriya ̄ has resonance with the Taoist idea of hsiao-yao yu,
‘free and easy wandering,’ or tzu-jan: ‘spontaneity,’ and Sufism’s mauja,
‘free and joyous activity.’ Within Hinduism, kriy ̄ais comparable to the
Vedanta doctrine of l ̄ıl ̄a,the sportive play of Brahmanby which the uni-
verse is created. Kriy ̄ais the sadhaka’s ̄ free action, issuing from desireless-
ness. It is distinct from volitional or ethical action—where will is ex-
erted—and also distinct from neurotic behavior, unfree because it is
driven by inner psychological tensions.^7 As regards systematic practice,
Tantra’s fundamental method, like that of classical Yoga, is meditation. A
point of divergence is that while classical Yoga aims for meditative states
increasingly free of materiality, in Tantra, symbols are central as supports
for meditation. Main forms of T ̄antric meditative symbols are mantrasor
sacred sounds, yantrasor visual symbols, and mudr ̄asor ritual gestures.
These symbols consolidate and organize energy between practitioner and
tantra and aesthetic therapeutics 141