|
The
Tantric Love by Maria Martins (Ma Bhakti Shakti)
This
review is based on the first edition published by
Tantrananda Publications, Sydney, Australia, 2002.
The book contains an introduction written by the author,
five chapters, a bibliography and further readings,
a Sanskrit glossary of Tantric terms and a glossary
of Tantric Sanskrit names.
'The
Tantric Love' falls into the category of literature
on sacred sexuality . The issue of love is fully addressed
from the point of view of Tantric philosophy and its
practical methods.
The
first chapter, 'The Tantric concept' gives a description
of the entire range of Tantric ideas starting with
a brief history of Tantra and a presentation of the
Tantric panorama. The main Tantric deities Shiva and
Shakti are described along with the ideas of the creation
of the world expressed by the Tattva structure. Mantras,
Yantras, Mandalas and the human body are parts of
the essential knowledge of the means used by Tantra.
The planes of existence and the Kundalini concept
are important mainly for the issue of spiritual liberation.
The issue of kinds of Tantric love is presented in
its historical content. The chapter ends up with the
aims of Tantra by enumerating the traditional classifications.
The
second chapter 'Tantric sexuality' goes into the practicality
of the Tantric love methods. After Tantric preliminaries,
mainly of a Yogic nature, the important issue of Tantra
and Bhakti (devotion) is described. The pertinent
idea is that Tantric methods have Bhakti as the starting
point for the progression towards a goal. The Tantric
love is basically seen as a devotional approach to
the interaction between people. The core idea of this
chapter is Maithuna Tantra, the practical side of
the sacredness of sexual Tantric experience. Issues
of Tantric initiation into the Kaula ritual are explained
in detail. This chapter ends up with Tantric Cakra
Puja, the ritualistic Tantric worship performed by
a group of initiated people.
The
third chapter 'Tantric relationships' brings into
awareness the social implications of Tantric ideas
regarding rules of conduct, issues of Tantric dating
and organizing Tantric dating sessions for people
wanting to interact with each other in a Tantric way.
In
Chapter four 'Visions and perspectives in Tantra'
the visionary ideas of Tantra are brought into view.
This chapter emphasizes the Tantric lifestyle of people
that follow this spiritual path. Furthermore, there
is a greater vision when issues of Tantric healing
of people and communities are considered along with
a potential Tantric culture.
The
last chapter 'Tantric Workshops' is entirely dedicated
to the application of Tantric ideas for running workshops
in order to present various issues of the Tantric
love to the public. These workshops apply to the general
issues of Tantric love relevant to beginners, advanced,
Tantric Dating and Tantric Healing. The emphasis is
on using Tantric Mantras, Pujas and Tantric Yoga Nidras
for the achievement of specific benefits.
An
overall assessment of the book has to consider first
of all the Tantric vision on love and its implications
on the practical aspects of it. Tantric love is mainly
about the sacredness of the human sexual experience.
Without seriously considering the sacred side of Tantra,
the man-woman interaction falls back into the profane
side of existence. Tantric vision on love aims to
resurrect the sacredness of the human life. Love is
an essential part of it.
The
book is critical of the profane side of the present
way of dealing with the human sexuality issue. The
book aims entirely at teaching the reader to evaluate
the highly structured Tantric methodology vs. the
accepted ways of human sexuality.
For
the reasons above, there is no hesitation from my
side to recommend the reading of this book, which
not only makes a tenable argument, but also brings
a vision of potential transformations at societal
levels if the Tantric kind of love is seriously considered.
Links:
Media
Man Australia
Profiles
Maria
Martins (Bhakti Shakti) - Holistic Living Centre
The
Adult Industry
Article:The
Tantric Sex, by Maria Martins (Ma Bhakti Shakti)
Sex
Forum: Has sex gone mainstream?
Media
Man Australia: Online Shop
Yoga
Directory
Mind,
Body, Spirit
|
