Publisher's Synopsis
The many features of Tantra which distinguish it from other spiritual traditions make definition difficult within a short space. But if we are to focus on the single most characteristic of Tantra's distinguishing features, surely that must be the spirit of fight. Shrii Shrii A´nandamu´rti has said, The main characteristic of Tantra is that it represents human vigour. It represents a pactless fight. Where there is no fight there is no sa´dhana´. Under such circumstances Tantra cannot be there, where there is no sa´dhana´, no fight. It is an impossibility to conquer a crude idea and to replace it by a subtle idea without a fight. It is not at all possible without sa´dhana´. Hence, Tantra is not only a fight, it is an all-round fight. ("Tantra and Its Effect on Society")Tantra finds or creates circumstances designed expressly to bring out, rather than to intern away, one's problematic mental tendencies. "A practitioner of Tantra becomes elevated and attains mastery over a hostile environment. Tantra does not accept the teaching of the Vedas that human beings should move internally, and carefully avoid any association with their environment." ("The Fundamental Difference between Veda and Tantra") So only if a spiritual path at some stage deliberately seeks out fearful, demoralizing or tempting circumstances in order to fight and overcome them by Cosmic ideation and by trust in the guru, does it deserve to be called Tantric.It is not only an external or internal fight, it is simultaneously both. The internal fight is a practice of the subtler portion of Tantra. The external fight is a fight of the cruder portion of Tantra. And the fight both external and internal is a fight in both ways at once. So practice in each and every stratum of life receives due recognition in Tantra.... The practice for raising the kulakun´d´alinii is the internal sa´dhana´ of Tantra, while shattering the bondages of hatred, suspicion, fear, shyness, etc., by direct action is the external sa´dhana´.
