TANTRA ORIGINS: HINDUISM<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to encyclopaedia Brittanica: tantra is \u2018any of numerous texts dealing with the esoteric practices\u2019 of\u2014at least one\u2014Hindu, sect. We redefine \u2018new-age\u2019, \u2018Neo\u2019 and by definition, the even-less-accessible, more-indigenous and secret tantric \u2018classical\u2019 practices for those curious about tantra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ABSTRACT<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018The earliest known use of the noun\u2019 tantrism \u2018is in the 1870s\u2019 of the common era, CE. More specifically: the Oxford English dictionary\u2019s\u2014OED’s\u2014\u2018earliest evidence for Tantrism is from 1877\u2019 CE, \u2018in the writing of M. Williams.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
25, 541.5 years TRAPCAT Polaris<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to our website\u2019s previously introduced system of dating, linked to here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Indian subcontinent was explored and conquered by the British empire. So whatever tantric practices were therein permit, we define here as neo-tantra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New age tantra may be even more removed from its roots. This developed in a culture whose contemporary cultural aspirations vastly differ from those of neo-tantra and classical tantrism, before that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
INTRODUCTION<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The present article sets the stage, charting the timeline leading towards the birth of tantrism\u2014a \u2018spiritual\u2019 practice nested within Hinduism. It is part of a short series of articles intended to relate and comment upon our source\u2014eventually linked to here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The article series not only is intended to give an internal overview on tantrism. It is also aimed to provide some historical and philosophical context to the claims made of tantrism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
CONTEXT & BACKGROUND<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The present article was sourced from a lecture series introducing Hinduism, one of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
world\u2019s great religions. In its totality, the lectures investigate a variety of dimensions that are important in answering the aforementioned faith\u2019s fundamental questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This would be of interest to comparative religions\u2019 serious students. For the reader of this article, we have picked out parts alluding to secret tantric teachings\u2014the juiciest bits\u2014so to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have paraphrased the course\u2019s material pertaining directly to tantra, and use this article as a potential springboard for deeper-diving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The source\u2014revealed at series\u2019-end\u2014progresses chronologically through Hinduism\u2019s history, from its earliest known precursors. The source then navigates through Hinduism\u2019s manifestations in a classical era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, it shapes its course through the belief-system\u2019s responses to the world contemporary with the \u2018penning\u2019 of the present article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On this conceptual journey, aspects salient to Hindu life are discussed and contextualised historically, as well as theologically. It is important to understand these criteria when exploring any aspect of Hinduism\u2014including any lost, hidden or secret tantric doctrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For such an understanding, a number of important things are outlined in the sentences below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It permits exploration into aspects of modern-tantra, authentic to the place and period of its origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also allows us to acknowledge the tradition, whilst releasing any unsavoury aspects of it that may be authentically distanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ancient philosophical systems make certain cosmic assumptions that we are better informed about today. The tradition may work for the reader, but not necessarily due to the mechanisms claimed by former ways of thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The source opens by explaining some problematical matters involved in academically studying Hinduism. It observes some of the associated difficulties pertaining to fundamental terms of the course, particularly religion, Hinduism concepts, and India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
~As a bit of a spoiler, tantra is a medieval outcropping of Hindu culture. However, who can be comfortable discussing tantrism without examining either side of it on the Hinduism timeline?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surely, in our deterministic universe, Hindu prehistory and ancient history, as well as contemporary tantra are connected by\u2014the intermediate\u2014medieval tantrism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are five-thousand years of Indo-Aryan history to examine the early cultures of \u2026 That most significantly shaped the development of Hinduism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The source briefly visits the indigenous culture of northern India\u2014the Indus Valley civilization\u2014prior to introducing \u0100ryans\u2019 migration from Central Asia. It was in fact the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u0100ryans who bequeathed Hinduism with its most sacred and authoritative of scriptures\u2014the Veda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The source explored the zeitgeist the Veda emerged from; it turns out that many English words are etymologically rooted therein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The English word \u2018ignite\u2019 is related to the Vedic fire-god, Agni, so see what you make of this link \u2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an aside, Agni’s colour, familiar beast, and associated body part are all reminiscent of Western contemporary astrological-classical fire-sign-Aries-Ares, god-of-war.