The words tantra and desire have similar meanings.  One meaning of tantra, a word found repeatedly in the ancient texts of India,  “expansion away from crudity or expansion away from that which is static.” ‘Desire’ can easily be given the meaning of, “a longing to expand.”  Desire with no object, unmotivated desire, pure desire, yearning for limitlessness is Godliness.  For centuries desire has been looked down upon and derided as “the root of all evil,”  but it is actually at the root of all that we do.  To name desire as evil is to be against all the creatures of the sky and the earth.  The energy which we channel into all desire is to be focused and transformed.

IMMEASURABLY CLOSE

Tantra has a long and rich tradition of doing just that, focusing and persuading the human mind to enter the place of stillness from which it is possible to access more than the “Me and Mine” layer.  Arguably the first and foremost of our desires is sexual energy.  Looking closely you will see that sexual energy is the creative energy of the universe.  In most life forms this energy expresses itself only through biological creativity, the reproduction and evolution of the species.  But in human beings that creative energy is responsible for great poetry, the Sistine Chapel, the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris; any time you feel overjoyed, passionate or enthusiastic, that is an experience of sexual energy.

Throughout India statues can be seen depicting a man and woman in sexual embrace indicating an intimacy between the two halves of the conscious energy field inhabiting the universe; masculine and feminine.  This is the intended interpretation of these statues.  The subject of intimacy is one which distinguishes tantra from many other spiritual world views.  This sentiment has been portrayed by countless songs and poems of saints and masters through the ages;

“I didn’t understand before how close you are to me,”  “You are mixed in the work like the melody is mixed in the song.”

THE DANCE OF RADHA

These two halves are commonly given the names of Shiva (masculine) and Shakti (feminine), cognitive and operative aspects of the energy field.  Also, Radha (feminine) and Krshna (masculine). The creative energy lying dormant as psycho-spiritual energy, at the base of the spine in every human being is awakened in acts of creativity, inspiration and originality.  The practice of meditation is an effort to raise this energy (Radha) up the spine and in so doing unite it with pure consciousness (Krishna) residing at the top of the cranium.  When one practices meditation at any particular time of the day the energy rises up the spine and when one stops meditation it goes down, sometimes called the “dance of Radha.”

This act of union between Radha and Krishna, Shiva and Shakti takes place in the macroscosm as well as the microcosm.  (check out the article, “The Journey of Consciousness and the Birth of Sprituality”)  This is the intuitional science of tantra, present in many spiritual traditions.  How to appreciate this?  It has been an open secret for thousands of years in the teachings of tantra yoga.