Shiva and Shakti

Guruji: Shiva is the knower. Shakti is the known. They appear to be separated in space and/or in time. An interval measures the distance in space and time together. More precisely, (Interval)squared = (Distance)squared - (Time difference x c) squared. c is the speed of light = 186000 miles/second. Aikya means union. They were not united, but now we unite them. Meaning, we reduce the interval between them to zero. Aikya Rupini means having the form of union. Form of what? Form of the zero interval.

There are two ways this interval can be zero. First way is to make distance and time difference both zero. That is, the seer and seen are at the same place and same time, that is, they are one and the same. This is just the state of being. There is no power in that, not even the desire or the power to move.

The second way is that space and time differences exist, but they are equal. The interval vanishes when spacial interval = time interval x c. This is the interesting case of dynamic power.

Siva is the power of being. Shakti is the power of awareness, desiring, knowing and manifesting. When these two merge, it becomes total power to be anywhere/anytime, to desire, to know how to and to manifest the desire, any desire.

This is the secret of this great mantra. This teaches us how to become total power. Power to be, power to know, power to heal, across great distances or time intervals.

For example, we can be any place we want in zero time. Teleporting. Not physically of course, but mentally. We don't even have to know the path, because we are not going along any path; there is no path. We don't need telephone lines; sky will do.

For example, we can do absent healing. For doing this two conditions are necessary. First, our form must be made of light, so that we can move with the speed of light, then time freezes for us, and then distance does not matter. We can be anywhere in zero time. Second, the desire to heal should exist. Then healing is automatic; for, what disease can afflict light?

If you become light and wish to manifest any thing anywhere, you will manifest it. A universe, if you wish.

As a physical being, we are not made of light. As a mental being we are made of light. This is how the power of visualization manifests the visualized. This is where visual symbols, called yantras come in. They are our mental visualizations, so they are made of light. They have the intelligence of cosmic power working through them. All forms are yantras. They create space, time and matter.

This great mantra teaches us that all powers are in us. It is for us to find out what we want and use the spiritual techniques to get what we want.

Let us consider some practical examples of applying the mantra and the yantra embedded in the mantra.

What is the yantra suggested/embedded in the mantra? That she has the form of the union of Shiva and Shakti. The physical form we can relate to manifesting our desire is to think that the linga and yoni are in union. Geometrically we can think that the triangle is the yoni (Shakti), and the circle inscribed in it is the shaft (Shiva).

Where do we go from here? The place we want to go to is different from where we are, right? So it has an interval, think of that as the yoni. I, as Shiva, have to place myself there in it, to achieve the unity of Shiva and Shakti. So what is the visualization? First I imagine the triangle. Then I go into that triangle and visualize the place I want to be, not worrying about the path. Presto, I am there with an astral presence. Those who can calm their minds, can see me there, talk to me, do whatever they want with me, love me, or kill me even; but I am here too. So I may be dead there, but alive here.

But, wait a minute. Suppose I want to heal the relationship of a woman and man, and I am a woman. I can map her into my yoni and him as a linga entering it, witnessing the union of Shiva and Shakti. Their relationship gets healed. The difference from the previous example is that I am not going anywhere; I am mapping their presence into me

Menstruating woman

To further understand the aspect of not visiting temples during menstruation, our team travelled to Devipuram, in Andhra Pradesh. We found unique answers from Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati (Guruji), founder of Devipuram, a temple in Andhra Pradesh which is dedicated to the Devi. While interacting with him, he told us how in his temple, most of the priests are women, who are free to be at the temple during their period (though it is not forced). There is a Kamakhya Peetham at this temple, which is a natural formation in the shape of a Yoni (vagina) and worshippers gather here whether or not they have their period. What Guruji told us about the reasons behind menstruating women not visiting the temple was fascinating and turns all our silly assumptions of impurity upside down! Here is an excerpt from his interaction with us:

He said “What is pure, we don’t touch. And what we don’t touch, we call it a Taboo. She (a menstruating woman) was so pure, that she was worshipped as a Goddess. The reason for not having a woman go into a temple is precisely this. She is a living Goddess at that time. The energy of the God or Goddess which is there in the murthi (idol) will move over to her, and that (the idol) becomes lifeless, while this (the menstruating woman) is life. So that’s why they were prevented from entering the temple. So it is exactly the opposite of what we think”.

