19 - Discourses on Tantra Volume Two

Chapter 3

Tantra and Sádhaná (5)

The Crude and the Subtle Paiṋcamakára (1)

Many people criticize Tantra for its Paiṋcamakára.(7) In their case it can aptly be said that “a little learning is a dangerous thing.” They neither know, nor understand, nor try to understand, the underlying significance of the Five M’s.

Tantra can be roughly divided into two branches, one crude and the other subtle.(8) The subtle aspect of Tantra is also called the yoga márga [path of yoga]. Sadáshiva was the propounder of both branches of Tantra, hence there cannot be any contradiction between them. Under ordinary circumstances the human mind is dominated by animal propensities. Of course, these baser propensities are not equally strong for all people. Those who have intense animal desires rush toward objects of physical enjoyment. Such people cannot just suddenly give up their objects of enjoyment in favour of spiritual sádhaná. Those whose desire for physical enjoyment is less intense can easily abstain from physical objects, but what are the first-mentioned people to do?

If such people try forcibly to turn their minds away from their objects of enjoyment, they will face disastrous consequences. Psychologists are well aware of the dangers of attempting to suppress or repress one’s desires. One may be able to maintain saintliness for a certain time, but the raging storm cannot be contained forever. It is not unusual for those who remain virtuous early in life to fall prey to immoral desires later in life. The dark shadow of immorality fell across the lives of many sannyásiis and sannyásiniis or bhikśus and bhikśuniis [monks and nuns] in the past for this very reason, that they had tried to suppress their desires by force. Some people pretend to be virtuous but indulge in immoral deeds secretly; if their numbers increase in society it is an unhealthy sign. The practice of the Five M’s was formulated for those people who harboured secret desires for crude physical enjoyment. But for those guided by subtle propensities, the subtle Paiṋcamakára, or yoga márga, was prescribed.

The main idea behind the practice of the crude Paiṋcamakára is to carry out sádhaná while in the midst of crude enjoyments. While carrying out this practice, they will limit the degree of their indulgence. By limiting the use of objects of enjoyment they will gradually increase their psychic power, and will ultimately rise above the allurement of enjoyment. For example, a wine addict will drink a controlled measure of wine as a part of sádhaná. A fish-eater will follow certain restrictions: he or she will limit the quantity of fish eaten, and will not eat female fish in their spawning period.

In this way people can gradually establish the superiority of their minds over objects of enjoyment. The practice of this pravrttimúlaka [extroversial] Paiṋcamakára will gradually take them to the nivrtti path.

Madya sádhaná: But many people are under the impression that the Five M’s means only the crude Five M’s. This is incorrect. Let us take the first element of the Five M’s. The deeper spirit of madya sádhaná is,

Somadhárá kśared yá tu Brahmarandhrát varánane; Piitvánandamayastvaḿ sa eva madyasádhakah.

“One who experiences the intoxicating joy from drinking the sudhá, or somadhárá,(9) secreted from the Brahmarandhra [pineal gland] is called a madya sádhaka.” In this connection one should remember that every gland secretes sudhá, secretes some hormone.

The hormone secretion of the Brahmarandhra, the supreme gland of the human body, is partly controlled by the moon, and the moon is also called soma; hence that nectar is called somarasa or somadhárá. This somadhárá invigorates the lower glands of the human body and intoxicates a spiritual aspirant with joy. Ordinary people cannot experience this divine joy, because crude thoughts result in somarasa being burnt up in the mental sphere (in the pituitary gland and vicinity). But a sádhaka feels a great intoxication at the time this amrta is being secreted.

When those who are not sádhakas observe this condition, they mistake it for something else. Ramprasad, the great mystic, said,

Surápán karine ámi sudhá khái jaya Kálii bale; Man-mátále mátál kare mad-mátále mátál bale.

[I don’t drink wine, I take sudhárasa, saying, “Victory to Kálii.” My mind, intoxicated with bliss-causing hormones, makes me drunk. But those who are intoxicated with drink, call me a drunkard.]

There is yet another subtle interpretation of the term madya, according to Tantric yogis:

Yaduktaḿ Parama Brahma nirvikáraḿ niraiṋjanam; Tasmin pramadanajiṋánam tanmadyaḿ parikiirttitaḿ.

“Intense love for Nirvikára Niraiṋjana Parama Brahma leads to the annihilation of thought, intellect and ego, and appears as an intoxication which may be termed a madya sádhaná.”