Anakosha
Introducing the divine feminine and divine masculine - the heart is the new base line
Article by Donald Michael Kraig
Chapter Ten from "Modern Magick
Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts"
This is taken from Donald Michael Kraig's book, "Modern Magick", published in 1988 by Llewellyn. It is the chapter on sex and Tantra - an easy-to-umderstand study of the Kabalah. I include it here for his interesting comments about sex and how controlling another person's sex life is brainwashing. As he says, "The most personal and private thing which we possess is our sexuality. It is impossible to get physically closer to another person than during sexual relations. Therefore, sex is totally involved in our psyches." This is a good warning and everyone should read it because virtually everyone is controlled to a certain extent by their sexual mates. The other chapters explain inner alchemy or occult information, much of which is used in Tantra. He published six books, including "Modern Sex Magick", and was a certified tantrika and a practitioner of ceremonial magic. Donald worked at many different jobs and studied many philosophies throughout his life, but his first love was spiritual and psychic development, including hypnotherapy. This page contains portions copied from Chapter Ten but not the whole chapter.
Chapter 10
Magick is not something you do, magick is something you are. I have said this over and over to students and I have tried to make it clear in these lessons. True magicians realize that since they can work magick and affect their lives, they are really free to do anything they wish. True magicians also realize that they are responsible for their actions. Thus freedom and responsibility are signs of a magickal lifestyle. This attitude is also the basis for a magician's view of sex.
As a magician, I believe that everybody is entitled to have sex any way he or she desires, as long as it does not involve the coercion of anyone else. If you are straight, gay, celibate or promiscuous, if you are into B&D, S&M or just about anything else, that's fine with me, as long as you do not coerce someone into something they do not wish to do. Freedom, responsibility and honesty should be a magician's guide. For that matter, these ideas should guide any person's actions.
Unfortunately, various organizations of dubious worth coerce people into various sexual situations. One organization I am familiar with has the leader determine sexual partners. This includes having to be in an adjacent room while your mate has intercourse with another person. This allows you to hear every sound.
Another organization I know of preaches strict celibacy. Married members are only allowed to have sex once a month, and that only for the purpose of procreation. However, I know that many members of this organization do not follow this rule. In fact, one of the vice presidents of this organization, a man who teaches celibacy, had a torrid affair with a woman I know. The organization is aware of his extra-curricular activities and moves him from so-called temple to temple but does not expel him.
Another organization's leader told several members to get divorces, which they did. This leader also encourages romantic affairs but is against marriage. This leader's actions have ruined several families. Why do these organizations and their leaders try to control people's sex lives?
The most personal and private thing which we possess is our sexuality. It is impossible to get physically closer to another person than during sexual relations. Therefore, sex is totally involved in our psyches. Control a person's sex life and you can control the person's psyche; you con control the person. Control of a person's sex life is a method of "brainwashing."
Perhaps you remember Patty Hearst. She was kidnapped by a group with whose philosophies she did not agree. She later became a member of the group. One of the means used to accomplish this was the control of her sex life. She was forced to have sexual intercourse with several people, including having group sex. This was one of the ways her will was broken down until she lost her own ideals and adopted those of her captors. This is not an attempt to philosophically side with Ms. Hearst or her captors, it is only to show how one method of brainwashing is done.
In the case of the first group I mentioned earlier, controlling the sex life of the members allows the control of the members' minds. Thus, although the organization is supposed to teach each member how to be a unique, independent individual, everyone tends to freely accept the commands of the leader. Also, the members give large amounts of money to the organization, much of which goes to the leader.
Concerning the second group, its current leaders apparently have an incredible thirst for power in terms of control over people and control of money. Thus the leaders ignore their own "spirituality" and attempt to enforce a lfiestyle which they do not follow. Still, the members feel guilty if they cannot fulfill the required celibacy and work harder to raise funds for the organization. It quickly becomes easy to believe the "truths" of the leaders who proceed to teach the members how to lie and steal. In fact, this group was recently convicted in court of "wrongful death," libel and kidnapping. A spiritual organization indeed!
