Julius Evola The Yoga of Power

one. Tantrism as an initiation

This new trend can be designated as Tantrism. Tantrism can be regarded as a kind of synthesis of all the main points of the Hindu tradition, although at the same time it has a very special flavor and corresponds to a certain cyclic period, understood in terms of the metaphysics of history. The concepts of "Tantra" (which used to mean "treatise", "exposition"), which originated from the root "tan" (expand, distribute, continue, develop), and "Agama", (as other texts of the same category were designated), are here given meaning "what happened, happened"). By this it was meant that Tantrism was an "expansion" or "final explanation" of the traditional teachings which, being originally given in the Vedas, were subsequently developed in the Brahmanas, Upanishads and Puranas. It is in this sense that the teachings of Tantra are sometimes called the "fifth Veda", that is, the last revelation beyond the four traditional Vedas. This should be correlated with the reference to the doctrine of four centuries ("south"), replacing one another.[one] Tantrism, in line with this cyclical doctrine, maintains that the teachings, rituals, and disciplines that were acceptable in the Satya Yuga (corresponding to Hesiod's "golden age") cease to be so in the context of humanity living in subsequent ages and especially in the last "dark age", in the "Kali Yuga", in the "Iron Age" (in the "Age of the Wolf", according to the Edda). This humanity, according to Tantra, can acquire knowledge, doctrines and rituals for the effective achievement of a superhuman level and victory over death, "mritum javate" (and this is the main goal of the entire Hindu tradition), not in the Vedas and not in other purely traditional texts, but only in Tantra or Agama. Thus, it was argued that only tantric techniques based on merging with Shakti ("shakti-sadhana") are adequate and effective in the modern world; yet others will be as ineffective as the bite of a snake deprived of its venom.[2]
However, despite the fact that Tantrism does not reject ancient wisdom, it is still characterized by the rejection of stereotypical and empty ritualism, sterile contemplation and one-sided asceticism that mortifies the flesh. It can even be said that contemplation in Tantrism is opposed to action, practical implementation, direct experience. Practice - "sadhana", "abyasa" - this is the slogan of Tantra.[3] With some degree of approximation, this can also be called a dry path, and one should point out a certain closeness of Tantrism, understood in this way, with the position inherent in Buddhism as a “doctrine of awakening”, with its rejection of degenerate Brahmanism and hostility to purely rational mental constructions and empty ritualism..[four] This is clearly evidenced by one: “To prove one’s superiority by means of abstract proofs is the business of a woman. The business of a man is to conquer the world with his power. We leave disputes, arguments and conclusions to other schools (“sastra”). divine deeds by the power of one's own powerful words of potency ("mantp")".[5] And one more thing: “The peculiarity of Tantra lies in the nature of its “sadhana” [its practice]. It is not lamentation, supplication or repentance before a deity. it is to unite the masculine and maternal principles in the body and free from attributes that which has them [i.e., free from limitations that which is limited by them]...not thinking of empty formulas, but something practical. The Tantras say: "Begin to train under the guidance of a qualified teacher. If you don't get positive results immediately, you can just stop practicing."[6] Often the Tantras refer, as an analogy, to the practical persuasiveness inherent in medicines: just as the usefulness of a medicine, so the truth of a doctrine is manifested by its fruits and, in particular,, according to the "siddhis", the "powers" which it strengthens.[7] And the powers, another text adds, "are not acquired either by wearing the dress [of a brahmin or an ascetic], nor by speculations about yoga, but only tireless practice leads to complete perfection. There is no doubt about that."[eight]
In the preceding quotation, containing an allusion to the body, there is already an indication of the next fundamental principle of Tantrism. Consideration of the situation of the last century, the "dark age" or Kali Yuga, leads to a statement of its two main features. First, the man of this age is too attached to his own body, he does not can abstract from it. Because of this, according to Tantrism, the path appropriate to it is not the path of pure detachment (as in original Buddhism and many yogic teachings), but rather the path of knowing, awakening and mastering the secret energies hidden in the body. The second characteristic of Tantrism is connected with the “dissolutive” property inherent in the epoch we are considering. In this era, the symbolic cow of Dharma stands on only one leg (she successively loses the other three legs in the previous three "yugas"), which means that the traditional law ("dharma") begins to fluctuate, acquiring a rudimentary, residual character, gradually losing its essential quality. And it is in this era that the goddess Kali, who had slept in previous centuries, "wakes up completely." To Kali, who is the goddess of paramount importance in Tantrism, we will return more than once; for now, we will only note that this symbolism means that in the last century the elemental, lower forces, the forces of the abyss, are in a free state. According to Tantra, it is necessary to awaken, activate these forces, come into contact with them, in order to ultimately "saddle the tiger", as the Chinese tradition describes it, that is, to benefit from them, turning, according to the Tantric principle, "poison into medicine." From here come the rituals and special practices of Left Hand Tantrism, or the Left Hand Path ("vamachara"), which, despite some disturbing aspects (orgies, the use of sex, etc.), is one of the most interesting forms of the movement we are considering. Therefore, it is argued here that in the special situation of the Kali Yuga, teachings that were previously kept secret may become revealed to varying degrees, although a certain risk for the uninitiated still remains.[9] Hence the conclusion about which we have already spoken: esoteric and initiatic teachings flourish in Tantrism.
