of the subtle elements became an
accepted philosophical convention.
Tantra
General term for a genre of secret ritually
based religious practices. These are
most often laid out in texts also known
as tantras (“loom”), so named because
these texts weave a distinctive picture of
reality. In popular Hindu culture, tantric
practitioners (tantrikas) are associated
with illicit sexuality, with consuming
forbidden things such as meat and
liquor, and with having the ability to kill
or harm others through black magic.
Such power and perceived amorality
make tantrikas objects of fear, a quality
that some people have used to their
advantage. A more neutral assessment
of tantra would stress three qualities:
secrecy, power, and nondualism, the
ultimate unity of all things.
Secrecy in tantra serves two func-
tions. On the one hand, it conceals the
rites and practices from the uninitiated,
who are seen as unqualified to receive it,
and on the other, it creates a religious
subcommunity with a particularly
defined identity and sense of privilege.
This sense of exclusivity, of being privy to
something to which few have access, is
one of the reasons that tantra is seen as a
higher religious practice. Even when the
text of a tantra has been written down, it
is always assumed that the texts are life-
less without the instruction of a qualified
person. This stress on personal transmis-
sion means that diksha(a type ofinitia-
tion) is the only way to gain access to this
tradition, and thus tantra stresses the
importance of the guru-disciple rela-
tionship even more strongly than does
the Hindu tradition as a whole. Gurus are
free to initiate anyone they deem quali-
fied. Although many tantrikas are twice-
bornmen, that is, members of the three
highest classes (varnas)—brahmins,
kshatriyas, and vaishyas—who have
received the adolescent religious initia-
tion known as the second birth, in theory
tantric practice is open to all people,
regardless of gender or social status.
Power in tantra is manifested in vari-
ous ways. One of these comes in the
transmission of the teaching itself, in
which the guru’s empowerment is
believed necessary to “activate” the
transmitted material, particularly
mantras. Tantric practice is also claimed
to be far more powerful than regular reli-
gious practice and thus more efficacious
in bringing final liberation of the soul
(moksha). The usual claim is that tantra’s
potency can bring such liberation in a
single lifetime, whereas other forms of
religious practice take untold aeons.
Such powerful forces must be kept secret
from the uninitiated, thus the stress on
secrecy. It is widely accepted that the
spiritual attainments gained through
tantric practice also bring superhuman
powers (siddhi), as a natural byproduct
of such attainment. Although aspirants
are discouraged from seeking such pow-
ers because the act of seeking is seen as
rooted in selfish desire, those who gain
such powers without seeking are
believed to be able to exercise them
without being corrupted.
For tantrikas, nondualism—the
assertion that all reality is ultimately one
thing—is both a philosophical affirma-
tion and the operative principle behind
their religious practice. Tantrikas usually
conceive of this unity theistically, seeing
their chosen deity(ishtadevata) as the
material, efficient, and final cause of all
reality. For tantrikas, definitively realiz-
ing the essential oneness of all things
removes the mistaken understanding
that causes bondage and rebirth and
brings final liberation. Tantric practice
affirms this nondualism, often through
rituals stressing the unification of oppo-
sites. For this reason, some tantrikas
make ritual use of things that are nor-
mally forbidden, most notably the “Five
Forbidden Things” (panchamakara):
fish, wine, meat, parched grain, and sex-
ual intercourse. In theory, this rite is a
means to break down duality because it
violates societal norms forbidding con-
sumption of intoxicants, nonvegetarian
food, and illicit sexuality, in a conscious
effort to sacralize what is normallyTantra