The third organization is totally in thrall to its leader. The leader dresses up in bizarre clothes with built-in light bulbs and makes videotapes of the group's theories, tapes which are so bad that they are unintentionally hilarious. Yet, like controlled robots, none of the leader's followers seem to care or realize how foolish they look. The more people laugh at them when they dress up in clothes that are half Renaissance, half science fiction, the more they become dedicated to the leader who controls their lives.
The reason I am giving you these prefatory notes is to point out that there are organizations which attempt to control your sex life as a means of controlling your will. On a lower level, there are groups which use a guise of spirituality or learning in order to obtain people for sexual exploitation. These types of groups exist in all fields of endeavor, including the study of magick. Some "magickal" groups are nothing more than a cover for one of two things: gaining sexual partners and gaining power over others.
It is indeed a shame that some people feel so weak and helpless that in order to overcome these feelings they must seek to have power over, and control, other people. It is also a shame that some people need "spiritual" facades in order to gain sexual partners.
If you are working with a group of people and it seems obvious to you that sex is going to become a part of that group's activities, stop! Ask yourself if you really want to do this with these people. If these are not people you wish to become sexually involved with, get out before they possibly take control of your life and will.
And please do not think that you are immune to brainwashing or too smart for it. Many cults get a large percentage of their recruits from college campuses. I have seen very bright and intelligent people go and "investigate" cults only to be trapped in cultic double-think and end up as pawns of a ruthless leader.
It is because the control of a person's sex life can be used to get control over that person's life in general that I am taking so much time discussing brainwashing and cults. For the true sign of a magician is freedom of thought and freedom of will. You will never be a magician if you are under some cult's mind control.
Further, brainwashing may not be what you think. You do not have to be tortured and berated day after day, although that is one method. Most groups today use a gradual process which induces you to ignore logic and accept the group's "double-speak."
(Skipping to page 444 in Chapter Ten introducing Tantric exercises)
Now that I have given the standard introduction on the subject, and you're satisfied that you know as much or more about it than I do, I want to tell you that it's all a bunch of garbage!
I could use stronger words, but I have tried to avoid the scatalogical slang which so many people have as part of their daily speech. However, let me reiterate that 90% of what you hear about Tantra is just plain wrong, and most of the rest is garbled at best. Let me start by breaking down some popular notions which are totally false.
Tantra yoga is the yoga of sex. False. Tantra is a whole philosophy of which one small aspect is involved with sex. To call Tantra the yoga of sex would be like calling Hatha Yoga the yoga of sitting with your legs crossed.
More and more books are being published which explain the secrets of Tantra. False. The secrets of the Tantriks, especially the sexual secrets, have gone underground and are now kept within various Occult Orders. Most books coming out now are not written by initiated Tantriks. They are either compilations (cut and paste jobs) of earlier works, or the author's errors and fantasies. Remember, many of the early Tantrik texts were written in code, a twilight language similar to the alchemical code described earlier in this lesson. If you don't know the code you can only guess at the true meaning of the words.
Kundalini Yoga is the ancient technique of causing the energy to rise up the spine until you achieve enlightenment. False. First, Kundalini Yoga is a new term, invented by Westerners. The ancient term was Layayoga (pronounced Lie-oh-gah) and was first described over a thousand years ago. The Tantrik who described it also explained that it was only symbolic, and not to be taken as reality. Furthermore, do you know anyone who has achieved enlightenment as a result of Kundalini Yoga? In your readings do the authors tell of anyone who has achieved enlightenment as a result of Kundalini Yoga or do they merely tell what is supposed to happen. Have the authors of those books experienced it themselves? The answer to all of these questions is "no."
The Kundalini Serpent is coiled three and a half times at the base of the spine. False. All forms of Yoga, to be valid, are true sciences. If proven false they are discarded. Have you ever seen a snake coiled up in the entrails of a human body? Of course not. it's not there. Again, this serpent is symbolic, not actual.
Now that I have dismissed some of the lies about Tantra and Layayoga, let's start rebuilding from the ground up.