Further, one more important aspect should be underlined. A significant change in the attitude towards ethics that dominated Hinduism is due to the transition of Tantrism from the ideal of "liberation" to the ideal of "freedom". True, even the previous period knew the concept of "jivan-mukta", that is, such a being who achieved "liberation during life" and in the body. However, Tantrism arrives at a more precise definition of position: given the essential state man of the last century, Tantra invites him to overcome the contradiction between worldly pleasure and asceticism (or yoga, that is, a spiritual discipline aimed at liberation). "In other schools," says Tantra, "one excludes the other, but in our path one complements the other."[one0] In other words, Tantra developed a discipline that allowed the initiate to remain free and invulnerable even while enjoying the world, being immersed in this world. At the same time, Tantrism denies the identity of the world and pure illusion (pure appearance or mirage, "maya"), which is characteristic of Vedanta. The world for Tantrism is not "Maya", but potential power. Such a paradoxical combination of freedom or a transcendent dimension within and enjoyment of the world, free experimentation with it outside, has the most direct relation to the main formula, or the essential task of Tantrism: the union of the impassive Shiva with the fiery Shakti in one's own being and on all planes of reality.
This brings us to the last fundamental element of Tantrism, which is Shaktism. In that multifaceted current, which we called Tantrism, the central role was played by the new appearance and coming to the fore of the figure and symbol of the Goddess or the Divine Woman, Shakti, in various images (primarily as Kali and Durga). This Goddess can appear on her own as the supreme and transcendent principle of the universe. She can also act in various manifestations of Shakti, in female deities accompanying the male deities of Hinduism, who in the previous period had great independence, and so on up to the goddesses accompanying the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in late Buddhism. In thousands of different variants, the motive of divine couples was manifested, in which the female, shaktic element, was of great importance, and in some currents even became the main one.
This Tantric current undoubtedly has “exogenous”, archaic origins, going back to the substratum of the autochthonous tradition, which has many obvious parallels with the proto-historical tradition of the Pelasgian and proto-Hellenic Mediterranean world. For example, the Hindu "black goddess" (Kali and Durga) and a similar Paleo-Mediterranean goddess (black Demeter, Cybele, Diana of Ephesus and Tauris, up to the Christian "Black Madonnas" and St. Melaina [oneone]), go back to the same prototype. It is in this substrate, corresponding to the Dravidian population of India and, in part, to the levels and cycles of even more ancient civilizations, similar to those that came to light as a result of excavations in Mohenjo-Dar and Harappa (ca. thirty00 B.C.), the cult of the Great Goddess or Universal Mother (Magna Mater) was a central motif subsequently forgotten in the Aryan-Vedic tradition due to its essentially masculine and patriarchal orientation.This cult, secretly preserved in the period of the Aryan (Indo-European) conquest and colonization, awakened again in Tantrism, embodied in a multitude of Indian and Tibetan goddesses of the Shaktic type, on the one hand, reviving what was preserved