In Christianity most of the images are rather static, a figure
on a cross is stuck there and you can’t imagine the Virgin Mary dancing. Tantra
often uses Indian figures of Gods and Goddesses because they are usually
depicted moving. Most of the Goddesses are pretty active and even Shiva where
more of his many forms are sitting in meditation; there are common ones like
Shiva Nataraj who is dancing. In the upper right hand, he holds the drum that
calls the world into creation, whereas in the upper left he carries the
destroying fire, symbolizing life and death, order and disorder, creation and
destruction. His lower right hand is raised and the palm is turned outwards, in
a gesture that means, “Don’t be afraid; it’s All Right,” because as his left hand shows; he is dancing and
treading on a small figure on the ground; dominating greed, ignorance and the possessive
small ego. Shiva is the Lord of life and
death; creation and destruction.
With some of the Goddesses, such as Kali it more obviously
looks like destruction with her large knife and necklace of severed
heads. Kali cuts off heads representing the ego. Chinnamasta also has her own head
severed and the garland of skulls. It is very clear that destruction and creation
go hand in hand. The dance is invariably of both creation and destruction. When
a painter puts a mark on a canvas to start a painting, the pristine emptiness
of the canvas is gone for ever.
Popular Western ideas of tantra with their emphasis on
sexuality can seem a long way from many of the tantriks of India with their
rituals in the burning Ghats. However sex, also requires surrender and a
letting go of the small ego into bliss and ecstasy as the French for orgasm la petite morte (the little death) shows.
The preparations for such tantric practices have to include purification, ritual and meditation
otherwise they just enhance the ego and become another means of self-delusion. Sadly, in the current enthusiasm for festivals of "tantra" as “conscious sexuality”
there is much more interest in the sexuality than in the consciousness. Today, in front of a statue of Shiva Nataraj the Lord of
creation and destruction I am writing something for the funeral of my mother
who died last week at the age of 91. At the end of the simple Quaker service I
want them to play The Beatles, Here Comes
the Sun as people leave the Western version of the burning ghats; the
crematorium.