There are a large variety of psychic power centers throughout the human body. They are not limited to the five, six, seven or eight you usually hear about. As an example, there are several in the head and others in the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. This will become important later in this lesson. In the meantime, it is absolutely unimportant to worry about whether or not the heart chakra or the forehead (third eye) chakra is "open." What is important is to learn how to make the energy flow up from the base of the spine.
What I am about to present to you is not some theory which you are meant to visualize, but scientific fact. It is repeatable and verifiable under laboratory conditions. If I did not have to explain it to you in this course I would have you experiment first and discover for yourself what thousands of people know. Further, I do not say this as a result of reading, but rather as a result of my own experience as an initiated Tantrik. Of course, there are certain things which I cannot divulge as a result of my initiation vows, but by making slight alterations as well as coming up with techniques based on secret methods, I will be able to give you more real information on Inner Alchemy than has ever been published in one place.
In order to learn about the energy you must first learn about the breath. According to the ancient Tantrik manuscripts (which may be the oldest spiritual writngs in India), a breath lasts about 4 seconds. This means that in a day you breathe 21,600 times. Of course, when sleeping or resting you breathe slower, and when exerting yourself you breathe faster. Therefore, this number cannot be taken as a real or even average figure. Rather, it is symbolic. And since these ancient Tantriks thought enough about the breath to figure out how many times we supposedly breathe in a day, it is logical to assume that the breath was very important to them.
And, in fact, it is. The oldest and original mantra, the repetitious chant, is not that of "OM," but is the sound of the breath.
Put down this lesson and just listen to the sound of your breath for a few seconds. Can you hear the mantra you recite 21,600 times a day? When you inhale, can you hear the sound "Ham"? And on the exhale can you hear your breath say "Sah"? This mantra Ham-sah, is repeated unconsciously 21,600 times per day. By controlling it we can learn to control its power.
Ham-sah is a Sanskrit word which means "swan." It is important to understand you do not say or chant this mantra. Instead you simply breathe and hear it on your breath. Try it for a few minutes.
Inhale Ham
Exhale Sah
The less you try to do this, the easier it is to do. Just let it happen. Once you can hear the mantra in your breath you are ready to move on to the next exercise.
Kriya (pronounced Kree-yah) is a Sanskrit term which means action. By doing the following exercise you will experience the "action" of the psycho-sexual energy or Kundalini force. Begin by doing the Relaxation Ritual. Once your body is deeply relaxed, begin a slow breathing and listen for the "swan." As soon as you hear it, on the inhale/Ham part of the mantra, visualize your breath traveling up your nose, through the top of your head (just inside the skull) and down your spine to the lowest tip of the coccyx. Hold your breath for as long as it is comfortable, then exhale. As you exhale, visualize the breath and energy going back up your spine, around the top of your head (just inside the skull), and out the nose. As it goes, hear the "sah" part of the mantra. Practice this for ten to twenty minutes. Then return to your normal breathing pattern.
Once you can do this comfortably, instead of holding your breath on the inhalation, just pause for a second. Then use your stomach to help give you several short exhalations. This is accomplished by repeatedly jerking in the stomach muscles. You should hear your mantra saying, "Sah, Sah, Sah, Sah", etc. Keep up the visualizations as above and continue until you need to inhale. Repeat the process for up to twenty minutes.
The first time I did this exercise I had phenomenal results. After about five minutes my body started to jerk about for no apparent reason. it was as if I suddenly got "the chills" or the "heebee jeebees" in a small part of my body, and that part just had to shiver or jerk about. Each little shiver and shake is called a Kriya and is the most common part of the process. Then, the Kriyas suddenly stopped and my body seemed to change. I felt as if my body was taking the shape of a long tube and the sides of my head began to spared out. My body began to sway and my head turned jerkily and irregularly from side to side. At first I got the feeling that I was doing this to see to all sides as a form of protection. But then I realized that what had happened was that I had allowed the Kundalini serpent, the true Kundalini serpent, to become one with me. My body had spiritually assumed the shape of a serpent and my head had opened into a serpent's hood. I was that snake.
Then, suddenly, I buckled over, almost in pain, from the most intensely erotic feelings I have ever experienced. Needless to say, it took quite some time for my breathing to return to normal!
