Ritual

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withdraw their minds from their environment. The mind aspires
to be free. The retention of sexual energy increases inner pressure,
thus transmitting the sex force into a potency so powerful that the
psychic current is liberated.
Tantra asana demonstrates the way by which sexual energy can
be harnessed for spiritual fulfilment. It teaches us to explore our
senses rather than to subdue them. The Guhyasamaja Tantra
categorically affirms; 'No one succeeds in attaining perfection by
employing difficult and vexing operations; but perfection can be
gained by satisfying all one's desires.' The tantras are unique in the
sense of being a synthesis of the opposing dimensions, bhoga
(enjoyment) and yoga (liberation). Our hedonistic urges based on
the pleasure principle can be transformed for a spiritual experience.
To involve oneself in gross pleasure, therefore, can itself be
regarded as an act of spirituality, provided it is indulged in with a
right intention and motivation and after adequate initiation. Thus
sexo-yogic practices become a yoga, or a means for a spiritual
edification, a vehicle, though conventional wisdom regards sex as
profane and an obstacle to any form of spiritual progress.
Sex is regarded as a physical basis of creation and evolution. It is
the cosmic union of opposites, of the male and female principles,
and its importance merits fulfilment on the biological plane,
Tantra, however, makes a distinction between momentary
pleasure and the joy of union. This joy of union is equated with
supreme bliss (ananda), obliterating differences between male and
female in a state of complete union. In this state all impulse and
function become Siva-Sakti. This ecstasy is experienced as the
Kundalini rises and unfolds itself.
A very dynamic role is played by the female aspirant in the
practice of tantra asana. She is looked upon as an intermediary
between the transcendent and the imminent, and is regarded as an
embodiment of Sakti, the active principle. Potentially, she
embraces within her all the positive attributes with which Sakti is
endowed. She 'is', in flesh and blood, the goddess. Thus in the
tantra ritual, woman as the reflection of the female principle,
becomes the object of worship. She is symbolically transformed
into a goddess through rituals as in 'Kumari-puja' (virgin worship)
or 'Sakti-upasana' (female worship). In the ritual the female adept
is an essential archetypal and iconographic image, and is not an
ordinary woman.
The extent to which tantra can integrate this archetype into its
discipline is shown in the life of Chandidas, a high priest rebel-poet
of 15th-century Bengal, and his love for the washer-maid, Rami.