As Guruji said, asking menstruating women to not attend a temple has nothing whatsoever to do with a woman being impure. So next time someone says that a menstruating woman should not enter a temple because she is impure, we should let her know the explanation behind this practice, instead of simply dismissing it a taboo. And let her decide whether or not she wants to follow these practices.

Kamakhya told Amrita

Kāmākhyā told Amṛta: “In the olden days enjoying sex was a proper aim of life and so Kāma was sacred. Kāma was the God of Love, same as Śiva, with Ratī, myself, happiness of sexual union, being his wife. Use of erotic rituals used to be performed to pleasure me. They are carved in all sacred temples. Eros is pro-life. It is the fountain of semen, blood, milk and white and pink light which sustains passion, joy, creativity, power and love. This method of worship is available to everyone. It is the easy path to me. My name means sex desire. I am the source of all life.

“There are many temples for me which are following Dakṣiṇācāra available only to elite Brāhmins. But I am life in everyone, not only the elite. I love fun, I am very sexual, I am pro-life. So I am in everyone as erotic desire. I am accessible to everyone who has passion for sex. I am there in Deva Dāsīs, and prostitutes also. Every woman, no matter what her state in life is, has the right to be worshipped. She only has to ask for it as I did to you. Make sure that her decency is not violated. No one should be forced, compelled or bribed into the pūjā. Only volunteering adults may willingly and joyously participate in my erotic rituals called cakra pūjās without any sense of shame. The female genital is my temple. I should be worshipped there.

“How should the worship be done? I accept all enjoyments as worship. Enjoyment doesn't hurt anyone. My pūjā can be done simply, or elaborately. You may worship me through any consenting woman thus: inviting, offering a seat, washing hands, offering water and milk to drink, sensual massage with herbal oils followed by bath, anointing all body parts with perfumes, offering lovely clothes, makeup, ornaments, scented flowers and decorations to every part of the body, giving delicacies to eat, and waving lights. Then I will bless you through the woman receiving the pūjā to fulfill all your desires if they involve no injury to anyone. All the time the pūjā is going on, any potent mantras like the thousand names of any Goddess should be recited or heard.

“I have blessed the world. So there should be an orgy of celebration, with singing and dancing and fine arts. I will put life into all your arts.

“Such pūjās done to women are the core of bhakti to me. They empower the women receiving the pūjā to become divine. I am pleased by such pūjās. Inhibitions, or sense of shame, are creations of ego; sense of I and mine. At least for the duration of pūjā, people should let go of them in the temples here and everywhere.

“There is no restriction really that only husbands should worship their wives. What was the relationship between you and your wife before marriage? Anyone could have been your spouse, right? If such restriction were to be placed, pūjā would never happen with real bhakti. What is pūjā without bhakti? Husbands may not like their women to become free, to be liberated. If only husbands are allowed to do pūjā to their wives and they are unwilling to do it, or the wives don't like to be worshipped by others because tradition goes against it, how can they ever receive the adoration and love they deserve? Should they then miss the opportunity to be adored at least once in their lifetime to be a Goddess? In this age, billions of women need to become free of domination from bondage and aggression. You need a society free from male AND female domination. How this can happen?

“I know in this age of repression of women, worship is considered obscene. Why can't you make love in temples like in olden days? Who teaches you the fine arts of satisfying the partner if both partners are ignorant? Must you learn from dull, repetitive pornographic films and books secretly with a feeling of sin? Why did the fine arts of erotic rituals involving transformation of lust to love become wrong and became black magic? What kind of legal norms are you having if it doesn't object to fighting, injuring and rape being shown publicly while love play is forbidden? How come you have become so anti-life and pro-death? Did your Vedas or Śāstras prescribe violence as a puruṣārtha? Can guns and weapons feed or educate a poor child, or heal a single suffering person?

