Elección de mejor alternativa

Shiva and Shakti They are like a stream of knowledge From which a knower cannot drink

Unless he gives up himself When such is the case

If I remain separate in order to honor them It is only a pretended separation.

My homage is like that Of a golden ornament

Worshipping gold.

- Jnaneshvar

182 PA RT 2 . A N O T E O N T H E WR I T I N G OF K A L I R I S I N G

A last bit on the application of Tantra

Tantra is about embodiment, diving into living the principles on multiple lev­

els and allowing your body, energy, mind, emotions, and dream world to be danced, the steps choreographed by cosmically coordinated spanda.

We know we are living Tantra when we notice the interweaving of its princi­

ples and their application in the different facets of our lives: the outer relation­

ships mirroring the inner, or tapas facilitating the creative eruptions of Her

-shaktilspanda. We confirm the validity of the path as we trace these interac­

tions from one sphere of activity to the other. So it has been that I see Tantra emerging in the writing of this book, even as it articulates the principles that bring it into being.

When I began to think about this book I only knew that I wanred to find a way to communicate the principles ofT antra as they had taken shape over the twenty years of my training. I spent years struggling to find a form, a format, for it.

Then I remembered the technique I had taught. If you: 1) apply Tapas to cre­

ate a container (the Yin Masculine/Testicular); 2) nourish and care for your­

self so that you are full and ready to overflow (the Yin Feminine/Nourishing Womb); 3) maintain your sense of curiosity and adventure (the Yang Mascu­

line/Phallic); She, the one who is left (the Yang Feminine/Birthing Energy ^*,) will show up!

Well. . . when She's ready, that is. So I learned to wait. La guette au trou, the French medical students on obstetric rotation used to call it: The wait at the hole - the arch - from which issues creation. When writing all the other books I had done, I worked hard, made an effort, spurred myself on. This time I lay down, put my feet up by the wood stove, and looked out the window at the budding trees, the birds, the flowering dogwood, the sun streaming in and then, as a cloud passes over it, ceasing for a moment, then lighting the room up again . . .. She's at play. She'll get to me.

And then She would: She would begin to speak, and I would jot down the lines, or get up, go to the keyboard, and type. The principle is sound: set up what you can: the Yin Feminine fullness and receptivity; the Yin Masculine structure or container - a certain quota of words a day; the Yang Masculine goal-directed determination, the desire to penetrate into the mysteries of the subject I am circling and poking at. . ..

1*1 Or shaktilspanda

And await Her pleasure. And when She shows up, allow Her to move me, to be that deeply felt impulse to move, to create, to give voice to something greater than myself. What emerged was a conversation. I was a bit surprised, but intrigued.

The voices were contemporary, and sounded like a teacher and a student.

Only after I had written down (and in places misunderstood or botched) a dozen pages of dialogue, did it occur to me who the parties were: He was Shiva, and She was Shakti. Of course! Why hadn't I thought of that? That is the classic format of a tantra! But the tone was not classic at all. Not only was the language very up to date, the dynamic between the two of them was quite contemporary.

She was no longer the submissive feminine of the traditional agamas. On the contrary, she was a very active participant, in many ways the voice that steered the interchange in the direction it took. She was the Yang Feminine, in her most charming, witty, right-on-the-mark form. She stole the show.

And the result was, in fact, very much like the longed for dynamic between the inner He and the inner She. They have fun with each other, they are playful, yet their dance whisks us through the deepest and grandest questions of the cosmos - dropping hints about scores of others along the way-all in the most effortless manner imaginable.

And, in typical tantric fashion, this turned out to be the perfect format, since their dialogue serves as a model for the He/She meditation that is so central to the practice of this version ofT antra.

It is hoped that sharing this final piece of personal history will cinch the pri­

mary message of the book: that T antra is fun, it is what happens when you quit forcing things to happen, it is liberating, it is more deeply and broadly spiritual than any earnest, well-meaning, moralistic effort can ever manage. It addresses core issues that are blocking the joyful unfoldment of a more mature and humane consciousness on the planet. It sweeps away sexism, misogyny, and homophobia, and undermines the foundation of the pervasive violence that could consume us. It even begins to dissolve away the fundamental fear of death that is our secret obsession.

I invite you to partake freely. I suggest you prepare yourself to let go your hesitation, your ego protection, and your fear of your own power. Let Shiva's dance be yours, and let Shakti run through your being and set it on fire. What­

ever you think you have to lose, throw away. Celebrate the pulsing life of planet Earth.

The End!

APPENDIX

A P P E ;\; D I X A