On Tantra

There is a beautiful tantric proverb in Bengali which says:

Gomamse anuraga
bharyanie sarva tyaga
guru mere svarga vasa
hari bhajile sarva nasha

The literal translation is:

"God-realization is possible if you eat beef constantly

Emancipation is possible if you always remain with your wife

If you constantly kill the guru, this is your liberation

If you constantly worship Hari, this is your destruction."

Here it seems that every common-sense spiritual values have been completely turned around. How can a spiritual treatise advise seekers to eat meat, enjoy sexually, kill the guru, and stop worshipping God in order to attain God-realization?

All tantric works teach the highest spiritual knowledge, but in the most secret manner. Every word is used in a metaphorical way, which only a realized master can accurately interpret and explain to the students. Unfortunately, people in the West have taken tantric teachings literally, and countless so-called tantric teachers and gurus are nowadays propagating utterly false and degraded tantric practices, because they do not know the real meaning of them. Tantra in the West has become good business, and many teachers, both Easteners and Westerners, have soon realized that they can make good money by pandering to the West's insatiable appetite for sensual enjoyments under the guise of spirituality. Thus the popularity of "tantric" workshops on sex, developing psychic powers, indulging in carnal desires, etc.

But God can never be realized by the sense-organs, and the only way to realize God is to remove all desires and to control the mind by controlling the breath. This is exactly what the above-mentioned verse is referring to, as will be explained below.

Gomamse traditionally is translated as "beef". But we are to understand that this word is made of go + mam + sa. Go means "the whole universe." It is the same meaning in the name of Lord Krishna "Govinda", where go means "universe", vin means "joy", and da means "to give". Hence Govinda is "One who gives joy in the whole universe." Mam means "to me". Sa means He, the Supreme Almighty Lord. Hence gomamse means "He, who is abiding in the whole universe, is taking me to God."

Anuraga means "extreme desire"

Bharyanie is usually translated as "wife", but its real metaphorical meaning is "breath." In Sanskrit it is said bharayeti iti bharya,"the wife, i.e. breath, is maintaining the whole body." The breath-wife is inhaled by the supreme almighty Lord-husband. This is the real marital union, the ham-sa stage, kri + ya your life.

So bharyanie sarva tyaga means that by remaining constantly engrossed in the awareness that the breath (wife) is constantly touching her Lord in the fontanel, that is your liberation. The union of air (breath) and vacuum (Formless God) is the realization of God in the body-form.

Guru mere svarga vasa is usually translated as "If you kill the guru you go to heaven." First we must understand what is "guru." There are 50 types of breath. 49 types are ru, for material enjoyment, and 1 type is gu, for extreme calmness. When you attain the breathless stage of nirvikalpa samadhi, you have killed the guru you are beyond the 50 types of breath, you have entered into heaven.

Hari bhajile sarva nasha is commonly translated as "If you constantly worship Hari, this is your destruction." Because merely chanting the name "Hari, Hari, Hari" (a name of the Lord) by the mouth without understanding the real meaning of Hari, is a complete waste of time. So what is Hari? Hari is made of ha + ra + i. Hakara pingala varna: "the syllable ha means that there is no sense of the body." Further it is said that sarva varna varottamam "It (ha) is the supreme letter." Rakara teja varna sat: "The syllable ra is the power of God in the body." Ikara shakti dayaka: "The letter i is the life of God who is inhaling from above." So ha + ra + i is Hari, who is inhaling your breath and keeping you alive. You are to realize that Hari is in everything.

As the bhajan goes:

Chandre Hari, surye Hari (Hari is in the moon, Hari is in the sun)
anale anile Hari (Hari is fire and in the firmament)
hari maya bhumandal (Hari is all-pervading on earth)
mana Hari bol, mana Hari bol (Sing the name of Hari o my mind)