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For any secret tantric techniques and teachings, we return to our source, from which we hope to glean tantalising evidence. The discussion moved from the Vedic period to the era of classical Hinduism. In the classical period, the belief system generated much of its basic practices and ideology \u2026 This will be a recurring observation of ours that the former often precedes the later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notions of \u2018transmigration of the soul\u2019 and \u2018karma\u2019 are thereby included. As a website very much interested in philosophy, terminology and the assumptions that underpinned terminology are intended for questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Semantics are significant in our web site<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The present article merely introduces the source as it pertains to our quest for secret tantric insight and practical knowledge. However, it is our intent to later give type to our thoughts on the aforementioned quoted phrases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Returning to the source: it discusses major societal arrangements that were established within Hindu culture in its classical era\u2019s duration. Such are the caste system, as well as life-patterns variation for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women, and <\/p>\n\n\n\n Men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As our previous publication would have it, the following sentence\u2019s terms are used in place of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Woman, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n Man, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sapient sapient adult, SSA, and <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sapient sapient in utero sex-changed adult\u2014SSIUSCA\u2014or in utero sex-changed sapient sapient adult, IUSCSSA, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No: it is not an internal-joke, but the result of a philosophical contemplation, again pertaining to terminology and logical consistency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both gender patterns and the aforementioned caste-system social stratifications greatly affect the nature of all Hindu\u2019s \u2018spiritual\u2019 life, or psyche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, that is correct, the reader\u2019s patience can now start to pay off!<\/p>\n\n\n\n For readers wondering what all of this has to do with secret tantric sectarianism, they may now be getting a better idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We not only import the fruits of Asian culture but also its stem, thorns, soil, and accompanying weeds. Western yoga lovers may perhaps consider gender and caste-system to be embarrassing parasitic elements, the aforementioned weeds, as it were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One may ask the following question, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who are we to deem tantra and yoga as being fruit, and the caste-system and gender-divide as being societal evils?<\/p>\n\n\n\n To answer correctly, the response is not as simple as saying: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Because modern western-European cultural-values preclude this sort of thing\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The egalitarian west is undergoing a radical transformation into a different sort of society. This may preclude it<\/em> from ever again<\/em> being able to impose its will so forcefully on a now\u2014nuclear armed\u2014east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What the historian can say\u2014unshackled from political correctness\u2014is that Britain was once a place whose society sufficiently-developed over several generations. The nature of the aforementioned \u2018sufficiency\u2019 was British society\u2019s ability to do what is described in the next sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is for one nation to\u2014scientifically, technologically, and thus militarily, politically, and ultimately culturally<\/em>\u2014impose its will upon another nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if we are sampling curry, we are often sampling it from a spoon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We can deem tantra and yoga as being fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can also deem the caste-system and gender-divide as being societal-evils\u2014to answer the previous question\u2014inasmuch as pre-colonial British mores permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This argument bears deep consideration, and we invite your comments below. Our internal debate can determine what we take from medieval tantra, what we leave behind, and why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To clarify the thought, The United Kingdom of Great Britain colonised and absorbed the Indian subcontinent into her own empire. Perhaps then, whatever capacity<\/em> pre-colonial-British society had to achieve such a feat proves her containment-and-transmission-fitness<\/em> for and of Hindu tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secret tantric teaching, or tantrism in general, and yoga are outcroppings of Hindu wisdom traditions. On that note, the western philosophy has ethics and politics\u2014as but two of its own\u2014branches we herein consider\u2014towards contextualisation completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not a straightforward line of thought, but we think it manifests as outlined in the following sentence. Traditional Hindu tantra was geared towards enlightenment and \u2018spiritual\u2019 bliss\u2014rather reminiscent of the aims of christianity, pre-colonial Britain’s practiced religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversely, our modern western culture has not yet proven itself to be fit\u2014Darwinianlly\u2014or sufficiently qualified to modify five-millenia-old Hindu culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A modern and common-place conception seems to be that: Hindu tantra is about present corporeal-stimulation, rather than reincarnating \u2018spiritual\u2019 bliss. This is why the sexual restraint of Western culture in by-gone-days, seems\u2014somewhat strangely, counter-intuitively\u2014to parallel classical Hindu tantrism\u2019s afterlife considerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Returning to consideration of our source: it explores Hinduism\u2019s diverse philosophical and religious components, which includes the way of action. This is a discipline\u2014that is \u2018spiritual\u2019 or involves the nervous psyche\u2014practiced or pursued by the overwhelming majority of Hindu people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our use of the term \u2018nervous psyche\u2019 is to anchor the argument for materialist reductionalism, rather than a \u2018transcendent\u2019 spirituality<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is our intent that publications on our website justify this distinction in detail\u2014although our reasoning was an audiobook borrowing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To continue our relation and commentary on secret tantric tradition, follow this link to the next article. For a link to a trusted tantra teacher and practitioner, kindly follow this link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TANTRA ORIGINS: HINDUISM According to encyclopaedia Brittanica: tantra is \u2018any of numerous texts dealing with the esoteric practices\u2019 of\u2014at least one\u2014Hindu, sect. We redefine \u2018new-age\u2019, \u2018Neo\u2019 and by definition, the even-less-accessible, more-indigenous and secret tantric \u2018classical\u2019 practices for those curious about tantra. Part 1 ABSTRACT \u2018The earliest known use of the noun\u2019 tantrism \u2018is in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16,"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malik-as-suyuf.one\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}