Two things make us unhappy: not getting what we desire and getting what we fear.
Everyone wants happiness. The conventional spiritual approach is to transcend both desire and fear, and thereby reduce the chance of unhappiness. Through this process of transcending, we are supposed to discover the state of bliss, unconditional happiness, which comes with the realization that we already are bliss and so there is no need to seek it.
The Tantric way, on the other hand, is to cultivate the power to get what we desire while being protected from what we fear. This Tantric power is not some kind of magic we evoke with mantras. It comes through a process of serious spiritual sadhana, which also leads ultimately to the realization of our true, powerful nature.
However, desire is the driving force of sadhana, and it is not something to be shunned or overcome. In Tantric sadhana, we uninhibitedly approach Devi with our desires; we seek her help with mantras and pujas—and in this process, many things happen. Often our desires will get fulfilled, which makes our love for Devi grow. Sometimes they don’t get fulfilled, but as we go on with the sadhana we realize that they are fake desires—camouflages concealing our real, deeper desires. Then, as we gain clarity into the nature of those real desires, they do get fulfilled. (Sometimes, if a desire is fake, we need to be protected from manifesting it.) And meanwhile, the Tantric rituals and mantras keep instilling into us the ultimate truth of who we really are—that is, the Devi herself.
Without sadhana, desire is truly the cause of all suffering. Without the light of Devi, we blindly grope around, desperately trying to fulfill our desires, along the way hurting others and getting hurt by others. We get so clouded by our powerlessness and frustration that we forget our real desires and substitute them with those easy fakes. Often, we feel guilty about our desires, and try to hide them even from ourselves. Tantra brings those desires out of the darkness and into God’s light, and it fulfills them, thereby fulfilling the purpose of our life in this form.
Want a message to live by?
Do as you will. Minimize hurt.
Source: Michael Bowden: "Gifts from the Goddess"
