JITANDRIYA
Jitandriya means control of the senses. This is very much what Tantra is about in its functional
level. This is not the goal of Tantra any more than a functioning automobile is the goal of arriving at San
Diego. It is clear that arriving is the goal and a functional vehicle is the method. Part of the method must
also include roads, road upkeep, road signs, fuel, maps, all the people who built the vehicle, those who
built and keep the roads safe (sort of safe), those who made the maps, and a huge amount of ancillary
support such as governments including local, state, and federal which taxes, legislates, administrates,
regulates, etc. the land and its people, to say nothing of the fact that all this depends upon the will of the
people to participate or support in the functioning of the entire system allowing you to migrate from point
A to San Diego. To do this, you must know how to read, interpret symbols, analyses maps, get money,
purchase items, calculate distances vs. fuel, food, time, money ability, and ever so much more. On top of
all of this, you should have a reason for going to San Diego and a reason for using the route you decide to
take, the time to go, the type of vehicle to use, etc. And, once you're there, you should know what to do
next, and why!
This level of complexity is similar to Tantra in that you need to know where you're going, how
you're going to get there, what to do on the way, what to learn (and unlearn), when to do it, what to do
when you get there, and much more. Where and how did you learn all those things needed to get you to
San Diego? Who taught you? Did you learn all of it in school or is it a mixed bag of learning, some from
school and some from experience, and some from other areas of life? Are you pioneering the route or
have others gone before you? Is there a best route? A more scenic route? Do all roads get you there in
this lifetime? Will your vehicle make it there? Why are you going anyway? Is this a destination you
want? What is there for you when you get there?
You will answer these and many more questions before you get in your car and take off for San
Diego. Even on a whim you will have run more than the above questions through your thinking
processes. Many people take far greater pains and preparation for a pleasure trip than they take for such a
small thing as a philosophical life change. Often, people will take a course in fairy magic, astrological
living, or magic energy without any more thought or preparation than "everyone I know is taking it and it
really works." Does it really work? How many fairy courses have these people taken in the past that
"really worked" for them only to have their miracle cure dissipate like wet cobwebs in the heat of the day.
Before taking on a life-style and basic philosophical change, examine carefully the route you will be
taking, the vehicle you will use, the scenery on the way, the place it takes you, and the goals of the system
to be applied.
Tantra is the sexuality of cooperation. First you learn to cooperate with yourself, then with
others, then to join with the Goddess. The goal of Tantra is unification of you with your Eternal Self.
Many other goals are placed before you on the way to the ultimate goal and these are satisfying of
themselves. Keep in mind always that the ultimate goal of Tantra is the unification of you with your
Eternal Self. This unification brings a number of things to you as benefits such as, eternal life, a more
complete life in this physical plane, an ability to move on to the next level just as Christ moved on, an
imparting of great physical and spiritual power while alive here, the ability to use your higher powers as
you wish, a cure for all the bad things you have been taught in your life that you don't even know you have
at present and which damage your everyday life, and much more that limitations do not allow to continue
to list. On the way to this highest of goals, much benefit can accrue to you if you keep to the path.
Tantra requires purity of your physical body, mental attitude, and emotions. If you have a good
heart, you will get good results, and if your spirit is right, you will move in the best direction for you.
Computer operators know, "garbage in-garbage out." Purity comes from within.
When you first begin Tantra exercises, you will find impure emotions, thoughts, and physical
reactions in you. This is normal. You have been indoctrinated and taught your responses by an impure
society. Don't worry, as you practice the exercises, meditate, and continue to purify yourself through the
Tantra Path, these impure aspects of yourself (put there by others) will go away to be replaced by a healthy
growth into love, purity, and understanding. You will only have a problem with old systems of thinking if
you keep hanging on the old instead of moving into the new. Let loose of the past and its ways. Those
ways of thinking worked for where you were before. Now that you're moving into a new way of thinking
and acting, you cannot keep the old. If you attempt to keep the old philosophy which worked at the old
levels, you will not be able to move to the new levels you desire to and the people who taught you to think
that way will have won and you will be doing as they say. Generally, people who seek new spiritual levels
are trying to break away from old patterns they clearly understand are harming them and their loved ones.
With this in mind, resist the temptation to keep your old philosophy while you move forward because you
can't move forward with your anchor set firmly in the mud of the past.
When you open up to the Tantric Path, move away from the past, hoist up the anchor of your old
"stuff", the rewards of Tantra come about as a natural result of your work on the path. If you are smoking,
drinking, doing drugs now, the time will come when you will quit on your own with no need for someone
to push you into it. Let it happen, to rush it will be painful. If you have other habits which harm or
interfere with you, they too will fall away at the appropriate time for you. If you practice the exercises and
continue to grow into higher and higher energy levels, all of these old habits will fall away naturally.
DON'T HANG ON TO THE PAST!
Your growth through practice, knowledge, awareness, liberation from bondage, and ultimately
rejoining with your eternal self is very much like going to San Diego. Many things go into the journey
such as a map (our map is the Tree of Life), knowledge of the route (from the writings of others who know
the way), how to get fuel, food, water, and good scenery (from our rituals), how to feel good about yourself
on the way (from the rewards of the well-done ritual), and so on. We as Tantrics have many roads
available, many rewards, and much joy in our travel.
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