“Did you know that Śiva's emblem is Ānanda Bhairava, the unhooded penis Liṅga, that my temple is the life-giving womb Garbha, that Gaṇapati stands at the G-spot, that Kuṇḍalinī-Kumāra's seat is the clitoris, and that the vehicle of Śiva is the testes? Did you know that flowers are the genitals of trees, holy ashes represents semen and kumkum the menstrual flow? Did you know that love play is my pūjā? Why should you be ashamed of your rich culture which is pro-life and sexy?

“Throw away your inhibitions, do what you feel is right openly. Change your laws, it is high time. Have one law for everyone; treat all equally. Make violence, weapons of mass destruction, illegal and unlawful. Divert the resources from creating mass destruction to educate, empower and enrich the lives of people. You have my blessings. Nudity is the symbol of having nothing to hide, being open to being loved. Let people be nude in the temples if they so wish. And be worshipped like that. The whole of nature is nude except you silly humans. Move into a world of love and light, not alienation and darkness. Allow yourselves to enjoy. Enjoyment is virtue. Misery is sin.

“For worship to yield fruit, some form of energy exchange has to be there. The best form is service. The person being empowered should repay the debt through some form of service to the Goddess temple. The best service is to convince people that loving is empowering, that pūjā really empowers women and men by making them Goddesses and Gods, who are able to create a new world order of love.

“It is OK to be nude. It is OK to have fun with a willing partner. It is OK to give a ritual bath to a woman. It is OK to see people enjoying good sex. Temples are indeed the places for promoting social intercourse and empowerment. It is OK to know that ejaculation and orgasm can be and are different. It is OK to practice from a learned Guru the fine arts of worshipping Goddess.

“If people object to these values, they may go to another place. There is no compulsion to come here. There is no adversity that will come to them if they don't come here. Let people exercise their choice.

“Initially people will listen but shake their heads in disbelief. They will leer, they will say it is nonsense, they will say this will destroy culture and civilized behavior. That is normal, because that is how they have been programmed by society. When entire population of the world want sex and like to show it and see it at least in their privacy, how can it be abnormal? As the society realizes the roots of its ills, more and more people will start accepting these ways. It is not your job to convince people. They will have to convince themselves, shed their inhibitions for enjoyments. There is more hope with the younger generation than old people with set attitudes. You must reach out to adolescents, and explain the concepts of sexual fulfillment. There is more hope with villagers who are in tune with nature than urbanites. So I have chosen this rural setting.

“Everyone tells you, what will other people think? How will you be judged? How will it reflect on the society? They will try to imprison you, poison you, kill you. Don't ever worry about that. There is no such thing as death. You are already in a lifelong prison called your body, mind and ego. One more prison around it doesn't matter. If you know how to get out of the prison of your body, no prison can hold you. Let people judge you as they think fit. All that matters is are you convinced ‘this is the way’? Make information available to them. You tell people, but don't compel them. People will bring bouquets and brickbats. You don't have to change. Be firm in your belief. It is not even belief. A fact can't be reduced to belief. You don't have to believe in something you know firsthand to be true. I will bring the right people to you.

“I have sent many many people before you. I will keep sending more. I am the way. I am the gate of life, the maker of life, the yoni, the source of life.”

Yes, these are the words that Goddess spoke to Amṛta. Take it or leave it. Think it is true or false. It doesn't matter. Come here if you like. Don't come if you don't like. Nobody compels you. Only try to see for yourself. Don't blindly accept what others say.

