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Description: How tantra yoga differs from yoga practices based on the work of Pantajali (ashtanga yoga.)
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Less often mentioned in the classical literature is Tantra yoga, which is a practice intended to balance the four elements, earth water, fire, air, through the fifth element, akasha. The akasha principle is the element from which the other four arise. Tantra is a complete and balanced yoga, and just as akasha includes the other four elements, Tantra contains within it the essence of the first four yoga disciplines.
Being holistic, Tantra accepts human nature and rises by it, rather than avoiding and denying human nature as, for instance, the ashtanga yoga of Patanjali does. As an example, Patanjali’s ashtanga yoga promotes the practice of brahmacharya (celibacy) as a necessity for attaining enlightenment. Patanjali states “As the result of purity, there arises indifference toward the body and disgust for physical intercourse with others.” This is definitely not the way of Tantra.
Tantra is life-affirming and does not consider sex impure or physical intercourse disgusting. The body is a temple and a vehicle for enlightenment. Tantra’s root philosophy is that kama (fulfillment of desire), artha (prosperity), dharma (spiritual and moral duty), and moksha (liberation), are all one.
The Extreme Gardener: experiments in permaculture and other gardening adventures in Northeastern Vermont