Ritual

Bhairavi-chakra illustrating the five
M's, ingredients of the tantric
Pancha-makara rite. Rajasthan,
c. 19th century. Gouache on paper.
186
shrink from the senses but to conquer them through experience:
'Perfection can be attained easily by satisfying all desires' (Guhya-
Samaj Tantra), a statement which is echoed so vividly in Aldous
Huxley's letter to Timothy Leary:
Tantra teaches a yoga of sex, a yoga of eating (even eating forbidden
foods and drinking forbidden drinks). The sacramentalizing of common
life, so that every event may become a means whereby enlightenment can
be realized, is achieved, essentially, through constant awareness. This is
the ultimate yoga - being aware, conscious even of the unconscious - on
every level from the physiological to the spiritual. 40
The five ritual ingredients beginning with M, apart from their
literal meanings, are reminders of yogic processes. If they are
hypostatized into mental configurations, the ritual becomes a
right-hand tantric practice, or Dakshinachara. Thus madya (wine)
becomes the symbol of 'intoxicating knowledge'; mamsa (meat)
implies the control of speech (from the word ma, meaning
tongue); matsya (fish) represents the two vital currents moving in