All of these experiences can happen to you. The only real danger is that you may not expect the sensations you receive. Normally, a teacher would not tell you what could happen and would allow you to experience it and then "rescue you" from these unknown experiences. Since I cannot be with you, I am telling you what yuo may feel and what type of experiences you should expect. You may not feel the sensation of becoming one with the Kundalni serpent or the intense erotic feelings with your first few tries at this Ham-sah exercise, but you should feel the Kriyas, the jerky motions. If you do not experience them, re-read the instructions for this exercise. Nothing is left out.
Once you have experienced the Kriyas within yourself, it is important to learn how to experience both the Kriyas and the movement of the energy in another person. To do this you need a willing partner. Your partner should preferably already have experienced the Kriyas within himself or herself.
The best position for this exercise is sitting on the floor or on pillows, or possibly on low stools of equal heights. You and your partner should sit, back-to-back, preferably naked, with your backs touching along their lengths. If you prefer not to have nudity, the wearing of thin cotton shirts if fine. Both of you should perform the Relaxation Ritual, then begin the Ham-sah exercise. You should both breathe at the same time. Feel your energy and your partner's energy go up and down the spine. Although the energy does flow within the spine (it is the spiritual essence of the cerebro-spinal fluid), it also emanates beyond the physical body. The result of this exercise should be that both of your experiences should be intensified.
It is important to realize that all of the forms of working with the breath and working with mantras are nothing but substitutes for sexual activity. The next step is to repeat the last exercise by using sexual activity as a prod for stimulating the Kriyas.
(Skipping to page 454 within Chapter Ten, explaining the rite)
The rite is over.
About the only thing I haven't covered is what I call the Maha Tantra experience. "Maha" means "great," and the MahaTantra experience is great indeed! It is nothing less than the experience of a Kriya magnified a million-fold.
For most people, orgasms tend to be a brief climax which only resolves the immediate buildup of sexual energy. Only rarely is it a true, total release. The MahaTantra experience is that ultimate, desired super-orgasm wherein your entire body seems to release the pent-up tension of years. Generally it lasts for only 20 seconds to two minutes, but it may seem like it lasts for hours. It is feelings of joy, power, release, excitement, contentment, unity with all; of being one with the Divine Source of all that is. It is enlightenment. It is an altered state of consciousness that makes LSD look like a grain of sand compared to a desert of ecstatic experience.
You may have an orgasm when you experience MahaTantra and if the man does so he may or may not have an ejaculation of sperm. And although this technique is a form of Inner Alchemy, as was suggested in the ritual, do not waste the Elixir.
Of the MahaTantra experience I can tell you no more. Not because of vows or anything like that, but because there are no real words to describe intensely personal and subjective experiences. Until you have experienced MahaTantra, no words can describe it. Once you have experienced MahaTantra, no words can express it.
(Skipping to page 460 within Chapter Ten)
Perhaps the most racist and sexist society which ever existed was India during the Middle Ages. Everyone had strict rules to follow dependent upon parentage. This "caste" system existed for hundreds of years. If you were in an upper class you could be "defiled" by having the shadow of a member of the lowest class, an "untouchable," pass over you! It was a racist, sexist society which makes ours look like pure equality by comparison. But there were freedom fighters then as now.
During the day they obeyed all the rules. But by night, when the curtains were pulled, things were different! Rather than trying to change society, they tried to change themselves. Outside, they acted like anyone else. But in their temples, within the KalaKakra or "magick circle" these Kaula Tantriks treated everyone equally. Caste, appearance, skin color or shade made no difference.
Inside the Tantrik temples all men were gods and all women goddesses. And these Tantriks developed a whole philosophy of beauty, love, understanding, sensitivity, science and art while Western Europe went through the Dark Ages, a period of hate, filth, superstition, ignorance, prejudice and selfish egotism. Naturally, when the Westerners conquered India with their better weapons, they tried to destroy Tantrism for being "evil."