Chains of morality and dogma

Psalm and Guruji

Psalm Isadora: The last time I saw Guruji at the ashram, I was brought to tears seeing how much pain he was in trying to get up and down from sitting. I knew that his body was in too much pain. I am happy his spirit is free now. In private conversations with me...he said that he wanted to be free to leave this earth, but that the Mother told him he had more work to do. He said he would complete that work and if She was kind, she would let him go. And then he said with a twinkle in his eye, "but we don't know if She is kind". He was a true mystic, he did not sugar coat God. Who knows there nature of God?
He used to laugh when people talked about enlightenment. "Does anyone here know?" He would ask the room full of people trying to get the answers from him. "We do not know enlightenment. We do know this life. Make Heaven on earth now, that is the message of Tantra", he would say. Get your head out of the clouds and look around you. Help each other. Be kind. Practice Love in all forms.
"The greatest thing holding back Humanity is Shame", he told me once.
And so I have made a life and career out of helping people dissolve shame to experience their full potential.
He is not lost. He is integrated inside of me, he lives in my heart now.
I remember after 3 years I heard that he was ill and I was sick with fear. I remember thinking I was terrified because I still hadn't learned what I needed to learn from him...which was not something I needed to learn in my mind but my heart. I needed to learn to let go of the past and my pain and step into my purpose and joy. I knew that I was afraid of him passing then for selfish reasons, I still needed him to stay and help me. I knew this was selfish because he was physically ill and suffering. But I was so afraid to be alone and still needed to hold his hand. In the past few years I healed and integrated those painful pieces inside of me, that small child still aching and afraid of never being loved, of never being accepted and whole.

In my last trip to India I realized I was whole. Not perfect ( I am still crazy) but I am whole. I found the peace I went searching for in India. There were many years of throwing myself in the fire to burn away dark karma and walking through the brothels of Calcutta felt like journeying to the underworld of my soul so I could emerge with my face to the sun. It was Guruji who suggested I work with prostitutes in Calcutta. I think he knew I needed to face those women to heal my own sexual abuse. He pointed the way, he held my hand and he made me grow up. That is a true guru.
A guru is like a parent...and a disciple is like a child. The child needs to hold the parents had until they learn to walk, then run. There are stages of baby, toddler, child, adolescent, teenager and finally grown adult. The disciple is meant to grow up and go out in the world to use the lessons and energy and grace and create a new life. I loved my guru, Sri Amritananda, because he never made me buy into a subservient or religious form of lineage. He told me to be free, he said that for a true tantric like me, "ADharma is Dharma"- no law is the law. I was already so tired of the chains of religion, morality and dogma from my own country that the last thing I wanted was more rules and more spiritual ego bullshit. He gave me freedom, he helped as a guide for me to remember who I am and the purpose my soul came to this planet to do.

Guru Paduka, wheel of the supreme Guru

The Guru Pādukā — the Wheel of the Supreme Being; your Self — is located nine inches above your head. It is in the center pod of the Sahasrāra. The feet have the letters Haṃsaṃ and Sauḥ. They are surrounded by an eight-petal lotus. Each petal is abundance beyond measure, sometimes also called Aṣṭa Lakṣmīs and also Sudarśana. They are filled with millions of round disks of all colors, arranged in the form of worlds in geometric patterns. By focusing your attention on any disk, you will be able to gain entry into that world, becoming its creator Brahmā, sustainer Viṣṇu, and Dancer Śiva.

The half-female, half-male form of Śakti-Śiva — Ardhanārīśvara — is standing on top of your head, facing in the same direction as you; and the feet above your head belong to this form. In this form, the creator Śiva is eternally surrounded by its own Yoni, emitting an unending, life-giving stream called Gaṅgā. The divine form of this nectar is Time. The earthly forms of this nectar are the juices of sex. The physical orgasm loses life energy and ends in a very short time. But a spiritual orgasm has no end. It is called “Brahmānanda”, the Bliss of Creation.

The sound of this creation is like that of an ocean, “Om”. Suppose there are a million people in a gathering, each talking to their neighbors. There is an ocean of sound rising from that communion. The sound of Om is like that.

Your aim is to raise yourself above your head, merge into that form, and experience unending spiritual orgasm which you may call is the dance of the Galaxies, the dance of rising waterfalls, the divine light-and-sound show. The joy you experience will shower your whole body with a thrill you have never known before. The experience there is indescribable. You are literally taking bath in these nectarine waters of life. It is totally free from tension, very much unlike a physical orgasm. But it satisfies a million times more. Stay in this state as long as you can; there can be no higher happiness than this.

What happens then? You are no longer in control. There is no you to be in control. You only experience a feeling, and visions. It is like you had an intense multiple orgasm. You are thoroughly satisfied; your body has lost all weight; it is floating away without walls and ceiling being obstacles; it is being carried by rainbows; you are rising above the city where you are dwelling, the country, the oceans, the earth, beyond the Moon, the Sun; you enter the star field, the constellation of Seven Sages (Great Bear), Dhruva (the Pole Star), go beyond Galaxies, the worlds, and enter the abode of Mother Goddess, an Island of Jewels. Witness the playful and erotic fun and frolic, singing and dancing, and enjoying multiple partners without inhibitions.

