Tantra - The 'How' to Enlightenment!
(Taken from the 'introduction to Tantra' given by Swamiji during His talks on the Shiva Sutras at the ashram, January 2005. Stay tuned for extracts from the ongoing discourses on the Shiva Sutras.)

All our questions come from words (from the manipuraka chakra or the navel center). To answer them, we seek words again. Words can never solve words, like how blood cannot clean blood. In asking or answering questions, people simply want to either show that they are knowledgeable or that they are seekers – their 'seeker ego' surfaces.

One man came to the ashram and had a long conversation with me. He went back and told everyone that I am a very good orator. Trust me, I did not speak to him at all. He spoke all the time and I simply listened. He is happy that I heard him, that’s all! When your wife comes to you with a problem, don’t give her any solution. Just listen to her problem; she wants somebody to listen to her, that’s all. She knows the solution herself. She simply wants attention. It is the same with males too. No one wants answers.

Anu! Try to pick up that book. Just try to pick up the book. Don’t pick it up but try to pick it up! This is exactly how people try to get Enlightened. They keep attempting to get enlightened. These seekers are actually deceiving themselves. Either they should pick up or drop it. There is nothing called trying to pick up. You are cheating yourself when you say, “I am trying.” You are actually playing, but it is a costly game. In the end you will say, “I was a seeker throughout my life.”

Shastras talk of the goal. Stotras are an expression of the experience. Shastras say that the goal is there. Stotras say, “Oh, so beautiful the goal is!” Shastras say, “Go to the mountain.” Stotras sing the beauty of nature from the mountain top. But how to reach the mountain? This link is given by Shiva – as the ultimate enlightenment meditation, as a wonderful book - The Vignanabairava Tantra. Tantra means technique. It was given by Shiva to His consort Eashwari, to clear Her doubts. It doesn’t belong to any religion, creed, caste or sect. It is simply techniques to reach the Ultimate. Anyone who wants inner light can get through it a life solution. It connects the shastras and stotras. It fulfils the shastras and stotras. It gives ultimate fulfillment. It is the technique that leads you to the Ultimate Being. Here only one question is asked and that is - How? By answering this question, it puts you directly into the Experience where the questions and the questioner dissolve into the Experience or Eternal Bliss!

My love and blessings to you to reach the state of Nithyananda or Eternal Bliss!