Tantra (तन्त्र) means "loom, warp"; hence "principle, system, doctrine, theory". Tantra derived from the verbal root tan "stretch, extend, expand", and the suffix tra "instrument". It is one of the ancient and sacred teachings of Vedic era which is misunderstood by many in the present time. Today in the name of tantra people think it is something related to black magic or capturing someone’s mind or enjoyment of sexual intercourse. People fail to recall its original meaning and start to disrespect it. Some orthodox religious people make a whole different meaning of the tantra and attack the vedic scriptures as teaching of cult. But the truth is that Tantra is not a separate scripture, like vaishnavism, samkhya, darshan, it is also one of the essence of the Vedas and Upanishads which gives direction to easy liberation of soul. ⚘ One of the famous practices of tantra is Panchamakara or the five Ms (म) [madya (wine), māṃsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudrā (parched grain), maithuna (sexual intercourse)]. We have seen people often quoted verse from here and claim that meat eating and sex is legal in vedic era and it is a barbaric practice. Well they never read the complete scripture and misleading themselves as well as others. The vedic teaching is based upon the human body that is the inside of the body, they always consider body as a chariot and soul as the rider. Lack of Sanskrit language also make this happen. ☛ The original verse is- मद्य मांस तथा मत्स्य मुद्रा मैथुनमेव च | म-कर्पन्चक. क्रेत्वा पुनर्जन्मो न विद्योते || ~ महानिवान तन्त्र madya, māṃsa, matsya, mudrā, maithuna are the five Ms. Panchamakar shakdhak never take birth again or get free from the cycle of birth. We widely misunderstood the five Ms. Let us try to explore what these five Ms really are- ☛ The first M is Madya. What is madya, Lord shiva tells to Mata Parvati about the madya shadak (seeker or meditator) सोमधारा क्षरते या तु ब्रम्भरन्ध्राद वरानोने पीत्वानन्दमयस्त. यः स एव मद्यसधाक Hey baranane (lovely-faced woman) the amrita (divine nectar) oozes from the brambharandrha , drinking it meditators attain divine bliss, this is called the madya sadhak. ☛ The second M is Mamsa, superficially we thought it as meat let’s see what mamsa really is. In scriptures there are mainly eight type of mamsa or meat. गोनरेभाश्बमहिष वराहोष्ट्रोरगोद्भम महामंसस्टक. देवी देवताप्रितिकरकं – mahanirvan tantra. Means gomamsa (cow meat), nara mamsa (human meat), hasti mamsa(elephant meat), aswa mamsa (horse meat), mahish mamsa (buffalo meat), varah mamsa (pork), ustra mamsa (camel meat) and sarpa mamsa (snake meat) are the favorite of devas/demi gods. We may thing how the gods are they eat all these meat? But Sanskrit is not as easy as it seems. Shiva tells parvati- मा सव्दाद्रसना ज्ञेया तदा.सन रसनाप्रिये सदा यो भक्षयेद्देवि स एव मांससाधक Ma the word means rasana (tongue), one who eats it called mamsa sadhak. This type of shadak/yogi can control speech and remain in silence for years. Let us explore one of the above meats and how one can eat his/her tongue. Cow is one of the five mothers. Go- means tongue. The Hatha yoga pradipika says- गोमांसं भक्षयेन् नित्यं पिबेद् अमरवारुणीम् । कुलीनं तम् अहं मन्ये चेतरे कुलघातकाः ॥४७॥ गोशब्देनोदिता जिह्वा तत् प्रवेशो हि तालुनि । गोमांसभक्षणं तत् तु महापातकनाशनम् ॥४८॥ gomāṁsaṁ bhakṣayen nityaṁ pibed amara-vāruṇīm | kulīnaṁ tam ahaṁ manye cetare kula-ghātakāḥ ||3:47|| go-śabdenoditā jihvā tat praveśo hi tāluni | go-māṁsa-bhakṣaṇaṁ tat tu mahā-pātaka-nāśanam ||3:48|| He may eat daily Gomamsa [the flesh of a cow] and he may drink Amaravaruni [strong liquor]. I consider him to be well born. Others ruin the family. The word "go" means the tongue. Its entry [into the cavity] in the palate is Gomamsabhaksana (eating the flesh of the cow). This is nothing but the khechari mudra. This destroys the five great sins. The five great sins are: killing a priest (Brahman), drinking alcohol, stealing, adultery with the wife of the teacher -don't let me catch you- and being an accessory to somebody committing any of these sins. So when you practice Khecari Mudra, you can kill and murder; -there will be no consequence to your soul. This is because your energy flow is so mighty and harmonic, that virtually nothing can affect you. So eating go-mamsa is something different from eating flesh of the cow. ☛ The third M is matsya (fish): Shiva tells- गङ्गायमुनयोम्र र्ध्यो मत्स्यौ द्वौ चरत सदा तौ मत्स्यौ भख्येद यसत्त स भवेन्मत्स्य साधक Two fishes are always swimming in the Ganga and Yamuna. The one who eat these fishes is the matsya sadhak. The ida and the pingalra (left and right nostrils) are known as Ganga and Yamuna. The inhale and exhale are the two fish. One who performs pranayama and remains in kumbhak (store the breath) is matsya sadhak. ☛ The fourth M is Mudra. Shiva further says to Parvati- सहस्रसारे महापद्मे कर्णिकामुद्रिताचरेत् आत्मा तत्रेइव देवशि केवल: परदोपमः सूर्यकोटिप्रतीकाशश्चन्द्रिकोटिसुशितलः अतीव कमोनियश्च महाकुन्दलिनियुतः यस्व ज्ञानोदोयोस्तत्र मुद्रासधाक उच्यते Hey deveshi, in between the petals of the sahasrara Padma (the crown chakra) the mercury like white soul/atman resides. Thought its light is intense like crore Suns but it is pleasant like crore Moons. This divine entity is very much pleasing and connected with kundalini sakti. The one who have this divine knowledge is the real mudra sadhak. ☛ The fifth M is the Maithun. Shiva says मेय्थुन. परम्. तत्त्व. स्रिष्थिस्थितयन्तकरणं मेय्थुनात जयोते सिद्धिब्रम्भ ज्ञानों सुदुर्लबं Maithun is the reason of creation observation and destruction; this is known as the param tatwa (main theme) in the scriptures. The one who succeed in Maithun kriya achieves the brambha gyan (divine knowledge), so how is this maithun (intercourse)? रेफस्त कुन्कुमाभासः कुण्डमोध्ये व्य्बोस्तितः मकारश्च बिन्दुरूपो महायोनौ स्थितः प्रिये अकार हन्समारुह्य एकत च यदा भवेत् तदा जातो महानन्दो ब्रम्भग्यनो सुदुर्लभं The repha (affection of the mind), kumkum varna (red in color) is present in the kunda, “m” kar stays as bindu (particle/dot) in the maha yoni. With the help of the akar rupa (shape like) hamsa (swan) both unites, and then the divine knowledge is receivable. The one who can unite like that is called a maithun sadhak. As material sexual intercourse have six stages alingan (hug), chumban (kiss) shitkar (moan) anulep (Unction), raman (association) and retotsargo (ejection/Orgasms) similarly spiritual intercourse have these six steps. आलिङ्गन भाबेन्न्यासश्चुम्बन ध्यानमीरितं आबाहन. शीत्कार स्यात् नेईवेद्यमनुलेपोनं जपन् रामन् प्रोक्तान रेतपतोस्च दक्खिना सोर्ब्रोथेइब त्व्यगोप्यन प्रनधिके प्रिये -आगमसार In spiritual intercourse, Yoga kriya tatwadinaas (allegorically spiritual company) is the hug, dhyan (meditation) is the kiss, abahan (call/invocation) is the moan, naivedya (offering/oblation) is the unction, japa is the association and Daksinanta (Samadhi) is the ejection or orgasms. This six adoration is called the maithun shadana. पञ्चमे पञ्चम्कारः पञ्चाननसमो भबेत The person who worship and realize the panchamcar sadhna is alike Lord Shiva. Thus we can say that there is nothing wrong in tantra sadhna and it is pure yoga, the extract/essence of the Vedas and the Upanishads.
