I'd like to share a reflection on the question of who is or should be a "guru" in yogic terms. First of all, I am generally adverse to neophytes in any field or subject matter throwing around technical or jargon terms. Regrettably in the west a handful of self-proclaimed spiritual leaders, both those of Oriental and those of Western origins, have set the stage for Westerners to misappropriate some very deeply meaningful terms cogent only to those natives steeped in generations of scholarship and praxis, to give the impression that they are privy to or in possession of some very ancient and esoteric, even mystical privileged knowledge, and that they are authoritative mentors or interpreters of such knowledge. My advice is to regard them with healthy suspicion. Be careful what you wish for.
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Guru -The light that dispels the darkness of ignorance.[/caption]
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In general, the term Tantra (Sanskrit: तन्त्र; literally "loom, weave, system") refers to a specific school of discipline and practice within the Vedic, Hindu and Buddhist Traditions. In the West, Tantra has been inappropriately exploited and marketed in a transmuted form, and is often misrepresented, misinterpreted and confused for sacred sexuality. Tantra is a Sanskrit word which means ‘woven together’. Tantric doctrines are esoteric and most teachings are passed on through direct transmission from mentor to disciple; the overall effect of Tantra is to ‘weave’ together different yogic practices and styles of mentoring for enhancement of our engagement with the world. Tantra focuses on continuity of awareness in everyday life, and the doctrine that all of life can be sacred when approached with that intention.
Taking it a step further, Tantra yoga works with the five bodies: the physical, the energetic, mental/emotional, wisdom, and the bliss body by combining asana, mantra, mudra and work with the energetic centers of the body, the chakras. Though many Wisdom Traditions seek to transcend the limitations of physical perceptions and experience, Tantra seeks to empower the practitioner to fully engage the sensual, physical experience and deploy it as a gateway to the sacred mystic realities of Shakti awakening and enlightenment.[1]
This appreciation of such purveyors of the unfamiliar is particularly applicable to Tantra and Tantric disciplines, practices and rituals. In general, Tantra is erroneously associated with some sort of bizarre sexual practices and with a pseudospirituality with terms like yoni (sacred passage, the vulva) and lingam (the wand of light, the penis), chakra (energy centers) and kundalini (cosmic awakening), thrown about like so many rubber chickens. It has become deplorably popular to create groups and sell workshops and books describing How To techniques which are merely superficial applications of ancient priciples with a few cryptic and nonsensical explanations thrown in to give some sort of mysterious credibility to the vacuous practices described.
Let's be quite clear on one important point: Not to wax neo-Jungian, the human brain over millenia of exposure to everything from climate to food to doctrines at some point evolves into a sort of hard-wired configuration, in which native Traditions are, well, native, unadulterated.
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