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Exotic India presents this collection of tantric sculptures to help you on your spiritual journey. These magnificent artisan creations are powerful items for you to enjoy in your home.
What is tantra? This is the ancient study and philosophy of expanding yourself toward liberation. Every single being, every living creature, has a consciousness. That consciousness deepens as it meditates, making itself more subtle and less crude.
In this process, a being can become united with the All. People who practice tantra are using techniques to do just that - merge with the universal consciousness at the basis of all things.
To put it more concisely, tantra is the esoteric path found in Hinduism and Buddhism. These are the hidden ways, the doors that are not for everyone to open. As it is involved with the individual having a direct experience of divinity, it is also considered a mystical school, perhaps the greatest and longest surviving of its kind in the entire world.
In the West, tantra is mostly misunderstood as merely an erotic practice. While there are ways for tantric practitioners to use those energies for liberation, all desire of any kind can be harnessed as a form of energy that can be wielded to liberate oneself from desire altogether.
These tantric sculptures can enliven and strengthen your own tantric practice. They are able to connect you with the techniques and meditation necessary to walk this esoteric path.
What’s more, they are works of extraordinary artistic ability, as beautiful as they are profound. Exotic India is happy to make these powerful sculptures available to the world, from our artisans to you, wherever you are.
FAQs
Tantra or Agama in the Hindu religion is a potent and personal path to reaching the divinity within. Tantra can be categorized into two groups based on their direct affiliation with the Vedic sources- a) Vedanukula Tantra, the Tantras which are rooted in the Vedas, and b) Veda-Bahya Tantra, which are the Tantric practices outside (Bahya) the direct purview of Vedic culture.
Tantras can also be divided based on their connection with India’s three main religious groups- Brahmana Tantra, Bauddha Tantra (related to Buddhism), and Jaina Tantra. Brahmana Tantra is further divided into- Vaishnava Agama, Shaiva Agama, and Shakta Agama.
The goal of the Sadhaka (Tantric initiate) for performing a particular Tantric rite can range from personal and material to spiritual and metaphysical. However, the best way to summarize the purpose of Tantra is to understand its meaning.
“Tantra” is made up of two root words, “tan”, which means to expand, and “tran”, meaning to protect. Thus, the essential goal of performing Tantra is to expand (tan) the meaning of Shastra and to protect (tran) the performer.
Tantra is the Antaranga (interior or personal) method of worship which believes in the oneness of the divine and the soul and has its practices and rituals focused around making the union of Aatman (soul) and Brahman (the supreme being) possible. The term “Tantric” is used to characterize all the beliefs, practices, and texts related to Tantra.
The basic philosophy of Tantra is a combination of the Sankhya and Vedanta ideologies of Hinduism. The Sankhya tradition puts faith in the primordial feminine energy, known as Prakriti, as the material and active element in Srishti (creation).
Vedanta philosophy believes in Maya, as the original element of the Universe, which is beyond conception. The Prakriti and Maya of Sankhya and Tantra are united in Tantra as “Shakti”, or power, which is feminine, active, and the origin of everything that surrounds us.
The inactive counterpart of Shakti is called “Shiva”, who is stable and Nirguna (devoid of discernible qualities). According to Tantra, the dwelling place of Shiva and Shakti is the human body- Shakti resides in Bija (higher level) and Shiva lives in the Bindu (lower level).
Tantric rituals are centered around the awakening of Shiva-Tattva (element of Shiva) in the human body through the process of Kundalini Jaagaran (awakening of innate energy) and its union with Shakti.
There are several Tantric sects in Hinduism, three of them being the main strands- Vaishnava Agama, Shaiva Agama, and Shakta Agama. Vaishnava Agama or Tantra worships Sri Vishnu-Narayana as the tutelary deity, Shaiva Agama put Mahadeva on the highest pedestal and Shakta Tantra evokes Shakti, Devi, or the great mother goddess as the sovereign universal power.
Based on all these Tantra and their beliefs, however, is the quest to find “Shakti” residing within the human self, thus the “Parama Tattva” or the supreme essence of the Universe is Shakti or Mahashakti, whose presence as the counterpart of Vishnu in Vaishnava Agama, Shiva in Shaiva Agama and as Shakti independently in Shakta Tantra is the primal aim of all Tantric Sadhaka.
The sphere of Tantra is extensive and rich in contributions made by great Hindu-Tantric scholars who emerged in different periods, and various geographical locations and were affiliated with a variety of Tantric sects, thus finding the source of Tantra in the human realm has remained an unfished quest.
The beginning of Tantra can be linked to the interactions between Shiva and Shakti in the metaphysical dominion over a vast array of themes related to the supreme consciousness.
These interactions gave rise to two categories of texts- Agama and Nigama. Agama texts contain Shiva’s dialogues with Shakti and Nigama collections pertain to Shakti’s utterances directed at Shiva. The Agama and Nigama are at the core of Tantra, thus making the united Shiva-Shakti, primordial male and female the ultimate architects of Tantra.
Deities are frequently portrayed with multiple arms to visually represent their supreme and immense powers to perform several feats at the same time. While other objects in hands are generally symbols of different spheres of human/spiritual life.
The four arms represent:—
The four aspects of Hindu psychology — are the mind (manas), the intellect (buddhi), the ego (ahamkara), and consciousness (cit).
The four levels of consciousness- waking (jagrata), dream (Swapna), sub-consciousness (susupti), and transcendental consciousness (turiya).
The four essential components of dharma are truth (Satya), meditation (tapa), compassion (daya), and charity (dana). Four goals of the Hindu way of life - dharma, kama, artha, and moksha.
The 8 arms represent the eight divine preserving powers (sakti) which are; health (arogya), knowledge (jnana), wealth (dhana), organization (sampadanam), cooperation (sahodyogaḥ), fame (kirti), courage (dhrti), and Truth (satyatha)
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