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Ritual practices
*Statue of the Tantric goddessKalifromDakshineswar,West Bengal,India; along with herYantra.
 
Because of the wide range of communities covered by the term
tantra
, it is challenging andproblematic to describe tantric practices definitively. Avalon (1918) does provide a usefuldichotomy of the "Ordinary Ritual"
[22]
and the "Secret Ritual"
[23]
.
 
Ordinary ritual
The ordinary ritual orpuja 
may include any of the following elements:
 
 
Mantra and yantra
As in otherHinduandBuddhist yogatraditions,mantraandyantraplay an important part in
 
Tantra. The mantras and yantras are instruments to invoke specific Hindu deities such as ShivaandKali. Similarly,pujamay involve focusing on ayantraormandalaassociated with a deity.
[24]
 
 
Identification with deities
Tantra, being a development of early Hindu-Vedic thought, embraced the Hindu gods andgoddesses, especiallyShivaandShakti, along with theAdvaitaphilosophy that each represents an aspect of the ultimate Para Shiva, orBrahman. These deities may be worshipped externallywith flowers, incense, and other offerings, such as singing and dancing; but, more importantly,are engaged as attributes of Ishta Devata meditations, the practitioners either visualizing
 
themselves as the deity or experiencing thedarshan(vision) of the deity. These Tantric practicesused to form the foundation of the ritualtemple danceof thedevadasis, and were preserved in
 
theMelatturstyle of Bharatanatyamby Guru Mangudi Dorairaja Iyer.
 
Secret ritual
Secret ritual may include any or all of the elements of ordinary ritual either directly or substitutedalong with other sensate rites and themes such as a feast (food, sustenance), coitus (sexuality,procreation), charnel grounds (death, transition) and defecation, urination and vomiting (waste,renewal, fecundity).
 
It was this sensate inclusion that fueledZimmer's praise of Tantra as havinga world-affirmative attitude:
In the Tantra, the manner of approach is not that of Nay but of Yea ... the world attitude is affirmative ...Man must approach through and by means of nature, not by rejection of nature.
[25]
 
InAvalon's 
Chapter 27: The Pañcatattva (The Secret Ritual)
of 
Sakti and Sakta
(1918),
[26]
he
 
states that the Secret Ritual (which he callsPanchatattva,
[27]
 ChakrapujaandPanchamakara
 
)involves:
Worship with the Pañcatattva generally takes place in a Cakra or circle composed of men and women...sitting in a circle, the Shakti [or female practitioner] being on the Sadhaka's [male practitioner's]left.Hence it is called Cakrapuja. ...There are various kinds of Cakra -- productive, it is said, of differing fruits
 
for the participator therein.
In this chapter, Avalon also provides a series of variations and substitutions of the Panchatattva(Panchamakara) "elements" ortattvaencoded in theTantrasand various tantric traditions and affirms that there is a direct correlation to the TantricFive Nectarsand theMah
ā
bh
ū
ta.
[28]
 
Sexual rites
Sexual rites of Vama Marga may have emerged from early Hindu Tantra as a practical means of generating transformative bodily fluids.
[29]
These constituted a vital offering to Tantric deities.Sexual rites may also have evolved from clan initiation ceremonies involving the transaction of sexual fluids. Here the male initiate was inseminated or insanguinated with the sexual emissionsof the female consort, sometimes admixed with the semen of the guru. He was thus transformedinto a son of the clan (
kulaputra
) through the grace of his consort. The clan fluid (
kuladravya
) orclan nectar (
kulamrita
) was conceived as flowing naturally from her womb. Later developmentsin the rite emphasised the primacy of bliss and divine union, which replaced the more bodilyconnotations of earlier forms. Although popularly equated with Tantra in its entirety in the West,sexual rites were practiced by a minority of sects. For many practicing lineages, thesemaithuna practices progressed into psychological symbolism.
[30]
 
 
When enacted as enjoined by the tantras, the ritual culminates in a sublime experience of infiniteawareness, by both participants. TheTantric textsspecify thatsexhas three distinct and separate purposes—procreation, pleasure, and liberation. Those seeking liberation eschew frictionalorgasm for a higher form of ecstasy, as the couple participating in the ritual, lock in a static
 
embrace. Several sexual rituals are recommended and practiced. These involve elaborate and
 
meticulous preparatory and purificatory rites. The act balances energies coursing within thepranic idaandpingalachannels in the subtle bodies of both participants. The
sushumna
 nadiis
 
awakened andkundalinirises upwards within it. This eventually culminates insamadhiwherein the respective individualities of each of the participants are completely dissolved in the unity of cosmic consciousness. Tantrics understand the act on multiple levels. The male and femaleparticipants are conjoined physically and representShivaandShakti, the male and female principles. Beyond the physical, asubtlefusion of Shiva and Shakti energies takes placeresulting in a united energy field. On an individual level, each participant experiences a fusion of one's own Shiva and Shakti energies.
[31][32]
 
Resources:
[22]Shakta Sadhana (The Ordinary Ritual)".http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/sas26.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.[23]
 
The Pañcatattva (The Secret Ritual)".http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/sas27.htm. Retrieved on 2007- 09-28.[24] Magee, Michael.The Kali Yantra [25] quoted in Urban (2003), p. 168[26] "The Pañcatattva (The Secret Ritual [27]Panchatattvahas a number of meanings in different traditions. The term "
 panchatattva
" is also employed bytheGaudiya Vaishnavism. Rosen, Steven J.
Sri Pancha Tattva: The Five Features of God 
1994ISBN 0-9619763-7-3 Folk Books, New York[28] Avalon, Arthur.
Sakti and Sakta
, ch. 27[29] White (2000)[30] White (2000)
 [31]
Satyananda[32] Woodroffe (1959)
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