RELATED TRADITIONS
Vamachara
In this article I would like to introduce you to the
concept of vâmâchâra in Indian Tantra. In Hinduism
vâmâchâra is considered to be a closed form of wor-
ship. It is closed for many reasons, three of them, the
most significant, are listed below:
Vâmâchâra uses “impure” (as considered by the or-
thodox Hindu religion) elements as offerings to deities.
These elements are alcohol, meat, fish and practice of
sacred sex. It can cause the feeling of blame (guilt) and
misunderstanding of the majority of Hindus who have
rigid criteria of what is pure and what is impure.
A closed system of practice, that is closed, should
not be transmitted to those individuals whom Guru
considers as morally unscrupulous, able to use these
practices to harm themselves and others.
Vâma-Mârga practices should not be disclosed to
those individuals who have no proper dikshâ and bless-
ings from their Guru, it is a secret associated with dikshâ.
Actually the practices of vâmâchâra exist in any
tantric system, you can find their analogues even in
Christianity, which uses the communion by bread and
wine in the church, in Gnostic cult, Kabbalah and Su-
fism, in Chinese tradition (there these practices are
predominantly associated with the control of energy),
and in Buddhism vâmâchâra methods are known as
the practice of karma-mudrâ.
The practices like vajrolî mudrâ, sahajolî mudrâ,
amarolî-mudrâ, and also the worship of the Goddess
with the using of “impure” elements can be found in Na-
thism. All these methods have their differences, and
some features specifically related to certain religious
and mystical aspects. However, we must be aware of the
fact that in all these practices, practitioners do not use
drinking alcohol or having sex just for fun, otherwise all
copulating beings and alcoholics would have become
great yogis. In Tantrism all of these methods have a pur-
pose to make sacred the “impure” elements in which the
exoteric religion sees sin rather than divine; sâdhaka-
vâmâchârin is able to feel the fullness of spiritual non-
dual experience through such practices.
Traditionally, according to many tantric scriptures,
sâdhakas are divided into several bhâvas (the charac-
ters):
Pashu-bhâva (animal) is characterized by a very
limited consciousness due to false morality. Such prac-
titioners are suitable for different forms of penance,
intensive practices of mantras (purashcharana), pûjâ
with “pure” offerings, etc.
Vîra-bhâva (heroic) - this category of practitio-
ners who have a sophisticated understanding of yoga,
different forms of worship, being able to become aware
of themselves and the world, seeing the divine in
themselves and in different objects of the world. These
people are able to follow a non-formal and the essential
approach, right with wide perspective.
Divya-bhâva (divine) practitioners are independent
from any external rituals which are performed by Vîra-
bhava practitioners, for example, from the practice of
maithuna or some exotic rituals. However, divya-bhâva
practitioners may participate in them as well. They are
ADESH / summer 2014 9
RELATED TRADITIONS

varna, it helps with everything that is illegal or even

criminal. The major part of the vâmâchâra texts rec-
ommend to perform the practice with the women of
the lower strata of Indian society.
If the sâdhaka is able to transform the negative en-
ergy into the spiritual, it is straight path to the libera-
tion from the wheel of samsâra. The Vâmâchârin may
interact with such “impure elements” present in the
maithuna with own wife (svakîya-shakti), with the
wife of another man (parakîya-shakti), or with a cour-
tesan (veshya).
In fact, any deity can be worshiped in the vâmâchâra
rituals, but more often Vâma-mârga in Tantra is asso-
able to realize God in everything and everything for ciated with female Devatâs, preferring wrathful forms
them is the means of interaction with the Divine. (ugra-rûpa) such as Kâlî, Bagalamukhi, Varahî etc.
I should say that the division into bhâvas is more However, my Guru said that most sâdhakas should per-
typical for the Shaktic ways, Kashmir Shaivism has form the pañchamakâra ritual only when it is auspi-
three methods (upâyas) which do not match with cious (appropriate) period. Often, these periods may be
three bhâvas. However, in the later works of Kashmiri associated with the full moon, new moon, or the eighth
gurus we find the mention of only two bhâvas: Pashu day of bright and dark moon. However, there are some
and Vîra. It is believed that for sâdhakas of pashu- Kaula-tantrics or aghorîs who practice the vâmâchâra
bhâva is better to focus on dakshinâchâra practice ritual every day, they worship a particular form of
where the sâdhaka offers worship to the Goddess, call- Durgâ, known as Tiraskaranî. Tiraskaranî Durgâ
ing Her into the mûrti, the yantra, the sacred fire of protects the practices of Vâma-mârga.
agnihotra etc. Vîra-bhâva-sâdhakas perform the ritu-
al of worshipping of real women rather than the mûrti
and the yantra. They consider a woman as a Goddess.
Whereas Divya-bhâva-sâdhakas may use different
methods, of both external and internal contemplation.
In Tantrism, it can often be seen that a practitioner
makes himself like the Deity through the nyâsas (for
example, through the six-part nyâsa) and then medi-
tate on the Divine within his own microcosm. Similarly
the practictioner can do, for example, shad-anga nyâsa
into the center of the yantra located on the altar, con-
sidering that the yantra is the abode of the Goddess.
Or, it is like in vâmâchâra ritual, the sâdhaka does
nyâsas for his woman-shakti and performs the pûjâ
worshipping her. In fact, whether there is a pûjâ to
yantra or to real woman, the essence of the ritual is the
worship to Goddess. When the sâdhaka directs the
bhakti to the Goddess through woman, he can receive
the shakti power from her.
Traditionally, women in India belong to different
varnas, and each varna requires specific details in the
ritual practice. Woman-representative of a particular
varna may empower a sâdhaka. For example, if a wom-
an belongs to the Brahmin varna, the practice with her
can bestow the spiritual knowledge to a sâdhaka, if
she is a woman of the Kshatriya varna, the sâdhaka is
bestowed the power of control, if she is from the
Vaishya varna, so the sâdhaka becomes successful in
commerce, and finally, if the woman is from the Shudra

