Yoga and Tantra give way to various controversies when these words are used together. But do these terms are related? Here is a blog that will help clear your doubts about the relationship between yoga and tantra.

First, we need to define Yoga and Tantra to understand the terms clearly and see the relationship between the two. Let us begin.

Defining- Yoga, And Tantra

Yoga is considered asana, but it is not about the asana only. Asana is one aspect of Yoga but not the Yoga itself. Yoga is a path to self-realization. It is the union of individual and universal consciousness to create a perfect harmony with man, mind, body, and nature.

The main aim of Yoga is self-realization, to overcome all kinds of suffering, leading to a state of liberation or freedom. Yoga is an inner science that comprises a variety of methods through which human beings realize the union and achieve mastery over their destiny.

There was a little asana practice known as Hatha Yoga, which came from Tantra around the 11th century. Yoga aroused in a form that was mainly ethereal and meditative. It was about accessing the states of pure bliss and consciousness like Samadhi- beyond earthly life.

Tantra is an approach to Yoga. It has different teaching, practices, and texts that lead to the path of self-realization. In Tantra, there is no earthy embodied experience. Tantra believes in embracing the material and mundane world. It says we are invited to play a part in the material world.

Tantra was a householder tradition. Its practitioner had jobs, families, and businesses. It was essential to have a successful life. Tantra has always maintained a balance between professional, personal, and spiritual life. We have been brought up to maintain a perfect balance between rights and duties.

Significant Differences Between The Two

Embracing The Desires With Awareness

The best thing about following and practicing Tantra is that it always says to indulge in your desires but with awareness. No rule or restriction keeps you away from your needs and wants in Tantra. Tantra’s philosophy says that you can never go wrong when you do something with full awareness.

When you do something with awareness, you will eventually realize how stupid and little your desire was. Tantra gives you the freedom to act, and that action comes with responsibility.

In contrast, Yoga is about suppressing your needs and desires. Here suppression is not negatively used. Suppression is to indulge yourself in self-discipline. Yoga focuses on the fine art of suppression. It says one must know how to suppress their desires, greed, and ego to grow in life. Only the divine revolution happens within us when one is aware of suppressing.

On the whole, one must understand that Tantra allows you to be free, but it also helps you to know that freedom is intrinsically associated with responsibility. By being aware of your actions, you can keep all the mistakes at bay.

Channel Energy From Sex

Sexual energy is the most dominating energy in humans. Thus Tantra asks to use the sexual energy for body awakening. Tantra’s theory believes in removing all the taboos related to sex and allowing it to transform into positive sexual energy that will lead to spiritual enlightenment.

Tantra’s theory believes in revolutionizing sex by making it more healthy, preventing sexual abuse, and creating a healthy understanding of sexuality. It works towards ditching the age-old norms related to sex and thinking even beyond sex.

In contrast, Yoga believes in suppressing sex as it creates havoc and butchers your senses. It says sexual energy prevents us from tasting a higher level of consciousness. There are variously advanced levels of Yoga that guide you to calming and ceasing sexual energy.

One must understand that Yoga does not ask us to suppress sex negatively, but it warns us about how sex can curb our senses.

Role Of Guru

A guru walks by his talks, lives by what he preaches, and makes students teach what he has learned in his life. Guru helps to dispel the darkness and remove ignorance from our minds and hearts. In Tantra practice, there is an intense need for a guru’s blessings and guidance to make genuine progress.

A guru in Tantra practice not only imparts knowledge but also brings fulfillment to all the other relationships. When one follows the prescriptions of a teacher wholeheartedly, then it significantly helps to improve one’s practice.

In contrast, a guru is not necessary for Yoga, but it is always better to have a guru to guide you through a journey they have already completed. A guru is a strong magnet that magnetizes the attuned discipline like a steel bar.

Tantric practice requires initiation, a guru, a view of teachings, mantra practice, and a desire for liberation.

Incorporate Rituals

Tantra practice involves countless rituals. These are extremely specific and powerful tools for spiritual advancement. They believe that traditions have the power to purify the person, upgrade their resonance, and transform them to higher levels.

Incorporating rituals can prevent negative energy and act as a catalyst for alchemical reactions of innate powers. These rituals can transform into the pure spirit and unveil the actual and intended nature of a being. Five traditions are present: Initiations, astrological rites, classical rituals, rituals using sexual energy, and miscellaneous.

In contrast, Yoga does not have any deity worshipping or rituals to be compulsorily followed. Yoga believes one can consider their routine a tradition. These rituals will bring a sense of self-discipline and commitment to help in spiritual development. Yoga considers meditation as a ritual that one must follow religiously. A ritual can turn any mundane activity into sacred and intentional.

Timeline

One must remember that Tantra is a child born from Yoga and is not a different entity. Tantra started thousands of years after Yoga and is not separable from Yoga. It is built on the notions of Yoga.

Tantra has developed more practices and postures and has vastly expanded yogic practices. There was also a movement to simplify the Tantra practices, and later on, these practices became the grass-root training system called Hatha yoga.

If you dig deeper into the study of Yoga and Tantra, you will realize they have many things in common. Both have the power to make you reach the same destination, but both follow different routes. If you are serious about pursuing a disciplined spiritual path, you must meditate to figure out the best way.

How Can You Know That Tantra Is An Approach To Spiritual Life You Want To Follow?

Tantra is a systematic quest for salvation or spiritual excellence. In Tantra, one realizes and fosters the divine energy in oneself that is the union of masculine and feminine and spirit matter. Tantra helps to lead to the ultimate goal of an initial blissful state of non-duality.

If you feel that the above description of Tantra excites you, makes you curious, and leaves you wanting more, then maybe Tantra is for YOU.

Parting Note

Though Tantra is very different from Yoga, it is inseparable from Yoga. Tantra is a type of Yoga that weaves many other techniques together like mantra meditation, mudras, pranayama, and initiation to study the inner universe. These techniques focus on awakening Kundalini’s energy which leads to spiritual development.

Tantra enables a practitioner to experience the divine and taste the oneness of the cosmos. If you are still in a dilemma about choosing Tantra or not, you can attend a few sessions and workshops on Tantra and see what and how they teach.

There is various Tantra school available; choose the one that suits you. If you feel connected and enjoy these sessions, you can take up a profound Tantra study.

Tantra is not everyone’s cup of tea. One needs to be sincere and disciplined to follow Tantra rituals and rites. It is said that one who follows a Tantra guru genuinely will attain salvation sooner or later. The idea is to have immense faith and a will to do Tantra.