Actually Tantra is a way of living, a journey towards Spiritual realization.
Unfortunately in the west there is a big misunderstanding about this great culture: it
is often associated with sexual life.
Of course Tantra, being an Olistic science, includes topics about sexual life as well, but
I assure you that the way this matter is propounded in the west right now, has nothing to do with the real spirit
of Tantra.
From Tantra has originated the wonderful art of Yoga and Meditation.
The word Tantra is composed of the two sanskrit syllables Tan + Tra.
Tan means "to expand" and Tra means "to liberate". Also in the syllable
Tan we can extract "Ta" which is the acoustic root of Tamas: that is inertia or dullness.
So the meaning of Tantra is "What expand the consciousness freeing it from dullness and inertia".
The spiritual practices of Tantra, have the effect to expand our mind and consequently
our consciousness.
Thought the main tool to expand the mind is Meditation, Tantra proposes other tools, like
a special diet, a special way to live our daily life in relation with others and the nature around us, music
and spiritual dance (Kiirtan) and others.
Typical tools of tantric meditation are Mantras and Yantras, the latter is a kind of diagram or symbol to visualize.
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History of Tantra |
Tantra has it's origins in the India of 7500 years ago, in that period the Indian population was facing a big cultural and physical clash due to the arian invasion, arians were entering India from the north-west side, where now is Pakistan.
In the course of their invasion, arians tried to subdue indians to their culture, the ancient culture of the Vedas.
The Vedas were a compilation of verses in which all their knowledge was reassumed. At that time there were three Vedas, Rik Veda, Yajur Veda and Sama Veda.
In that particular moment a special man was born, His name was Shiva. He knew that the indian culture was at risk and in order to make it stronger, he organized all the knowledge that the indian sages acquired by their intuitional practices (Meditations) at that time in a strong and well structured culture, than Tantra is the name of this culture.
Shiva gave also many teachings on medicine, art, social life etc. etc.
Organized in this way, the indian culture was strong enough to survive face the Arian invasion without being suppressed.
In Tantra we can find the most complete form of Yoga, at that time all the different styles of Yoga were practiced together, but later in the course of the centuries they were developed separately and different schools of yoga and different philosophies aroused. Hata Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jinana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga are now the most popular forms.
Tantra has deeply influenced all the asian cultures, we can find it in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and when brought in Mongolia it became Taota, in China it became the Tao.
Today is still possible to learn the ancient science of Tantra in it's original form,
and I was lucky enough to find a Spiritual Master that guides
me in the journey of the Self discovery.
In 1994 I met one of the monks of the Spiritual Movement founded by my Master, he initiated
me in Tantric Meditation, and introduced to the Tantric life style, I can say that few years of practice have already
changed my life a lot, in a positive way of course.
I always suggest people to try at list once the joy of Meditation. There are of course many
kind of spiritual traditions and methods of Meditation, but if you think you're interested in trying the
Tantric way, it is possible to learn it free from this page as a beginning, and if you like to go deeper, for free also, you can find a center near your residence
from this links.... 
....here!
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