Tantras From The Viewpoint Of Samanya Dharma

This article attempts to provide an understanding of “tantra” practices and also good tantra acharas or practices from the viewpoint of Samanya Dharma. There are many wrong notions of tantra popularized by forces against Sanathana Hindu Dharma.

Before going into all those details, it will be of help to have a look at the basics of both Tantra and Samanya Dharma. Let’s start with Samanya Dharma first.

Samanya Dharma
The concept of Samanya Dharma may be new or not understood by many Sanatana Hindu dharmis today. This is due to the destruction of Gurukula Vidya starting in the year 1835 due to Macaulay policies and the secular government’s control of temples. In Hinduism, “Samanya Dharma” practices are those elements of Dharma that apply to all Hindus irrespective of their social group, professional background, or age. These can be called the general moral standards of behavior. Let us have a glimpse of a few of them for easier understanding.

Key Aspects of Samanya Dharma:

• Samanya Dharma supports the primary viewpoint of Sanathana Hindu Dharma that the bigger purpose of human life is aatmikta and is not driven primarily by a materialistic point of view.
• One must exercise self-control and stay away from reckless indulgence.
• An individual has to adhere to mental and physical purity. Here, importance needs to be given to cleanliness and protection from indulging in unclean physical habits, indulging in wrong food habits, and avoiding negative emotions, thoughts, and habits/behaviors.
• “Ahimsa” is an important principle of Samanya Dharma. Not just violence but in general it seeks to encourage gentleman and ladylike behavior in daily life. Urging to behave gently and speak with courtesy, manners, and pleasantness and avoid unnecessary harshness even in small matters.
• Truthfulness or objectivity is another significant behavior that is encouraged. To face reality and accept reality is encouraged not living with a distorted view of life.

The above is only a quick summary of Samanya Dharma before we get into understanding tantra. A more detailed understanding of tantra is provided here.

Tantras – The primary aspects
The term “tantra” speaks about numerous traditions and practices that deal with faster and easier ways of delivering the benefits of divine connection to regular people. One major aspect of tantra is about activation of the energy centers present in the human body. This enables an individual in activating some “shaktis” or internal energies latent in all persons. That is the summary of the Kundalinis.

The practices of tantra are centered on the usage of many mantras, yantras, symbols, objects, and ritualistic procedures. All that is driven by the sole objective of bringing harmony and unification among all elements inside the body. That could lead to both spiritual growth and sound health.

Negative perceptions of Tantra caused by Hindu hate ?
A quick search on Google for tantra turns up results that paint a negative view of tantra and this is not surprising. Even before the Internet era, the situation was the same.

The Western interpretation of tantric traditions is predominantly responsible for popularizing the erroneous notion that tantra is only about unrestrained enjoyment. As a result, the moment an average person hears “tantra,” their first thought is of sexual indulgence.

Gurukula education system and temple funds were primary sources of the Sanathana Hindu education system for the working segments of society. British changed the administrative system under the pretext of reform and removed all funds to the Gurukul system leading to their collapse. They also de-recognized the qualification, so employment became difficult for someone passing out from the Gurukula.

Similarly, by bringing all non-mutt temples into the endowment system, administered by British appointees – they forced the withdrawal of all support to Hindu Dharma activities calling such activities as wasteful activities.

The British had a very negative opinion of Bharat, its people, and Sanathana Hindu Dharma after the 3rd Anglo-Maratha War (1817 – 1819). Macualay’s Minute (1835) is a good example of the superiority attitude of the British colonialists. So they might have hyped up and emphasized something negative they found to demonize Sanathana Hindu Dharma. Panchamakkara tantra practices gave the colonial British that opportunity. What was unorthodox and rarely found suddenly started being associated with mainstream Sanathana Hindu Dharma.

Due to the lack of resources for Sanathana Hindu Dharma institutions and the restraints imposed on them, they could not support the proper mass education of the true nature of good tantras and how they differed from panchamakkara tantra practices.

Does Tantra violate Samanya Dharma?
On the question of whether tantra violates the Samanya Dharma principles, the straight answer is that some tantric schools violate many aspects of Samanya Dharma. Any tantric achara or school that does not follow Samanya Dharma will be automatically against Sanathana Hindu Dharma. It will be an unorthodox school in violation of the core principles of Sanathana Hindu dharma.

Is Tantra against Sanathan Hindu Dharma?

Not all tantra is against Sanathana Hindu Dharma acharas (practices). There is good tantra and there is not good tantra. For various reasons, mainly due to foreign rulers, especially Colonial British interventions in temple administration and in destroying gurukul funding sources the ability to educate Hindus on good tantras has weakened. As a result, knowledge of Hindu acharas has weakened among Hindus. Even articles 25 to 30 of the constitution have become a hindrance to creating mass education about good tantras.

Is the usage of panchamakkara in Vamachara Tantra acceptable?
Panchamakkara is worship using five substances that is meat, fish, liquor, cereals, and sexual intercourse in the vamachara tantra achara. Vamachara tantra is further categorized by excessive use of fear and secrecy which is typically not the case with Sanathana Hindu Dharma based acharas or practices. Creating fear and extreme secrecy is common in panchamakkara based vamachara tantra acharas.

Indulgences are looked down upon in traditional Sanathana Hindu Dharma practices. Indulgences are against concepts like indriya nigraha (self-monitoring), dhamam (self-control), and saucha (cleanliness) among others. Moreover, the purpose of life as per Sanathana Hindu Dharma is aatmik not materialistic. So the higher or better way of life was to avoid excessive indulgence. Even the Purushartha concept believes that Dharma comes first, then artha (income/wealth), followed by kama (desires), and then moksha. That again emphasizes that Dharma comes first.

So clearly it is obvious that mainstream Hinduism is against panchamakkara tantra practices. It is quite crystal clear that this is unorthodox and will be looked down upon as a deviant practice.

Was Tantra always present or recent to Sanathana Hindu Dharma?
Sanathana Hindu Dharma has been dynamic and changing with time to make people closer to God and give better aatmik (experience). However, some core practices and philosophies have always been emphasized. Samanya Dharma was one such concept. Initially, in Sanathana Hindu Dharma the emphasis was high on Vedic samskaras or yajna fire rituals. Then over time, the Puranas emerged and tantra practices gained momentum as a faster way to get results for people. After murthi pooja, Upasana, or getting close to God with bhakti at home also evolved. The evolution of practices happened continuously and the above is just a representative summary. Tantra and its increased emphasis in Sanathana Hindu Dharma acharas are more on the recent side though its existence as minor activity in the far past cannot be denied.

Unfortunately, Articles 25 to 30 preventing Hindu education even in schools run by Hindu charitable trusts has created fertile grounds for wrong perceptions to be formed among the Hindu population of India due to constraints to Hindu education in the formal school system. Surprisingly, the more English educated an Indian, the more likely they are ignorant of the traditional knowledge system.