Some time ago I came across an amusing article written by 'serious' spiritual practitioners, castigating modern day tantrikas for "cheating" - taking shortcuts to spirituality and doubting their spiritual sincerity. Apparently, what typically takes 'serious' meditators years of intense spiritual discipline to achieve is available to a Tantrika in just a few months.
Therefore, they questioned whether something might be amiss, as you certainly couldn't have all those grand cosmic experiences simply by just 'indulging' in extended pleasure time! You need to seriously meditate 'the proper way', in order to achieve these fruits of hard labor and concentration!
Well, I'm here to say that God is not always serious, and enlightenment is not the exclusive domain of hard workers or the intellectual elite... if so, the world would have collapsed long ago. Instead, I believe that we are ALL innately equipped to experience our divinity through doing what we enjoy, realizing our true essence - love - by making love. And I mean that literally - when consciousness penetrates... energy love is the result.
Tantra is the path of the goddess, and goddess's way is simply different - like the Sudden School of Zen is different from the Gradual School of Zen. If we can learn through withdrawal from the distractions of the world and through intense discipline, or we can also - and often more quickly - learn through sensations and surrendering to the present moment, by immersing ourselves fully in the ocean of life, by giving ourselves to Her - the creative life force.
The complainers are right however, Tantrikas do soar to bliss pretty quickly. However, there is a price to it. Instead of taking the comfortable, gently winding trail around the mountain, they go up the steep slope, over the boulders and sharp rocks, through the thorn bushes, every now and then getting swept by storms or avalanches, climbing to the top bruised, weary and worn (that's how it feels to move through all the patterning, fully re-experiencing all the past hurts and failures, the vulnerability of an open heart that feels pain as intensely as flesh cutting sword), yet they also get to enjoy the freshness of air, the clarity of high altitude view, and the beauty of heaven they can touch from up there, the feeling of soaring with their feet still anchored to the solid Earth.
That's tantra. Some would call it a high adrenaline extreme sport for spiritual adepts... but I beg to differ. It's isnt' just a sport, but a necessity. In our modern world, change is accelerating, our planet is crying for help - so we simply cannot afford to take the slow trail anymore. We need to move fast to help prevent the planet from spiraling into a path of self destruction. What the masters taught us for centuries is no more for the 'chosen ones', it is available for everyone. It's here and now, in places you'd rather not look into, in emotional life patterns you'd rather not stir up, in the parts of yourself you'd rather keep hidden from everyone. It's hidden in both the light and the shadow. It is only when we've fully surrendered our spiritual egos and fully embraced the goddess in all Her forms of light and darkness, that we can reach true enlightenment, that we can experience true liberation. This is the hope of the new humanity, living on the ascended, New Earth in love, harmony and joy.
So what IS surrender? Does it mean shrugging your shoulders when facing adversity with 'oh well' and continuing in the old ways, surrendering to misery, sinking in apathy? That's not the kind of surrender I'm talking about... not much personal evolution there, right? Do you have a stirring in your being about something? Do you feel passionate about something, or just have the sense of rightness coming from your heart? What is your heart's true calling? Follow it. Don't give up with the first stumble. Give it your best. Surrender is giving yourself fully and completely to love and spirit and transformation. Give it your all. But with a genuine smile on your face and heart, instead of a serious academic frown.
The universe may have a better plan for us and we have much to learn from current situation. All is in perfect divine order. Look within.
Shakti Padmini, MA, has been a Certified Yoga Teacher with Sunra, international school of yoga since 1996, and Certified Ipsalu Tantra Teacher and Healer with Tantrika International since 1999. In this life she's been devoted to the path of Ipsalu Tantra/Tantric Kriya Yoga, perhaps the most powerful of yogas to produce kundalini awakening and spiritual liberation within a lifetime. Find out more at: http://www.pinklotuss.com/