You may have heard of the KalaKara and its group sex magick ritual. If you and some friends have been practicing the material in these lessons and wish to try the ritual I will present next, you all must adopt the attitude of the Tantriks. It is very unlikely that all of you will appear to have stepped from the pages of Playboy or Gentlemen's Quarterly. You must be able to see the beauty, the Divinity, the "likeness of God or Goddess" within us all. Due to society and the impact of film and television, it is doubtful that a group of ten men and women could do this. Therefore, I suggest starting with this preliminary exercise.
(Sorry! I will skip over the lengthy instruction provided here, but if you are sincerely interested I recommend getting this book. It's a very practical guide for the scientific and practical minded person seeking to understand Tantra.)
Chapter 10
Magick is not something you do, magick is something you are. I have said this over and over to students and I have tried to make it clear in these lessons. True magicians realize that since they can work magick and affect their lives, they are really free to do anything they wish. True magicians also realize that they are responsible for their actions. Thus freedom and responsibility are signs of a magickal lifestyle. This attitude is also the basis for a magician's view of sex.
As a magician, I believe that everybody is entitled to have sex any way he or she desires, as long as it does not involve the coercion of anyone else. If you are straight, gay, celibate or promiscuous, if you are into B&D, S&M or just about anything else, that's fine with me, as long as you do not coerce someone into something they do not wish to do. Freedom, responsibility and honesty should be a magician's guide. For that matter, these ideas should guide any person's actions.
Unfortunately, various organizations of dubious worth coerce people into various sexual situations. One organization I am familiar with has the leader determine sexual partners. This includes having to be in an adjacent room while your mate has intercourse with another person. This allows you to hear every sound.
Another organization I know of preaches strict celibacy. Married members are only allowed to have sex once a month, and that only for the purpose of procreation. However, I know that many members of this organization do not follow this rule. In fact, one of the vice presidents of this organization, a man who teaches celibacy, had a torrid affair with a woman I know. The organization is aware of his extra-curricular activities and moves him from so-called temple to temple but does not expel him.
Another organization's leader told several members to get divorces, which they did. This leader also encourages romantic affairs but is against marriage. This leader's actions have ruined several families. Why do these organizations and their leaders try to control people's sex lives?
The most personal and private thing which we possess is our sexuality. It is impossible to get physically closer to another person than during sexual relations. Therefore, sex is totally involved in our psyches. Control a person's sex life and you can control the person's psyche; you con control the person. Control of a person's sex life is a method of "brainwashing."
Perhaps you remember Patty Hearst. She was kidnapped by a group with whose philosophies she did not agree. She later became a member of the group. One of the means used to accomplish this was the control of her sex life. She was forced to have sexual intercourse with several people, including having group sex. This was one of the ways her will was broken down until she lost her own ideals and adopted those of her captors. This is not an attempt to philosophically side with Ms. Hearst or her captors, it is only to show how one method of brainwashing is done.
In the case of the first group I mentioned earlier, controlling the sex life of the members allows the control of the members' minds. Thus, although the organization is supposed to teach each member how to be a unique, independent individual, everyone tends to freely accept the commands of the leader. Also, the members give large amounts of money to the organization, much of which goes to the leader.
Concerning the second group, its current leaders apparently have an incredible thirst for power in terms of control over people and control of money. Thus the leaders ignore their own "spirituality" and attempt to enforce a lfiestyle which they do not follow. Still, the members feel guilty if they cannot fulfill the required celibacy and work harder to raise funds for the organization. It quickly becomes easy to believe the "truths" of the leaders who proceed to teach the members how to lie and steal. In fact, this group was recently convicted in court of "wrongful death," libel and kidnapping. A spiritual organization indeed!
The third organization is totally in thrall to its leader. The leader dresses up in bizarre clothes with built-in light bulbs and makes videotapes of the group's theories, tapes which are so bad that they are unintentionally hilarious. Yet, like controlled robots, none of the leader's followers seem to care or realize how foolish they look. The more people laugh at them when they dress up in clothes that are half Renaissance, half science fiction, the more they become dedicated to the leader who controls their lives.
