role of physicality. Cosmic energy, sakti ́ , takes the form ofkuÓÓnÓdalin ̄ı en-
ergy in the human body, and sexual energy is among its dominant forms.
In the physical enjoyment of sex, this energy is directed downward from
the svadhi ̄ ÓsÓthana cakra ̄. In T ̄antric practice, directing this energy upward
through the cakrasto the highest one, sahasrara cakra, ̄ where union of
Íaktiand Íivatakes place, is a divinization of human vital energy.^17 A
main reason for Tantra’s being misunderstood is its use of a symbolic vo-
cabulary incorporating erotic images. Sexual symbolism is employed in
Tantra, but references to the divine coition of Íivaand Íaktipertain to
the polar aspects of reality, and are not meant in gross anatomical
terms.^18
Tantra has been maligned for the ‘Five Mak ̄aras’ (five things that
begin with the letter m): ritual use of wine (madya), meat (ma ̄msaÓ ), fish
(matsya), mudr ̄a(parched or fried grain), and sexual intercourse (mai-
thuna). These elements are not necessary features of T ̄antric practice,
but, when employed, Tantra requires that they be utilized within the con-
text of worship, without excess, and after purification.^19 As regards ritual
sexual union, even among those sects that employ it, some practice it
symbolically only. Where ritual sexual union is practiced, its quality is
that of T ̄antric s ̄adhanain general: immobilization. In T ̄antric sadhana’s ̄
goal of immobility on the three planes of thought, breath, and sexual sen-
sation, “there is imitation of a divine model—the Buddha, or Íiva, pure
Spirit, motionless and serene amid the cosmic play.”^20 In classical Yoga,
the masculine puruÓsais the quiescent Seer, and all creative activity issues
from the feminine prakÓrti. Similarly in Tantra, the male aspect is passive,
and the female aspect Íaktiproduces all activity. Eliade remarks on T ̄an-
tric Yoga’s paradoxical arresting of manifestation and disintegration by
going ‘against the current’ (ujana s ̄adhana) to recover primordial Unity:
The paradoxical act takes place on several planes at once: through the
union of Íakti( = kuÓnÓdalin ̄ı) with Íivain the sahasrara ̄ , the yogin brings
about inversion of the cosmic process, regression to the undiscriminated
state of the original Totality; “physiologically,” the conjunction sun-
moon is represented by the “union” of the pr ̄aÓnaand ap ̄ana—that is, by a
totalization of the breaths; in short, by their arrest; finally, sexual union,
through the action of the vajrol ̄ımudr ̄a realizes the “return of semen.”^21Maithunaor ritual intercourse can serve as a support for pra ̄Ón ̄ay ̄ama and
dh ̄araÓna through regulation of respiration and concentration. The goal is
the very opposite of sensual enjoyment, and sexual climax is prohibited.^22
Sensuality can be a vehicle that “produces the maximum tension that
144 religious therapeutics