From the Introduction
Tantra, the Great Spiritual Synthesis of India

The thousands of evils arising from one's
birth can be removed by means of practice.
—Matsyendra-Samhita (7.20a)

Definitions

Tantra is a Sanskrit word that, like the term yoga, has many distinct but basically related meanings. At the most mundane level, it denotes "web" or "woof." It derives from the verbal root tan, meaning "to expand." This root also yields the word tantu (thread or cord). Whereas a thread is something that is extensive, a web suggests expansion. Tantra can also stand for "system," "ritual," "doctrine," and "compendium." According to esoteric explanations, tantra is that which expands jnana, which can mean either "knowledge" or "wisdom." The late Agehananda Bharati, an Austrian-born professor of anthropology at Syracuse University and a monk of the Dashanami order, argued that only knowledge can be expanded, not the immutable wisdom. But this is not entirely correct. Wisdom, though coessential with Reality and therefore perennial, can be expanded in the sense of informing the spiritual practitioner more and more. This process is like placing a sponge in a shallow pool of water. It gradually soaks up the water and becomes completely suffused with moisture. Thus while wisdom is always the same, it can also, paradoxically, grow inside a person. Or, to put it differently, a person can grow to reflect more and more of the eternal wisdom.

But tantra is also the "expansive," all-encompassing Reality revealed by wisdom. As such it stands for "continuum," the seamless whole that comprises both transcendence and immanence, Reality and reality, Being and becoming, Consciousness and mental consciousness, Infinity and finitude, Spirit and matter, Transcendence and immanence, or, in Sanskrit terminology, nirvana and samsara, or brahman and jagat. Here the words samsara and jagat stand for the familiar world of flux that we experience through our senses.

Historically, tantra denotes a particular style or genre of spiritual teachings beginning to achieve prominence in India about fifteen hundred years ago—teachings that affirm the continuity between Spirit and matter. The word also signifies a scripture in which such teachings are revealed. By extension, the term is often applied to texthooks or manuals in general. Tradition speaks of 64 Tantras, though as with the 108 Upanishads this is an ideal figure that does not reflect historical reality. We know of many more Tantras, though few of them have survived the ravages of time.

A practitioner of Tantra is called a sadhaka (if male) or a sadhika (if female). Other expressions are tantrika or tantra-yogin (if male) and tantra-yogini (if female). An adept of the Tantric path is typically known as a siddha ("accomplished one," from sidh, meaning "to be accomplished" or "to attain") or maha-siddha ("greatly accomplished one," that is, a great adept). The female adept is called siddha-angana ("woman adept," from anga, meaning "limb" or "part"). The Tantric path itself is frequently referred to as sadhana (from the same verbal root as siddha), and the spiritual achievement of this path is called siddhi (having the dual meaning of "perfection" and "powerful accomplishment"). Siddhi can refer either to the spiritual attainment of liberation, or enlightenment, or to the extraordinary powers or paranormal abilities ascribed to Tantric masters as a result of enlightenment or by virtue of mastery of the advanced stages of concentration. A Tantric preceptor, whether he or she is enlightened or not, is called either an acarya ("conductor," which is related to acara, "way of life") or a guru ("weighty one").

Tantra: A Teaching for the Dark Age

Tantra understands itself as a gospel for the "new age" of darkness, the kali-yuga. According to the Hindu worldview, history unfolds in a cyclical pattern that proceeds from a golden age to world ages of progressive spiritual decline, and then back to an era of light and plenty. These ages are called yugas (yokes), presumably because they fasten beings to the wheel of time (kala-cakra), the flux of conditioned existence. There are four such yugas, which repeat themselves over and over again, all the while maturing all beings, but especially human beings. The scriptures speak of this developmental process as "cooking." The four world ages, in order, are:

1. The satya-yuga, in which truth (satya) reigns supreme, and which is also known as krita-yuga because everything in it is well made (krita)

2. The treta-yuga, in which truth and virtue are somewhat diminished

3. The dvapara-yuga, in which truth and virtue are further diminished

4. The kali-yuga, which is marked by ignorance, delusion, and greed

These correspond to the four ages known in classical Greece and ancient Persia. Significantly, the Sanskrit names of the four world ages derive from dice playing, a favorite pastime of Indic humanity ever since Vedic times. The Rig-Veda, which is at least five thousand years old, has a hymn (10.34) that has been dubbed "Gambler's Lament" because its composer talks poetically of his addiction to gambling. Of the dice he says that "handless, they master him who has hands," causing loss, shame, and grief. The Bharata war, chronicled in the Mahabharata epic, was the ill-gotten fruit of gambling, for Yudhishthira lost his entire kingdom to his wicked cousin Duryodhana with the throw of a die.

