What is Tantra

Shiva does not give intellectual answers as Lord Krishna gave to Arjuna, instead, he gives sutras of transformation, as Osho reminds us:  First, the world of Vigyana Bhairva Tantra is not intellectual, it is not philosophical. Doctrine is meaningless to it. It is concerned with method, with technique – not with principles at all. The word ‘tantra’ means technique, the method, the path. So it is not philosophical – note this. It is not concerned with intellectual problems and inquiries. It is not concerned with the ”why” of things, it is concerned with ”how”; not with what is the truth, but how the truth can be attained.

Tantra is not like Yoga as it does not suggest any asanas to learn. Tantra transcends all this and teaches a life of affirmation--accept life, embrace life--from the lowest rung of the ladder to the highest rung of the ladder--from sex to super-consciousness. Osho points out:  All the tantra treatises are dialogues between Shiva and Devi. Devi questions and Shiva answers. All the tantra treatises start that way. Why? Why this method? It is very significant. It is not a dialogue between a teacher and a disciple, it is a dialogue between two lovers. And Tantra signifies through it a very meaningful thing: that the deeper teachings cannot be given unless there is love between the two – the disciple and the master. The disciple and master must become deep lovers. Only then can the higher, the beyond, be expressed.  So it is a language of love; the disciple must be in an attitude of love. But not only this, because friends can be lovers. Tantra says a disciple moves as receptivity, so the disciple must be in a feminine receptivity; only then is something possible.

In the context of modern psychology, Osho adds:  Now modern psychology, depth psychology particularly, says that man is both man and woman. No one is just male and no one is just female; everyone is bi-sexual. Both sexes are there. This is a very recent research in the West, but for Tantra, this has been one of the most basic concepts for thousands of years. You must have seen some pictures of Shiva as ARDHANARISHWAR – half man, half woman. There is no other concept like it in the whole history of man. Shiva is depicted as half man, half woman. So Devi is not just a consort, she is Shiva’s other half.

Being with a Master, the disciple surrenders his or her ego and becomes fully receptive to the mystical teaching. They start pulsating on the same wavelength. It is not something intellectual--it is existential.  And unless a disciple becomes the other half of the master it is impossible to convey the higher teachings, the esoteric methods. When you become one then there is no doubt. When you are one with the master – so totally one, so deeply one – there is no argument, no logic, no reason. One simply absorbs; one becomes a womb. And then the teaching begins to grow in you and change you. That is why Tantra is written in love language. Something must also be understood about love language. There are two types of language: logical language and love language. There are basic differences between the two.