"What is Tantra?"
an interview with Tantric Master Prem Pranama
Interview Continues......
R: That sense of isolation we have as a culture is very sad.
P: It is very sad - heartbreaking! As you grow and mature in sadhana
you need to test your growth in daily life, in job, in relationship,
and in the community of other practitioners. There are of course
exceptions to this, people who need solitude for their practice to
grow strong, and there are practices which require prolonged solitude
for accomplishment. Right now I am discussing with the community the
formation of a Hermitage center for long term intensive retreats.
This is very important if we re going to actually manifest the higher
levels of practice and destroy the tyranny of ordinary appearance.
We must be careful that the higher and highest levels of Tantric
practice do get transmitted. The loss of these great methods is a real
danger. There is a danger to the traditional forms of Tantra because
the cultures of Tantric practice are being decimated by war or
westernization, the cult of scientism. I think in our culture there is
a different threat: That the deeper levels of practice will not be
reached to begin with. In our culture the threat is that Tantra will
be stillborn. Practitioners will have to break through the cult of
TV. mentality and mediocrity into the dignity of their Vajra natures
if Tantra is to take root here and flower in its fullness.
R: There might not be enough students who have the basics down and
then move into the deeper levels of practice.
P: Right. As Tantric practice takes root in our culture it is
important that there be an understanding of the vastness of
possibilities that Tantra offers. Waking up into the bliss-mad realm
of the perfect union of perception and pure pleasure is really quite
something. It is better than what people are dreaming up in the sex
workshops.
For one who is awake, the relationship to the world, to the
elements, is completely different than for anybody else. We have to
be able to move into the really magical and wondrous forms of
transformational practice where you are working not only with your own
body/mind at its most subtle levels, but the elements themselves. That
level of awakening needs to be realized It s power needs to be applied
to the culture and the actual ground upon which we live. To work at
these levels - the beginning levels and the most advanced levels,
which bring radical awakening or enlightenment - to work with all of
these is the real gift that Tantra brings. The gift is that we can
encompass the whole of our lives, from the ordinary to the most
wondrous, in a single path.
R: Which is quite a feat.
P: It is! The Tantric yogi, who can live married with children, a
completely ordinary life, but at the same time play with the world as
an ornament of awareness, is really something! To recognize all
appearance as the ornament of your own wisdom nature and to live in
the bliss-mad realm of freedom where all perception is delight: That
is the goal of Tantra.
R: Thank you.
P: Remember we are talking here about your birthright. Awakening is
your birthright. Accept your inheritance!
For information on retreats, meditation classes
and other programs at Crazy Cloud Hermitage:
Crazy Cloud Hermitage
P.O Box 8392
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
(734) 741-1084
info@flamingjewel.org
Copyright 1994, Crazy Cloud Dharma Center. Permission is granted
to freely copy and distribute this booklet in unaltered form.
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