I. VAMA MARGA Foundations Of The Left-Hand Path - staticfly.net

present in most religions – has led to a proliferation of sects, of which the
Tantric left-hand path is only one of the best known outside of India.
Although Tantra in the West is commonly thought to be synonymous with
sex, erotic rites actually form a very small part of the vast tapestry of Tantric
practice. The respected Tantric authority Agehananda Bharati has pointed out
in his The Tantric Tradition that only seven percent of Tantric material is of a
sexual nature. In fact, sexual magic and erotic mysticism is almost
exclusively the province of the relatively small number of left-hand path
Tantric adepts.
The fallacy that the entirety of Tantra partakes of the sinister sexual
rites of its Vama Marga was current in the Western world as long ago as
1914, when Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) felt compelled to write in
his introduction to the Tantratattva that this particular Tantric text "may have
proved a disappointment to those who, at the mention of Tantra, always
expect to hear of rituals with wine and women, the midnight circle (Cakra),
black magic in the cremation grounds, and so forth." Of course, our attention
will be unabashedly focused on these little understood activities. However,
these are solely the ways of the minority left-turning path. They are not
practiced in the much broader body of the Tantric tradition as a whole, which
is primarily of the right-hand path.
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This more widespread right-hand path of Tantra, the Daksini Marga,
is by far the most socially acceptable of the two paths, as it abjures the
physical sexual rites and taboo-breaking intrinsic to the left-hand path,
utilizing primarily intellectual and symbolic means of initiation. Furthermore,
the right-hand path emphasis on the male principle is less controversial in
patriarchal Asian countries traditionally oppressive of women. The Vama
Marga, devoted to erotic initiation through the feminine as both eternal,
spiritual entity and physical, sexual being, is dewed as much more heretical
by ordinary Hindus and Buddhists.
There is not simply one unambiguous reason why the left-hand path
was given that name; the answer to this question is split into several layers of
physical, semantic and religious meaning. Like many Sanskrit words, vama
can be translated to mean many different things – there are at least four
relevant definitions that concern us. By merely examining the different strata
that can be read into its name, most of the essential principles of the left-hand
path can be observed. In this sense, the very phrase Vama Marga is a coded
magical communication, a symbolic sigil or mantra revealing its own essence
to the magician who unlocks its message. The fact that the phrase itself can
impart so much of the initiatory approach unique to the left-hand path may
account for its potent durability and appeal, even among those who have
never looked beyond its surface.
First, let us consider the two Sanskrit phrases that are commonly
translated into English as "left-hand path." The eldest of these two terms is
Vama Cam, literally the left way. The (relatively) more recent Vama Marga
simply means the left path; the "hand" appears to have been added by later
Western interpreters, although it has now become generally accepted, even in
India. In fact, Vama Cara is often used interchangeably with Vama Marga,
although for clarity's sake we will stick to the latter phrase throughout this
book. The essential root of both is vama, most often interpreted as meaning
"left".
The Sinister Direction
... beware of the left, the cult of Shakti.
—James Joyce, Ulysses
The leftwardness of the left-hand path is such a seemingly obvious part of
our subject that it's often simply overlooked or taken for granted. But every
once in a while, we have been asked, "So, why is the left-hand path left
anyway?" Like many an apparently easy question, the answer is surprisingly