You enter the Source of the Cosmos, Śrī Yantra, in the Womb of the Divine Mother. You become a part of Her, to live in waves of beauty; Soundarya Laharī.

If I seem to be carried away in all this, it is true; I was carried away. I had no will of my own. At the will of the Mother Goddess — who loves erotic sentiments (Rati-priyā), because Eros is pro-life — I have put down these few thoughts for you to consider seriously and practice.

Śrī Amṛtānanda Nātha Sarasvatī

Kaula Achara — Q&A

... Kamakhya said, “You are going to be a Guru in my lineage. The people who worship me will bow down to you. I am all of them. You will promote yoni and linga pujas, and also of paired female and male energies to manifest new orders of consciousness through circle rituals. You will be a Kaula, meaning you will worship all, female, male and pairing energies” Then she removed Her jewelryand clothing without inhibitions. She opened up to me. I was familiar with the idea of nude worship in Bhairavi chakras. So I could accept its sacredness and power to produce higher life forms through congregation of egoless people in circles.

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Q. What is Kaula Achara?

A: In God’s creation 50% are male and 50% female. Therefore, Goddess who extends in all of creation is called Artda Nari Iswara, female (left half), male(right half). Those who worship the female Goddess (Shakti) follow the left path called Vama achara. Those who worship the male God (Siva) follow the right path called Dakshina Achara. There worship God in female, male and also combined forms follow both right and left hand paths called Kaulachara, Kaula Achara. The word Kaula derives from Kula which means total. Separately as female and male, and also both together in union are worshipped as dieties. Thus Kaula Achara is a mix (misra) of right and left hand paths. It has been acclaimed as the highest natural path (sahaja) since it does not debar any one from practice on the basis of gender : female – male - neutral (rivers, hills, trees, earth, water, fire, air, space, time, health, wealth, etc. which cannot be assigned any gender); Caste: Brahmana Kshatriya Vaishya, Sudra and all others; Age: child, adolescent, youth, middle age and old age; Ashrama: Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaparastha and Sanyasa. It brings all living or imagined living forms into one single roof as being worthy of worship. It offers every one a wide canvas of procedures appropriate to each.

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Q. Who are the gurus of right and left hand paths?

A: The Gurus of Dakshinachara are Vedic Dakshinamurthy and also all the Christian and Moslem Rabbis who claim God is Male. Since the plant is according to the seed thrown and not on the soil, they insist that Purusha is dominant for creation, Prakriti or Nature is not. Vedas take lot of pains to prove that the power in mantras offered into sacrificial fires are sufficient to create progeny without the necessity of having to be born through a womb (a-yoni-ja), They thus claim immaculate birth. The Gurus of Kaulachara are Dattatreya and also all the feminist and Pagan Teachers who worship Females, in benign and malignant paths. They claim sex is as necesssary for manifestation at the cosmic level as it is for normal procreation. As below, so above, they believe. Therefore, they consider Siva and Shakti as the divine equivalents of phallus and womb. Phallus is described as an infinite pillar of light. Its receptacle is the womb Kalash, the vessel of immortality. The driving force behind all creation is like the pleasure of sex, called Ananda.

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Q. Why are Kaula and Vama acharas denounced now as fit only for lowly people by the mainstream elite?

