  |
Home |
|
Sri Humananda "here comes the feeling, due to ignorance, that I am separate and the world is separate. This duality comes and this starts due to what is known as Adhyas—identification, and it is understood that it is wrong Adhyas, wrong identification. The consciousness instead of identifying itself with the cosmic and infinite identifies itself with the limited body." Giving into Receiving As a Tantric, many of my discussions eventually come around to the subject of sex, even though I try to avoid it somewhat for reasons other Tantrics wil be able to understand. Fortunately, experience has proven that the subject wanting to be discussed in cases like these is not sex itself but intimacy, which is a lot more conducive subject to Tantra than sex itself. Even if you are not a Tantric, very few things in life come close to we Yogis call Bliss than the experience of sexual intimacy. Almost everybody knows this who have been there, but the Tantrics have a view that many may find helpful to set as a goal if you are desirous to develop to a higher intimacy level, even if you never come near Yoga at all. In a pervious writing called "The Tantric Misunderestimation", I highlighted that there are masculine and feminine energies inside of you. The feminine energy, called Shakti, lies at the base of your spine between your genitals and anus in a Chakra called Muladhara. Shiva, the male energy, resides in the crown chakra called Sahasrara on the top of your head just below the skull. In Tantric meditation the female energy is awakened and in the form of a sliver serpent (which is a very auspicious and holy symbol) that rises up towards the male energy and joins there with him in an ecstasy called Bliss. All of this happens in meditation but there is a Tantric correlation with the phenomenal world as well, and this is where these inner symbols are replaced by human forms in coition, according to highly defined Tantric practices. In other words, the sex that people initially want to discuss. Then the subject changes to intimacy and on to a sometimes fairly crude form of "getting" or "giving", "taking" and "receiving", and so on. These concepts, when refined, are key concepts in Tantra, and though it happens inside of the Tantric (and you), there is an almost mirror-like correlation with the human world, and so the description of the concepts of "giving" and "receiving" in the inner realm can almost verbatim be taken and applied to the human practice of coitus. Tantrics undergo by their own volition many years of dedicated practice and study. A million mantras, many thousands of pranayama rounds of breathing, and years of daily silent meditation are all part of the process. Much is learned over this time, and one of those learned things is of interest to us now and it deals with the concepts of "giving" and "receiving". As humans we often give, and many times we receive. With intimacy the same is generally true, but there are often complaints that only one partner is giving, or that the other is not giving correctly or not enough, or at all, and so on. There is an emphasis on the lack of receiving - meaning that couples feel they do not "get" enough given to them. Tantrics recognize this simply as being out of balance, and it is not just something that is easily fixed in a day or two. The giving and receiving part of your personality has been created, defined, adopted and refined over many years, and so you'll find yourself either wanting to get more or, though less common, prefer the giving more. Whichever way, the balance is still lost. Let's look at how Tantra goes about this, and we'll do it from the inner view – sort of what happens in the meditation. Shakti, the female energy, is coaxed into life. She is prodded and urged and drawn up. By herself, usually she will lie dormant. But once awakened she journeys (up the spine) towards Shiva, the male energy who eagerly awaits her. It is he who has awoken her, prodded her, coaxed her, and with the same amount of energy with which she is rising, he is urging her. The meditation gets more complex from this point on, but we should take note of one point (even though complex) which we can take with us to the physical world. Shiva is urging with the same amount of energy that Shakti is rising. Both are contributing equally to the process. Shiva's desire is to merge with Shakti, and according to the strength of his desire, he is pulling her towards him. Shakti's desire is to merge with Shiva, and according to the strength of her desire, she is pushing herself towards him. The strength of Shiva's desire influences the pushing energy of Shakti, and the strength of Shakti's desire influences the pulling energy of Shiva. The more desire, the more energy there is. The desire of Shiva creates his coaxing. His coaxing is his giving and the rising of Shakti is his taking. For Shakti, her desire creates her rising, and her rising is her giving, while the coaxing of Shiva is her taking But there is more; Shiva recognizes that his giving (his coaxing), being such an integral part of the process, is also pleasurable, even though it is what he gives, and on an even deeper level he recognizes that Shakti's taking of his coaxing (his giving), is also pleasurable. In the same way, Shakti recognizes that her giving (her rising), is pleasurable because it is moving towards pleasure, and also, the fact that Shiva is taking her giving (her rising), is also pleasurable. So there is pleasure in Shiva's receiving, but also pleasure in his giving, and for Shakti it is the same. Her receiving is pleasurable, but so is her giving. In fact, there is no qualitative difference between the pleasure of giving and the pleasure of receiving for both Shakti and Shiva at the same time. The Tantrics call this the state of balance, where all is pleasure regardless of whether it is giving or receiving. Deeper into all this is joy, and still deeper there is Bliss. Then there are no more concepts such as giving and receiving, because giving has become receiving and receiving has become giving, and so these two are merged into a pure state of Being – a state of Bliss. This is merely a brief chapter in the story of Tantra. Read it if you like, absorb it if you can, or try it and practice it and see if you can reach towards being it. But remember that Tantra is not only sex, it is far, far beyond that – it is life itself - your life. And so this learning here now is not only applicable to your sex life, but also your inner life of spiritual balance. Yet the visible part of all this will be in your interaction with all aspects of your outer world every moment of your life - your life out there, so to speak. For in here (in you) and for out there, learn to give. Then learn to receive. Both of these can be difficult to accommodate into one's being. Learn to accept the feeling of the joy of receiving. Learn to absorb the feeling of the joy of your giving. Then understand that it is not really the giving that is important as such, nor the receiving, but the joy inherent in both the giver and the receiver – as well as in the giving and the receiving. Then cast away all your concepts of giving and receiving and just hold on to the joy. And when you give, just give and there will be joy. And when you receive, just receive, and there will be joy. By your coaxing and pushing and pulling together of the pairs of opposites, turn your receiving into giving by merging them into a singularity of joy. Confuse your giving and your receiving. And eventually, with practice, when there is no more giving or givers, and no more receiving or receivers, yet great giving and receiving abound undifferentiated in all places of your life as joy, this joy will lead you to the state of Bliss. And there you are free from the limits created by your otherwise egotistically designed, unbalanced concepts of giving and receiving. In the state of Bliss you have both giving and receiving undifferentiated in abundance anyway. Not that you'd care. So learn about giving. Learn about receiving. Learn the pleasure in both, and live. Namaste.
Sri Humananda © Dwapara 307 (2007) |