The reason I am giving you these prefatory notes is to point out that there are organizations which attempt to control your sex life as a means of controlling your will. On a lower level, there are groups which use a guise of spirituality or learning in order to obtain people for sexual exploitation. These types of groups exist in all fields of endeavor, including the study of magick. Some "magickal" groups are nothing more than a cover for one of two things: gaining sexual partners and gaining power over others.
It is indeed a shame that some people feel so weak and helpless that in order to overcome these feelings they must seek to have power over, and control, other people. It is also a shame that some people need "spiritual" facades in order to gain sexual partners.
If you are working with a group of people and it seems obvious to you that sex is going to become a part of that group's activities, stop! Ask yourself if you really want to do this with these people. If these are not people you wish to become sexually involved with, get out before they possibly take control of your life and will.
And please do not think that you are immune to brainwashing or too smart for it. Many cults get a large percentage of their recruits from college campuses. I have seen very bright and intelligent people go and "investigate" cults only to be trapped in cultic double-think and end up as pawns of a ruthless leader.
It is because the control of a person's sex life can be used to get control over that person's life in general that I am taking so much time discussing brainwashing and cults. For the true sign of a magician is freedom of thought and freedom of will. You will never be a magician if you are under some cult's mind control.
Further, brainwashing may not be what you think. You do not have to be tortured and berated day after day, although that is one method. Most groups today use a gradual process which induces you to ignore logic and accept the group's "double-speak."
(Skipping to page 444 in Chapter Ten introducing Tantric exercises)
Now that I have given the standard introduction on the subject, and you're satisfied that you know as much or more about it than I do, I want to tell you that it's all a bunch of garbage!
I could use stronger words, but I have tried to avoid the scatalogical slang which so many people have as part of their daily speech. However, let me reiterate that 90% of what you hear about Tantra is just plain wrong, and most of the rest is garbled at best. Let me start by breaking down some popular notions which are totally false.
Tantra yoga is the yoga of sex. False. Tantra is a whole philosophy of which one small aspect is involved with sex. To call Tantra the yoga of sex would be like calling Hatha Yoga the yoga of sitting with your legs crossed.
More and more books are being published which explain the secrets of Tantra. False. The secrets of the Tantriks, especially the sexual secrets, have gone underground and are now kept within various Occult Orders. Most books coming out now are not written by initiated Tantriks. They are either compilations (cut and paste jobs) of earlier works, or the author's errors and fantasies. Remember, many of the early Tantrik texts were written in code, a twilight language similar to the alchemical code described earlier in this lesson. If you don't know the code you can only guess at the true meaning of the words.
Kundalini Yoga is the ancient technique of causing the energy to rise up the spine until you achieve enlightenment. False. First, Kundalini Yoga is a new term, invented by Westerners. The ancient term was Layayoga (pronounced Lie-oh-gah) and was first described over a thousand years ago. The Tantrik who described it also explained that it was only symbolic, and not to be taken as reality. Furthermore, do you know anyone who has achieved enlightenment as a result of Kundalini Yoga? In your readings do the authors tell of anyone who has achieved enlightenment as a result of Kundalini Yoga or do they merely tell what is supposed to happen. Have the authors of those books experienced it themselves? The answer to all of these questions is "no."
The Kundalini Serpent is coiled three and a half times at the base of the spine. False. All forms of Yoga, to be valid, are true sciences. If proven false they are discarded. Have you ever seen a snake coiled up in the entrails of a human body? Of course not. it's not there. Again, this serpent is symbolic, not actual.
Now that I have dismissed some of the lies about Tantra and Layayoga, let's start rebuilding from the ground up.
There are a large variety of psychic power centers throughout the human body. They are not limited to the five, six, seven or eight you usually hear about. As an example, there are several in the head and others in the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. This will become important later in this lesson. In the meantime, it is absolutely unimportant to worry about whether or not the heart chakra or the forehead (third eye) chakra is "open." What is important is to learn how to make the energy flow up from the base of the spine.
What I am about to present to you is not some theory which you are meant to visualize, but scientific fact. It is repeatable and verifiable under laboratory conditions. If I did not have to explain it to you in this course I would have you experiment first and discover for yourself what thousands of people know. Further, I do not say this as a result of reading, but rather as a result of my own experience as an initiated Tantrik. Of course, there are certain things which I cannot divulge as a result of my initiation vows, but by making slight alterations as well as coming up with techniques based on secret methods, I will be able to give you more real information on Inner Alchemy than has ever been published in one place.
