"Agamas"

 

    Tantra is a vast metaphysical system, unrelated to any religion, which originated in India and Tibet many centuries ago. This very scientific, comprehensive system gives the human being a gateway into the structure of reality and a practical understanding of the basic laws of the universe, in essence providing us the bases for development as human beings. First and foremost, Tantra is a path to spiritual evolution.

    The ancient origins of Tantra can be traced to certain texts which are called the agamas. These texts, some of which have not yet been translated into modern languages, encompass teachings on an enormous variety of subjects. To an uninitiated person, the information seems too vast, of studies possibly not even related or contradictory of studies possibly not even related or contradictory.

    What does architecture have to do with sex or healing or rituals or astrology? The agamas covered these topics and many more. From the practical to the metaphysical, Tantra has something to say about everything, because ultimately all of these subjects are related in a spiritual worldview. In fact, the definition of Tantra is: a web of interconnection.

    The Agamas are a collection of several Tantric literature and scriptures of Hindu schools. The term literally means tradition or "that which has come down", and the Agama texts describe cosmology, epistemology, philosophical doctrines, precepts on meditation and practices, four kinds of yoga, mantras, temple construction, deity worship and ways to attain sixfold desires. These canonical texts are in Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil (written in Grantha script, Telugu script and Tamil script).

    The three main branches of Agama texts are shaiva, vaishanva, and shakta. The Agamic traditions are sometimes called Tantrism, although the term "Tantra" is usually used specifically to refer to Shakta Agamas. The Agama literature is voluminous, and includes 28 Shaiva Agamas, 77 Shakta Agamas (also called Tantras), and 108 Vaishnava Agamas (also called panchratra Samhitas), and numerous Upa-Agamas.

    The origin and chronology of Agamas is unclear. Some are Vedic and others non-Vedic. Agama traditions include yoga and Self Realization concepts, some include kundalini yoga, asceticism, and philosophies ranging from Dvaita (dualism) to Advaita (monism). Some suggest that these are post-Vedic texts, others as pre-Vedic compositions dating back to over 1100 BCE. Epigraphical and archaeological evidence suggests that Agama texts were in existence by about middle of the 1st millennium CE, in the pallava dynasty era.

    Developing physical and mental discipline with yoga is one of four recommendations in Agama texts. There are important scriptures of Hinduism that come from the proceeds tradition. These are complementary to the vedas. Their speakers are often shivaji. This scripture is generally known as ' Tantra '.

    Scholars note that some passages in the Hindu Agama texts appear to repudiate the authority of the Vedas, while other passages assert that their precepts reveal the true spirit of the Vedas. The Agamas literary genre may also be found in Sramanic traditions (i.e. Buddhist, Jaina, etc.). Bali Hindu tradition is officially called Agama Hindu Dharma in Indonesia.

    Agama literally means "tradition", and refers to precepts and doctrines that have come down as tradition. Agama, states Dhavamony, is also a "generic name of religious texts which are at the basis of Hinduism and which are divided into Vaishnava Agamas (also called Pancaratra Samhitas), Shaiva Agamas, and Shakta Agamas (more often called Tantras).

    It is important to begin with a solid foundation of understanding about Tantra so that one can develop the tools to bring philosophical theory into tangible reality in daily experience.

    In Sanskrit the word Tantra is translated as the “warp” of a loom – that which weaves everything together into a net of connections. Tantra is a science of correlations which reveals to us that the universe is holographic in nature. Everything is reflected in everything else, the universal Macrocosm can be found in the individual microcosm. Not only is there a cosmic revelation in even the smallest of all of creation, there is also a seemingly unfathomable interconnection between every single thing in the universe and everything else.

    The Sufis say that when you cut a blade of grass, you impact the galaxies – the blade of grass and galaxies have an interconnection. You may have heard of this idea, illustrated in the “butterfly effect,” that a butterfly flapping its wings in a in a tropical rainforest is causally intertwined with a tsunami somewhere on the other side of the planet in an invisible network of energy. Tantra is training in recognizing the subtleties of these connections. When you tune your perception into this level of reality, you will begin to understand this idea at the deepest level of your own being. In every atom there are worlds within worlds.

    The first and most important concept of Tantra is Shakti, which translates as energy, yet also means power and goddess. The whole of universal manifestation is energy, Shakti. However, energy is not singular and it does not exist apart from what we can deem to be consciousness – thus the duality, or polarity, of Shiva and Shakti.

    While these terms are found in the Hindu tradition, they represent far more than a mythological or metaphorical understanding referring to human-like paganistic gods or goddesses. They in fact represent the exact metaphysical nature of reality in the tantric tradition.

    The polarity of Shiva and Shakti is the relationship between the two aspects of reality: the unmanifested (or mysterious and undifferentiated) and manifested (everything we see, feel, touch, or essentially everything our universe includes, otherwise known as energy or Shakti).

    The unmanifested, known as purusha in Tantra, is beyond manifestation or reality as we know it, prakriti. This unmanifested reality, also known as Shiva, cannot really be put into words, and therefore we can simply call it the Absolute. The Goddess resides in all women and the Lord abides in all men.