10 ADESH / summer 2014

 RELATED TRADITIONS

In the Nâtha tradition there is the following

approach on the pañchamakâra practice: each
element has its own three levels of practice.
First, the physical (pratyaksha) - this is the lev-
el known as tâmasika, followed by the anukalpa
level where one uses the replacement (anukalpa
or pratinidhi) and the highest is the divine level
(divya). The yogi must strive for the Divya level.
So, it may look as follows:

Madya (wine):
• Pratyaksha-rûpa (standard form) —
wine.
• Anukalpa-rûpa (form of change) — co-
conut juice.
• Divya-rûpa — meditation on the es-
In the rituals may be two participants: sâdhaka (Shakti- sence of yogic techniques.
man) and sâdhikâ (Shakti) or more participants, and during Mâmsa (meat):
the pûjâ the Goddess blurs out the boundaries between all of • Pratyaksha-rûpa — meat.

them, so that everyone feels the state of unity through the • Anukalpa-rûpa — garlic, ginger, wheat
mystical power of Shakti. Furthermore, in the rituals are used and sesame
different vessels with wine (yoginî-pâtra, Bhairava-pâtra, • Divya-rûpa — meditation on That what
guru-pâtra, etc.). At the end of the pûjâ this vessel is filled pervades all phenomena (i.e. shûnya).
up with some components associated with prasâd. Finally, Matsya (fish):
the participants have a drink of this wine going beyond all • Pratyaksha-rûpa — fish.
limitations associated with social varnas. According to Kaula- • Anukalpa-rûpa — red radish.
Tantrism, it is a direct way to achieve mukti. • Divya-rûpa — disidentification with
My Guru R.Ch. Sharma said that if you cannot perform such one’s own image.
complicated rituals with others participants, you can take Mudrâ (grain):
the flower petals and mix them with rice and red powder (sin- • Pratyaksha-rûpa — wealth, money,
dur) and put the mixture on a yantra. This is a symbolic offer- woman.
ing of blood and semen. You can also take into account by • Anukalpa-rûpa — roasted grains.
what name the Divine will be called in the pûjâ, if the Divine • Divya-rûpa— abandonment of the neg-
is Bagalamukhi you can use yellow colour flowers because ative society (kasangaka tyâga).
Bagalamukhi has yellow apparel, if Tripurasundari – red Maithuna (sexual act):
flowers, if Kâlî – blue flowers, etc. • Pratyaksha-rûpa — sexual act.

What is panchamâkara? These are five forms of pleasure, • Anukalpa-rûpa — offering of the flow-
such as madya (wine used in the pûjâ), mudrâ (roasted grain, ers (pushpa-arpana).

money, sometimes woman – strî), mâmsa (meat), matsya • Divya-rûpa —raise of Kundalinî to Shi-
(fish) and maithuna (intercourse). However, some tantras va in the sahasrâra-chakra.
and yogic shâstras treat them as internal yogic processes,
where eating of fish symbolizes the absorption of both cur- According to the Nâtha tradition, the yogin
rents (idâ and pingalâ) by sushumnâ, eating of meat is «eat- has to direct his consciousness more and more
ing of tongue” or khecharî-mudrâ, wine symbolizes the Am- from the sthûla sphere (material) to the sûksh-
rita outgoing from the sahasrâra chakra, mudrâ is yogic ma (subtle). The yogin’s aim is to sublimate his
gestures, and maithuna symbolizes the union of Kundalinî own gross instincts into the subtle spiritual ex-
and Shiva in the sahasrâra chakra. perience, the physical performance of 5M is con-
Three of the five M’s (madya, mâmsa and maithuna) are sidered as the lowest level in practice. The prac-
interpreted by some sources as the most important ones. Of tice of 5M’s itself, performed as a ritual, is
the three, maithuna is considered as the main practice be- considered favorable only if the sâdhaka has
cause it includes 3 M’s or all 5 M’s. Madya (wine) is strî (shakti) received it from a real Guru.
or soma (sa-Uma) and mâmsa (meat) is Shiva. The mix of meat
and wine promotes a sexual desire, which leads to maithuna. Yogi Shri Matsyendranath

ADESH / summer 2014 11