In order to learn about the energy you must first learn about the breath. According to the ancient Tantrik manuscripts (which may be the oldest spiritual writngs in India), a breath lasts about 4 seconds. This means that in a day you breathe 21,600 times. Of course, when sleeping or resting you breathe slower, and when exerting yourself you breathe faster. Therefore, this number cannot be taken as a real or even average figure. Rather, it is symbolic. And since these ancient Tantriks thought enough about the breath to figure out how many times we supposedly breathe in a day, it is logical to assume that the breath was very important to them.
And, in fact, it is. The oldest and original mantra, the repetitious chant, is not that of "OM," but is the sound of the breath.
Put down this lesson and just listen to the sound of your breath for a few seconds. Can you hear the mantra you recite 21,600 times a day? When you inhale, can you hear the sound "Ham"? And on the exhale can you hear your breath say "Sah"? This mantra Ham-sah, is repeated unconsciously 21,600 times per day. By controlling it we can learn to control its power.
Ham-sah is a Sanskrit word which means "swan." It is important to understand you do not say or chant this mantra. Instead you simply breathe and hear it on your breath. Try it for a few minutes.
Inhale Ham
Exhale Sah
The less you try to do this, the easier it is to do. Just let it happen. Once you can hear the mantra in your breath you are ready to move on to the next exercise.
Kriya (pronounced Kree-yah) is a Sanskrit term which means action. By doing the following exercise you will experience the "action" of the psycho-sexual energy or Kundalini force. Begin by doing the Relaxation Ritual. Once your body is deeply relaxed, begin a slow breathing and listen for the "swan." As soon as you hear it, on the inhale/Ham part of the mantra, visualize your breath traveling up your nose, through the top of your head (just inside the skull) and down your spine to the lowest tip of the coccyx. Hold your breath for as long as it is comfortable, then exhale. As you exhale, visualize the breath and energy going back up your spine, around the top of your head (just inside the skull), and out the nose. As it goes, hear the "sah" part of the mantra. Practice this for ten to twenty minutes. Then return to your normal breathing pattern.
Once you can do this comfortably, instead of holding your breath on the inhalation, just pause for a second. Then use your stomach to help give you several short exhalations. This is accomplished by repeatedly jerking in the stomach muscles. You should hear your mantra saying, "Sah, Sah, Sah, Sah", etc. Keep up the visualizations as above and continue until you need to inhale. Repeat the process for up to twenty minutes.
The first time I did this exercise I had phenomenal results. After about five minutes my body started to jerk about for no apparent reason. it was as if I suddenly got "the chills" or the "heebee jeebees" in a small part of my body, and that part just had to shiver or jerk about. Each little shiver and shake is called a Kriya and is the most common part of the process. Then, the Kriyas suddenly stopped and my body seemed to change. I felt as if my body was taking the shape of a long tube and the sides of my head began to spared out. My body began to sway and my head turned jerkily and irregularly from side to side. At first I got the feeling that I was doing this to see to all sides as a form of protection. But then I realized that what had happened was that I had allowed the Kundalini serpent, the true Kundalini serpent, to become one with me. My body had spiritually assumed the shape of a serpent and my head had opened into a serpent's hood. I was that snake.
Then, suddenly, I buckled over, almost in pain, from the most intensely erotic feelings I have ever experienced. Needless to say, it took quite some time for my breathing to return to normal!
All of these experiences can happen to you. The only real danger is that you may not expect the sensations you receive. Normally, a teacher would not tell you what could happen and would allow you to experience it and then "rescue you" from these unknown experiences. Since I cannot be with you, I am telling you what yuo may feel and what type of experiences you should expect. You may not feel the sensation of becoming one with the Kundalni serpent or the intense erotic feelings with your first few tries at this Ham-sah exercise, but you should feel the Kriyas, the jerky motions. If you do not experience them, re-read the instructions for this exercise. Nothing is left out.
