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document.write(' <title>TantraMag.COM - General Introduction to Tantra Yoga - Part 1</title>   <br> ');
document.write('<p align="center"> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2" color="#DF0029"> ');
document.write('&nbsp;&nbsp;<b>G E N E R A L &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I N T R O D U C T I O N &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;T O<br>  ');
document.write('&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;T A N T R A &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Y O G A<br> P A R T 1</b><br><br> ');
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document.write('  The Sanskrit word <b>TANTRA</b> literally means "warp (on a loom)", or "extension". It proceeds  ');
document.write('from the verbal roots TAN - "to stretch, expound", and TRA - "to save", which give further hints  ');
document.write('upon the other meanings of the word TANTRA.<br> This name is applied both for a certain category of texts of the Oriental spirituality, and for  ');
document.write('the doctrine, and teachings which they contain. However, the Tantric texts, the TANTRA-s - and  ');
document.write('there are several hundreds of them: proper TANTRA-s, SHIVA AGAMA-s, VISHNU SAMHITA-s,  ');
document.write('SHAKTA NIGAMA-s, etc. - are written in a kind of "code language", so that without an oral  ');
document.write('explanation from a competent GURU, a lot of passages are bound to remain unclear. Moreover,  ');
document.write('there are still many untranslated, and secret Tantric texts under the dust of forgotten, or  ');
document.write('private libraries. All these, plus the extremely varied, and complicated nature of Tantrism  ');
document.write('renders the manipulation of a single definition almost impossible. That is why, it has been found  ');
document.write('useful to sketch some of the main features of the Tantric system in a detailed manner.<br><br> ');
document.write(' <b>CHARACTERISTICS OF TANTRISM</b><br><br>  1.<b> TANTRA YOGA</b> offers an alternative, and practical individual road to salvation, called a  ');
document.write('SADHANA, beside the Vedic one which is often deemed to be antiquated. It is important to remark  ');
document.write('here that the true Tantric SADHANA is accessible to people of any caste, social status, age,  ');
document.write('women as well as men, householders as well as ascetics.<br><br> 	 2.	The TANTRA-s are presented as the most fit form of teaching for the men of KALI YUGA,  ');
document.write('that is for the people of the "dark age", in which we live today. KALI YUGA is often connected  ');
document.write('with the "iron age" of the Greek mythology, and with the "age of the wolf", of the Northern Edda,  ');
document.write('deemed to have exactly the same meaning. Therefore, nowadays, when the spirituality is declining  ');
document.write('while man is desperately trying to reintegrate himself in a spiritual reality, it is stated that  ');
document.write('TANTRA is the last, and best way of salvation.<br><br>  <img src="http://www.tantramag.com/tantra/poza1-3.jpg" alt="Tantra Magazine" align="right" width="187" height="244" border="0"> ');
document.write(' 3.	TANTRA has a rigorous metaphysical basis, of a very non-dualist nature. However,  ');
document.write('according to its opinion an intellectual knowledge is not enough, but there is need of direct,  ');
document.write('personal experience, which becomes possible only through the agency of SHAKTI, the power, the  ');
document.write('intense energy. The concept of SHAKTI, the feminine energy is the specific colour of the entire  ');
document.write('Tantric system.<br><br> 	 4.	TANTRA recognizes, and expounds mundane aims besides spiritual emancipation, as a lawful  ');
document.write('goal for a practiser. Its aim is to transform the adept in a kind of super-man, who not only has  ');
document.write('liberated himself of the Universe, reaching Enlightment, but also - alike the Supreme Lord  ');
document.write('Himself - is able to rule over it, and control its secret forces. This involves that Tantric  ');
document.write('methods are applicable for various sorts of practical accomplishments, including astrology,  ');
document.write('medicine, parapsychology, alchemy, and magic. Many written sources are pre-occupied with the  ');
document.write('description of supernatural abilities (SIDDHI-s), and the ways to attain them. There remains  ');
document.write('however, always a connecting thread between the magical, and the spiritual.<br><br> ');
document.write('	 5.	The eminent place given to the energy entails a brilliant revalorisation of the body.  ');
document.write('This is not meant with the sense of object of idolatry, like in the contemporary world, but as  ');
document.write('necessary instrument, unavoidable premises of the spiritual realization. This is due to the  ');
document.write('perpetually reminded analogy between the macrocosm, and the microcosm, which is the human body:  ');
document.write('"What is here is everywhere, what is not here is nowhere". A consequence of this fact is the  ');
document.write('appearance of the HATHA YOGA system in the Tantric schools; system which has as goal neither  ');
document.write('the "health", nor the "well-being", as it is commonly believed.<br><br> 	 6.	TANTRA teaches the practice of a special variety of YOGA, destined to transform the  ');
document.write('animal instincts and functions, by creating an upward movement in the body, along the energy- ');
document.write('channels, NADI-s, and through the centre-s of force, CHAKRA-s. The process is most commonly  ');
document.write('expressed as "raising the KUNDALINI". Connected with this YOGA is the elaboration of a subtle  ');
document.write('physiology, in which the microcosm of the body is homologized with the macrocosm, and the world  ');
document.write('of the gods.<br><br>  <img src="http://www.tantramag.com/tantra/poza1-2.jpg" alt="Tantra Magazine" align="left" width="138" height="244" border="0"> ');
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document.write(' 7.	TANTRA emphasizes the metaphysical, and operative importance of the feminine principle.  ');
document.write('The Woman, the Goddess, SHAKTI represents for the TANTRIKA-s the universal Power, the energy of  ');
document.write('bondage and Liberation, who veils and reveals, blinds and illuminates; the world is her toy, and  ');
document.write('her mirror. Therefore we encounter here a genuine revalorisation of the woman, and perhaps the  ');
document.write('only spiritual path that acknowledges a total equality between the two sexes, at all levels.  ');
document.write('The importance of the female manifestations extends on all the levels of the experience, from  ');
document.write('daily life, till metaphysics.<br><br>  </font>   <br><br><center><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000"><a href="mailto:toni@cyclop.net?Subject=About General Introduction to Tantra Yoga - Part 1"><img src="http://www.tantramag.com/gifjpg/email-text.gif" border=0></a></font></center><br><br> ');
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