A: Any achara connects people to Powers of God, both benign and malevolent. We can use malevolent energies also to heal people and eliminate disease; it is a good use of bad energy. But power in the hands of immature can destroy. So the teachers are wary of passing on the means to get powers to everyone. They test the worthiness of a pupil before giving them the procedures to connect to powers. It is a necessary precaution which cannot be objected to. Vamachara and Kaulachara control the excess sexual energy present in living persons to visualise, nourish and manifest any creative desire. This path is much faster than the right path. Practiced under the proper direction of a competent and mature Guru, left path can lead to dramatic improvement in the quality of life in the society for everyone. However, if the speed at which the powers to manifest is more than that for gaining maturity to use the powers wisely, much harm can be done to society by immature practitioners. Unfortunately many such cases have indeed been there. Media reaching out to every home and molding public opinion, knowing that sensation sells, focus on such issues. Instead of saying a glass is half empty ( focus on negative aspect, smallness) why should we not assert that it is half full (focus on positive fullness). If we focus on what can be done to correct the system, rather than looking at what is bad about the system what can’t be achieved? The intellectual elite fought against the Vama and Kaula methods saying that they are fit only for low caste people with small worldly desires (kshudra = small). Over time, it has become a fad to criticize and throw mud at all practitioners of Vama and Kaula sects. Practitioners of right path aggressively promoted audio visual media which is ever willing to capitalize on sensational news, portraying only the worst aspects of Kaula and Vama methods. The attack was not only on Hindus. The culture of Bharat (=Interest in light) provides a true balance of Male and Female deities. It says worship God as woman: mother, daughter, sister, friend, lover, and prostitute; they are all mothers, women. The Christian fundamentalists hunted and burnt at stakes the so called witches, the wicked women. Actually the word wicked comes from wicca, which means no harm to any one. It is similar to vicche, which means liberation. The Wiccans meet once a week to do their rituals honoring the seasons. They wick, so others called them wicked. Phoenicians had temples for the Goddess of pleasure the clitoris and Hindus worship Rati, the Goddess of carnal pleasures. Prostitutes were considered sacred both in west as well as east, because they served Deities (Deva Dasis) and taught men the arts of making love. In the golden age of tantra, all major temples in India were richly adorned by sculptures of mithuna practiced in temple precincts. It was a country wide and world wide fertility culture which offered sex to please the deities controlling the life and food sustaining energies. Sacredness of sex was mainstream world wide once, although it is much suppressed now by male dominated religions. If God is female, worship of woman is worship of God. This is totally unacceptable to Male God rightists.

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Q: Can you tell us about what most people find objectionable in Kaulachara?

A: The use of 5 “M” s in worship. They all begin with the letter M in Sanskrit, so they are called 5 “M”s, or Pancha Makaras. These are the ingredients used in Kula pujas. But it is important to realize that their literal meanings are practiced by non-vegetarian Kaulas, and hidden meanings are practiced by vegetarian Kaulas. The 5 Ms are 1. Madya, 2. Matsya 3. Mamsa, 4. Mudra and 5. Mithuna. Their literal and hidden meanings are given in table below.

Makara - Common - Hidden

1. Madya - Liquor - Intoxicated state of Bhakti, knowing nothing but Goddess

2. Matsya - Fish - Focus on in breath, which moves like fish in waters of life

3. Mamsa - Meat - Tongue on uvula, a piece of hanging flesh from upper palette.

4. Mudra - Woman - Partner Nature is the woman partner, who brings pleasure and pain.

5. Maithuna - Coitus - Every contact with your own nature inside, or world is coitus.

Most people in the world enjoy liquor for the intoxication it gives. And most eat fish and meat; they constitute more than 95% of people. Every person enjoys sex intimacy either in marriage, dating or in live-in relationships. Therefore all these 5 Ms are commonly done by all people. What is not main-stream however is thinking that such common activities such as drinking and sex also have a spiritual dimension. It comes by combining common meanings with hidden meanings. The attitude of most people is: drinking liquor and enjoying sex is right; but using them for worship, NO NO! This is the problem.

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Q: Is this the only problem? What about the rights of animals being killed for the sake of worship?

A: Aren’t animals killed for eating meat and fish? What is wrong if they are worshipped first, then told that they will get a better life and then sacrificed in a ritual to get power? Don’t we eat meat to get power for our body? Useless killing has to be objected to.

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Q: Then what is objectionable?