Once you have experienced the Kriyas within yourself, it is important to learn how to experience both the Kriyas and the movement of the energy in another person. To do this you need a willing partner. Your partner should preferably already have experienced the Kriyas within himself or herself.
The best position for this exercise is sitting on the floor or on pillows, or possibly on low stools of equal heights. You and your partner should sit, back-to-back, preferably naked, with your backs touching along their lengths. If you prefer not to have nudity, the wearing of thin cotton shirts if fine. Both of you should perform the Relaxation Ritual, then begin the Ham-sah exercise. You should both breathe at the same time. Feel your energy and your partner's energy go up and down the spine. Although the energy does flow within the spine (it is the spiritual essence of the cerebro-spinal fluid), it also emanates beyond the physical body. The result of this exercise should be that both of your experiences should be intensified.
It is important to realize that all of the forms of working with the breath and working with mantras are nothing but substitutes for sexual activity. The next step is to repeat the last exercise by using sexual activity as a prod for stimulating the Kriyas.
(Skipping to page 454 within Chapter Ten, explaining the rite)
The rite is over.
About the only thing I haven't covered is what I call the Maha Tantra experience. "Maha" means "great," and the MahaTantra experience is great indeed! It is nothing less than the experience of a Kriya magnified a million-fold.
For most people, orgasms tend to be a brief climax which only resolves the immediate buildup of sexual energy. Only rarely is it a true, total release. The MahaTantra experience is that ultimate, desired super-orgasm wherein your entire body seems to release the pent-up tension of years. Generally it lasts for only 20 seconds to two minutes, but it may seem like it lasts for hours. It is feelings of joy, power, release, excitement, contentment, unity with all; of being one with the Divine Source of all that is. It is enlightenment. It is an altered state of consciousness that makes LSD look like a grain of sand compared to a desert of ecstatic experience.
You may have an orgasm when you experience MahaTantra and if the man does so he may or may not have an ejaculation of sperm. And although this technique is a form of Inner Alchemy, as was suggested in the ritual, do not waste the Elixir.
Of the MahaTantra experience I can tell you no more. Not because of vows or anything like that, but because there are no real words to describe intensely personal and subjective experiences. Until you have experienced MahaTantra, no words can describe it. Once you have experienced MahaTantra, no words can express it.
(Skipping to page 460 within Chapter Ten)
Perhaps the most racist and sexist society which ever existed was India during the Middle Ages. Everyone had strict rules to follow dependent upon parentage. This "caste" system existed for hundreds of years. If you were in an upper class you could be "defiled" by having the shadow of a member of the lowest class, an "untouchable," pass over you! It was a racist, sexist society which makes ours look like pure equality by comparison. But there were freedom fighters then as now.
During the day they obeyed all the rules. But by night, when the curtains were pulled, things were different! Rather than trying to change society, they tried to change themselves. Outside, they acted like anyone else. But in their temples, within the KalaKakra or "magick circle" these Kaula Tantriks treated everyone equally. Caste, appearance, skin color or shade made no difference.
Inside the Tantrik temples all men were gods and all women goddesses. And these Tantriks developed a whole philosophy of beauty, love, understanding, sensitivity, science and art while Western Europe went through the Dark Ages, a period of hate, filth, superstition, ignorance, prejudice and selfish egotism. Naturally, when the Westerners conquered India with their better weapons, they tried to destroy Tantrism for being "evil."
You may have heard of the KalaKara and its group sex magick ritual. If you and some friends have been practicing the material in these lessons and wish to try the ritual I will present next, you all must adopt the attitude of the Tantriks. It is very unlikely that all of you will appear to have stepped from the pages of Playboy or Gentlemen's Quarterly. You must be able to see the beauty, the Divinity, the "likeness of God or Goddess" within us all. Due to society and the impact of film and television, it is doubtful that a group of ten men and women could do this. Therefore, I suggest starting with this preliminary exercise.
(Sorry! I will skip over the lengthy instruction provided here, but if you are sincerely interested I recommend getting this book. It's a very practical guide for the scientific and practical minded person seeking to understand Tantra.)