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

far more useful task than mastering the "accepted" Tantric procedure. But
only physical experiment with the body – rather than abstract study with the
mind – can verify the premises of the left-hand path.
The Beast, The Hero And The God
Despite the initiatory significance bestowed upon the Panchamakara and
other sexual rites, it would be a mistake to presume that traditional left-hand
path teachers imagined that these methods would provide instant
illumination for all. On the contrary, the left-hand path route to awakening
was – and is – reserved only for a minority. A relatively small number of
aspirants were considered suitable for left-hand path initiation; the righthand
was considered by far the more appropriate route for the vast majority
of initiates, as it still is today.
The Kularnava Tantra demonstrates how little suited most humans
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are to the left-hand path by sarcastically stating that "if merely the drinking
of wine was capable of causing one to attain fulfillment, all who are addicted
to liquor would reach perfection. If partaking of flesh always led to the high
state, all the carrion-eaters in the world would become eligible to great
merit. If liberation was assured by sexual congress with a shakti, all
creatures would be liberated by female companionship."
An important aspect of the traditional Indian left-hand path is that it
was reserved only for initiates demonstrating a certain disposition; it is
considered useless or even dangerous for those lacking the spiritual
proficiency and training to understand the rites on an initiatic level. This
remains just as true in the contemporary West; erotic initiation is not
appropriate for the majority of humans, most of whom are resistant to – if
not incapable of – any kind of self-transformation, let alone that of the Vama
Marga.
A common Western misunderstanding of left-hand path rites is to
assume that they provide a spiritual license for mindless hedonism. In fact,
we are dealing with what can be accurately termed mindful hedonism, the
conscious and willed application of hedone (Greek for pleasure) to initiatory
purposes. Underscoring this point is the statement in the Kaularnava Tantra
which forbids "the glutton, lecher, greedy, ignorant, hypocrite, voluptuary
and drunkard" from sinister sexual initiation. In traditional Vama Marga
discipline, the initiate is tested by his teacher for a full year before being
allowed to be inducted into any sexual rites, a rigor which seems quite
unreasonable to Western aspirants. Along with the meditative and yogic
mastery of altered states of consciousness which the student must learn as a
prelude to the secret rite, he is expected to have mastered his passions. By
the time he is confronted with the woman who will incarnate the shakti in
the sexual initiation, he is trained to view her in an entirely different manner
than the average uninitiated pashu man would consider a sexually accessible
female.
It's important to clarify that most adepts of the left-hand path
undertake this rigorous process of training while still earning a living in a job
or profession within the prosaic world as householders, husbands, and wives.
The left-hand path, for all of its metaphysical complexity, is not intended to
lead its initiates away from all ordinary human pursuits. Instead, it's deeply
rooted in a firm grasp of reality. Frequently, the adept leads what might be
considered a perfectly "normal" existence by day, dedicating the shaktipowered
hours of night to the Vama Marga. Some radical adherents of the
Vama Marga, who have reached the highest level of initiation, do break
completely with society but these will always be a relative minority.
Tantric initiation posits three classes of spiritual aptitude, which
should not be confused with the initiatory grades or degrees so beloved of
Western magicians – these three levels of the Vama Marga are perhaps better
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