A: The use of bodily secretions in rituals. Everybody uses milk and honey to bathe the icons of power: of desire, nourishment or manifestation. Use of menstrual blood and semen is objected to by most people in rituals. Why? Let me explain. Milk is blood, modified by addition of calcium, which happens automatically in lactating mothers. .So, milk and blood are same, obtained without injury to animals. All we eat comes from organic living matter only; the seeds of paddy, wheat, nuts, etc. Semen is just human seed. Both menstrual flow and semen are living, life giving substances which can be used to give life here, or offered to fire to fulfill our desires to gain control of environment. This is the precise part which is abhorred by people. Notice that menstrual blood and semen are obtained with pleasure instead of pain; so they promote peace loving good energies. In fact even cow’s urine and excreta along with milk, butter and ghee are used in Vedic rituals, since the mother goddess Lakshmi is supposed to be near the genital and excretory organsof the holy cow. Vedas and Tantras are very similar. They overlap considerably in using life energy positively and abhor needless violence. The main goals are Truth = Satyam, and Ahimsa = non-violence, Asteyam = not coveting other’s properties. The harmless Kaulas practice non-violence to the extent possible. If you are a vegetarian, be so, it is good. If you are not a vegetarian, try to minimize harm by dedicating your life and other lives to Goddess. Do not suppress desires. After all, they are god’s desires. Desires are also spiritual. This is the path of Kaulas. Moksha means that it is not having a birth at all. But since we are born already, we can only expect avoidance of rebirth. It can be achieved in three ways.

1. By offering our seed into fire every time it is produced. This is Purna Ahuti, offering of self in seed form not to be reborn, but to fructify our desires. It is both a Vedic and Kaula practice.

2. Not ejaculating the seed even during coitus. It is hard, but can be learned with the right attitude and with the help of a learned partner. This is called taking the seed upwards, Urdhva retas. The importance is to play and enjoy with partners, Rasa-lila, without inhibitions, relaxing into a tender love rather than being driven by lust. This is Bhakti, surrender of body, mind and soul to the partners all of whom are none other than a Krishnas-Gopis or Shivas-Shaktiss. Of a collection of people. The concept of chakra or mandala arises from here; we manifest a higher form of life through harmonious, playful activities. This is puja of love, beauty and harmony, the goddess Tripura Sundari . This is a true Kaula practice, which focuses on foreplay much more than coitus.

3. The third way is not to engage in sex or thinking about it, avoid company of all opposite partners and thus not beget children. This is followed by Sanyasis. The inhibition and negative attitude to pleasure tend to promote anger and ego. The first is the easiest; the second and third ways are both difficult, and require long practice.

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Q: What forms of Kaula are practiced in Devipuram?

A: We do practice benign aspects and don’t go anywhere near malevolent aspects.

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Q: Can you be more specific and describe the process of puja so that we can decide whether to go for it?

A: We do worship to consenting adult females and males as we do for icons of Goddess or God following the sacred Sri Vidya tradition of Tripura Sundari. The ritual called Kalavahana or Shaktipat goes like this. First we touch the feet of the recipient and seek permission to do the puja by touching all parts of body to invoke divine life into them. After getting it, we touch all parts of the body of the body of receiver (female or male) placing the 50 beeja aksharas in all spiritual chakras from Muladhara to Sahasrara. Then Fire and its 10 powers are invoked in the genital area, 12 of Sun around the chest area, 16 of Moon around the neck.

Then again 10 powers of creation (Brahma) are invoked in the womb because creation takes place there, 10 powers of pleasure which promotes life (Vishnu) in the external genital, 10 of life without body (Rudra) around waist, 4 of love and bondage (Iswara) in the chest, and 16 powers of communication across boundaries of space (Sadasiva), 3 of time past, present and future (Tripura). So far the attempt is to raise the level of awareness to the crown through prayers. The awareness energy having gone up to the crown, the descent of grace is started from 2 feet of Guru at the crown, and the never ending flow of time through present. The grace of enduring will (Sarasvati), its nourishment and protection (Lakshmi), and fulfillment through manifestation in womb (Durga), and a desire for not having a rebirth into a low form of life from the feet.

Then we give them a ritual head bath with mantras, called Abhishek. This is very empowering and many people go into trance like state right then, which is an indication of empowerment taking place. Then the initiatory mantras are given. The recipient is worshipped with flowers and kumkum concluding the ritual. The entire puja can be and is done to clothed recipients publicly at Devipuram. If the recipients desire it, exactly the same process can be done in their homes also.

