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Dogma and tantra

By Gary Coyle
One of the greatest single obstacles to either subjective or social liberation is dogma. Dogma works as a wall of outmoded ideas beyond which the human mind, especially the intellect, is not supposed to penetrate or transcend.

Dogmas abound in every sphere of human activity, and in many cases started out containing a grain of truth but then became entrenched in people’s consciousness and spawned a lot of useless superstitions and prejudicial attitudes. In other cases dogmas have been deliberately and cunningly devised to befool and exploit people to keep them docile and subservient. Capitalist economies and most religions foster many dogmas from the myth of free enterprise and the self-regulatory nature of the market forces to the belief that there is heaven after death. All kinds of dogmas need to be broken down and replaced by a rational and scientific approach to life. Otherwise archaic ideas and ill-founded beliefs confuse the mind and inhibit the intellectual and spiritual progress of society.

Subjective liberation, while involving consciousness raising, artistic pursuits, education and the development of a rational intellect, is fundamentally a spiritual endeavor. It involves developing a universal outlook and freeing the mind from its inherited, socialized and preferential conditioning. Subjective liberation is accomplished through the practice of psycho-spiritual processes, which progressively unfold people’s innate potential. Through spiritual practices it is possible for human beings to achieve a state of perfection, which transcends the limitations of mind establishing them in their essential spiritual nature.

Spiritual liberation is achieved through the understanding and practice of the ancient science of Tantra. Tantra is a Sanskrit word that means liberation from all weaknesses and constraints by expanding the mind and the scope of human existence. Sarkar writes:

“The significance of the term tantra is liberation from bondage … Spiritual practice means a practice for expansion and this expansion is nothing but liberation from the bondages of all sorts of dullness … Tantra, in itself, is neither a religion nor an “ism”. Tantra is fundamentally spiritual science.” (From Tantra and its effect on society)

Tantra is a principle, a body of facts, a science which if practiced will achieve the desired objective. It is not a religion or philosophy which can be confined to the realm of abstract speculation or theoretical debate. Tantra is a process of subjective transformation, which may be practiced by anybody irrespective of their education or intellectual evolution, as the fruits of spiritual endeavor are open to all.

The essence of Tantra is to awaken the latent spiritual force in the human personality and unify it with Cosmic Consciousness. The main characteristic of Tantra is that it represents vigor, struggle and fight, as it is impossible to conquer a crude idea and replace it with a sublime idea without struggle, and it is impossible to realize an infinite spiritual goal without concentration, discipline and intense effort. Through the science of Tantra, the latent spiritual force that lies dormant and inactivated in most people is awakened and canalized. The purpose of arousing and stirring up the spiritual force is to merge the individual self into Cosmic Consciousness, bringing about the complete unification of the two. By the successful development of the power of the spiritual force the human personality is transformed and spiritual liberation is achieved.

Tantra does not recognize any racial, genealogical, political, national or economic differences in human beings, which might form the basis for one human group to assert their superiority over another. Tantra does, however, give recognition to individual vigor and the development of latent human potentialities, which make some people more outstanding than others. Consequently Tantra puts greater emphasis on human values than social values and contends that all people should be able to enjoy their fundamental rights in every sphere of life by virtue of the fact that they are human. From Progressive socialism by Gary Coyle, Proutist Universal Publications, Calcutta, 1985

Copyright The author 1999