Krita signifies the lucky or "well-made" throw, dvapara (deuce) a throw of two points, treta (trey) a throw of three points, and kali (from the verbal root kal, "to impel") the total loss, indicated by a single point on the die. The word kali is not, as is often thought, the same as the name of the well-known goddess Kali. However, since Kali symbolizes both time and destruction, it does not seem farfetched to connect her specifically with the kali-yuga, though of course she is deemed to govern all spans and modes of time.

The Tantras describe the first, golden age as an era of material and spiritual plenty. According to the Mahanirvana-Tantra (1.20–29), people were wise and virtuous and pleased the deities and forefathers by their practice of Yoga and sacrificial rituals. By means of their study of the Vedas, meditation, austerities, mastery of the senses, and charitable deeds, they acquired great fortitude and power. Even though mortal, they were like the deities (deva). The rulers were high minded and ever concerned with protecting the people entrusted to them, while among the ordinary people there were no thieves, liars, fools, or gluttons. Nobody was selfish, envious, or lustful. The favorable psychology of the people was reflected outwardly in land producing all kinds of grain in plenty, cows yielding abundant milk, trees laden with fruits, and ample seasonable rains fertilizing all vegetation. There was neither famine nor sickness, nor untimely death. People were good-hearted, happy, beautiful, and prosperous. Society was well ordered and peaceful.

In the next world age, the treta-yuga, people lost their inner peace and became incapable of applying the Vedic rituals properly, yet clung to them anxiously. Out of pity, the god Shiva brought helpful traditions (smriti) into the world, by which the ancient teachings could be better understood and practiced.

But humanity was set on a worsening course, which became obvious in the third world age. People abandoned the methods prescribed in the Smritis, and thereby only magnified their perplexity and suffering. Their physical and emotional illnesses increased, and as the Mahanirvana-Tantra insists, they lost half of the divinely appointed law (dharma). Again Shiva intervened by making the teachings of the Samhitas and other religious scriptures available.

With the rise of the fourth world age, the kali-yuga, all of the divinely appointed law was lost. Many Hindus believe that the kaliyuga was ushered in at the time of the death of the god-man Krishna, who is said to have left this earth in 3102 BCE at the end of the famous Bharata war. There is no archaeological evidence for this date, and it is probable that Krishna lived much later, but this is relatively unimportant for the present consideration. What matters, however, is that most traditional authorities consider the kali-yuga to be still very much in progress. In fact, according to Hindu computations, we are only in the opening phase of this dark world age, which is believed to have a total span of 360,000 years. Thus from a Hindu perspective, the current talk in certain Western circles of a promising new age—the Age of Aquarius—is misguided. At best, this is a mini-cycle of self-deception leading to false optimism and complacency, followed by worsening conditions. This is in fact what some Western critics of the New Age movement have suggested as well. Other critics have argued, conversely, that the Hindu model of cyclical time is unrealistic and outdated.

Whatever the truth of this matter may be, the Tantras emphasize that their teachings are designed for spiritual seekers trapped in the dark age, which is in effect today. This is how the Mahanirvana-Tantra (1.36–42), in the prophetic words of the Goddess, describes the current world age:

    With the sinful kali[-yuga] in progress, in which all law is destroyed and which abounds with evil ways and evil phenomena, and gives rise to evil activities,

    then the Vedas become inefficient, to say nothing of remembering the Smritis. And the many Purjnas containing various stories and showing the many ways [to liberation]

    will be destroyed, O Lord. Then people will turn away from virtuous action

    and become habitually unrestrained, mad with pride, fond of evil deeds, lustful, confused, cruel, rude, scurrilous, deceitful,

    short-lived, dull-witted, troubled by sickness and grief, ugly, weak, vile, attached to vile behavior,

    fond of vile company, and stealers of other's money. They become rogues who are intent on blaming, slandering, and injuring others

    and who feel no reluctance, sin, or fear in seducing the wife of another. They become destitute, filthy, wretched beggars who are sick from their vagrancy.

The Mahanirvana-Tantra continues its description of the dreariness of the kali-yuga by saying that even the brahmins become degenerate and perform their religious practices mainly to dupe the people. Thus the custodians of the law (dharma) merely contribute to the destruction of the sacred tradition and the moral order. The Tantra next reiterates that Shiva revealed the Tantric teachings to stem the tide of history and correct this tragic situation. The masters of Tantra are profoundly optimistic.