All our pujas are satvic, which empower and hurt none. This is how Kaula pujas are done to willing and consenting adults at Devipuram. Priests never compel any one to do any particular puja. Suvasini (adult married woman), Kumari( Virgin adult girl above 18 years) and Dampati (Couple or partners in a live-in relationship) pujas are an essential part of Goddess worship. Anga pujas are necessary to invoke all powers in a balanced way. The powers invoked are 1. Iccha ( stable will ), 2. Jnana ( expanding knowledge to achieve it ) and 3. Kriya ( manifesting the will ). Only satvic pujas are offered to public seeking sacred traditions of Sri Vidya.

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Q: What is the essence of tantra? I know it is a vast subject, but a short and sweet answer will do. '

A: Everyone wants happiness. Two things make us unhappy: Not getting what we Desire, and getting what we Fear. If our desire is fake, we need to be protected from manifesting it. The conventional spiritual way is to transcend desires and fears and thereby reduce the chances of unhappiness. And through the process of transcending one is supposed to get to a state of unconditional happiness (bliss) which comes through the realization that we ARE bliss and there is no need to seek it.

The tantric way, on the other hand, is to get the power to get what we desire and be protected from what we fear. The tantric power is not some kind of magic that we evoke with mantras. It comes through a process of serious spiritual saadhana that also ultimately leads to the realization of our true powerful nature. However desire is the driving force for sadhana and not something to be shunned or overcome. In Tantric sadhana we uninhibitedly go to Devi with our desires, seek her help with mantras and poojas - in this process many things happen. Often the desires get fulfilled which makes our love for Devi grow. Sometimes they don't get fulfilled, but as we go on with the sadhana we realise that they are "fake" desires, camouflages for real deeper desires, and then as we gain clarity into our real desires they get fulfilled. Meanwhile the tantric rituals and mantras keep instilling into us the ultimate truth of who we really are - Devi herself. Without sadhana desire is truly the cause of all suffering.

Without the light of DevI, we blindly grope around to fulfill our desires, hurt others and get hurt by others. We get so clouded by our powerlessness and frustrations that we forget our real desires and substitute them with easy fakes, We feel guilty about our desires and try to hide them even from ourselves. Tantra brings desires out of darkness into God's light and fufills them thereby fulfilling the purpose of our life in this form.

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Q: Give us a message to live by.

A: Do as you like. Minimize hurt.

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Q: Thank you for answering questions patiently. We follow what we desire to do. In that process, we will minimize hurt and get connected to the Powers.

Love Guruji

Sharing Tantra's Secret Knowledge

I have published mantras on the web. I am trying to do everything possible to make information available to people through interactive teaching media. So you have my take on this.

It is true I am taking on the karmas of all those who misuse it. Let me suffer gladly for that.

If I am connected to Goddess, She is taking on the karmas made by Her. Let Her enjoy it.

Rāmānuja went to the top of the roof and shouted the mantra given to him by his guru, who extracted a promise that he would not reveal it to anyone.

My feeling is that information should be made available. Just because it is available, it does not imply that everyone looks at it.

It is in this spirit that books on Paraśurāma Kalpasūtra are published. Don't they contain the decoded mantras? What is the essential difference in publishing it in a book or on the web?

The problem with books was that soundtracks were not there. Interactivity was not there. Now they are, courtesy of the Web. It is a proper auditory transmission from a guru to śiṣya.

How many so-called gurus are actually giving the information in such detail to śiṣyas now? The gurus themselves are just throwing the mantras, not knowing any intricacies.

If our learned gurus don't tell publicly the secrets, all kinds of wrong interpretations go round. The wise shall choose to speak. Otherwise, the unwise have their way.

Look at all the play with tantra in the form of sexual licence. Given that what we are saying is probably less than 0.1% of what is out there, should we not break the silence?

Who does not know about the use of Pañca Makaras? Is it any secret now? We need to direct the people to proper ways of using it by channeling correct information than hiding it.

The times of puritan rejection of disseminating information have to change to prevent damage.

I do not wish to entertain any further correspondence on this subject.

Need I say more?

Love,
Guruji
Śrī Amṛtānanda Nātha Sarasvatī