Swedish Bhairavi Says: “Where You & Tantra Meet..”

How does it happen? How do you practice Tantra? And how do you perceive that a practice is working? How do you perceive changes, evolution, greater ability, power and enlightenment?

I see Tantra being approached in a very “stickler” way, usually by people who do not have much experience in tantra but have good ability to mentally dissect and be logical in life, sometimes even robotic. This article is written to inspire for a more open, full breathed understanding of tantra teachings. And for practitioners who are in fact sensing how tantra works and are seeing the changes to buckle up, relax into it and enjoy the ride.

Tantra meets you at the level of your being, at the character of your current state. Many people see it as a mechanical process, they want to accumulate information, learn the ins and outs of rituals or mentally dissect teachings, questioning different angles to try and logically get a grip of it. They want to define it in the ABC they know of and they want for that ABC to lead them to XYZ but the ABC is not necessarily something that is resonating with the universal sound and resounding vibrations, the higher frequencies. In Tantra, ABC does not necessarily lead to XYZ or the beyond. Just because you desire a specific ability or outcome does not mean it is guaranteed. We often mention that it is not like going to a grocery store asking for enlightenment and getting it with the exchange of money.

Yes of course we have categorized different things in the world, we have tried to measure the day, the seasons and how things grow and decay. But does the night surrender to the dawn because it calculated the exact timing and performed its act as such and the dawn signed a contract to appear on due date and time?

Yantra, Mantra Jaap, Tantra rituals, all of it is powerful, especially when discovered and crafted by the Siddhas. But the most potent force lies in between, between the inhale and the exhale, the exhale and the inhale. In that liminal space, in the twilight, the Sandhya, the unexplainable happens. Structures and rituals create a conducive environment, but excessive focus on them turns the practice into mental jugglery, distracting from the space where transformation truly happens. The essence of Tantra is not just in the structured practice but in what moves and is ready to appear between the structure. It is in the grace that flows when you stop controlling the process and start dissolving into it.

Are you letting yourself experience grace or are you controlling your environment so much that no matter what new practices you do, you are just repeating the same level as before?

The Nature of Initiation: Entering a New Reality

Initiation in Tantra is not only and sometimes not at all about receiving theoretical information. It is an entry into an entire world. You can see it as a living simulation, where the very fabric of your reality begins to shift. It is like being granted access into a new type of video game and sometimes you are given a specific tool box to start off your game. Your world itself then contains different video games, realms, and your path within that realm is uniquely designed for you.

In the safe space of the simulations, we can look at each other and smile, recognizing the exquisite, painful, graceful nature of the reality, the beautiful webs of Shakti leading the way. Every one of us is going through a uniquely crafted training program, designed by the Gurus with the grace of Devi.

This is why initiation is not something you can demand, force or negotiate. It is something that happens when the time is right, when you are seen, when the knot that binds you to the ordinary world begins to loosen, when you can handle simulations.

Man made metrics and endless calculations.

There is no report card in the ordinary sense in Tantra although eligibility can be seen to increase or decrease. What we sometimes see though is that the understanding of how to sense evolution is hard for some people. I have seen many people caught in mental loops, endlessly trying to calculate their progress with a faulty calculator.

“I have done this many Japas, why hasn’t something happened?”

“If I do this ritual for this long, I should reach this state, right?”

“When will I get to the next level?”

This is not how Tantra works. The logic of the mind will never comprehend the alchemy of the unseen. You are trying to calculate something that does not exist within linear equations of your current state. Tantra is not measured in tasks completed but in how deeply it is lived.

The real transformation is happening in your emotions, thoughts, actions, behaviours, environment, bodies, relationships and intentions. To give some kind of idea of the multitudes of ways to "measure" or understand changes could be:

Do you respond to challenges differently than before?

Is your presence and awareness more stable through out different states of consciousness and in different settings and situations?

Are your dreams, your instincts, your senses refining and leading to expanded experiences you have not felt before?

Have you noticed how the elements and surroundings themselves respond differently to you?

There are so many different layers and ways to reflect and experience development and it is usually not in numbers or man made metrics, but in existence itself.

These more open approaches to reflecting upon ones reality comes with time as many of you have already experienced.

Trials, Tests & the Unseen Refinement

Transformation is not just about practice, it is about passing through the fire of experience in all of your realities. It is not a university syllabus where a Guru hands you a list of do’s and don’ts and expects you to memorize them. Some things must be lived, stumbled upon, and painfully realized before they become part of you.

Some of you might remember when I once hinted at a Tantra etiquette regarding fire. I mentioned it because I wanted you to avoid a certain mistake. But can everything always be taught like that?

Would giving you "the complete rulebook" truly clear out your sanskars? As many have tried in the history of time, it might rarely work and often leads to dogmatic behaviours, surface appearances, mental jugglery and people echoing ideas without lived experience. Will structuring your behavior from the outside in true burn away the distortions? Can you even force yourself to open up? Maybe. "Fake it till you make it" can work, but it can also just be a performance, a mental exercise with no depth.

This is why some things are not told outright. Not because they are being withheld, but because the realization must arise naturally. If something is forced into the mind before it has ripened in the being, it looses potency.

A disciple and Guru do not always interact like the usual common student and professor. A Guru is not there to spoon-feed you answers for some surface test or for the sensory pleasure of your mind and "feel-good-experience" of being clever, smart or evolved. When a practitioner naturally develops, the etiquette, the behavior, the attunement begins to emerge on its own. The Guru, the world, the very elements begin to respond differently to them. It is like a hidden mechanism in the video game, once you figure it out, the game recognizes your evolution and unlocks the next level.

Practitioners are often put on the spot, facing moments where they fail to express themselves due to inner obstacles. The moment of the "test" or opportunity passes for the practitioner and they often later regret not having said or done something differently. But the door to that specific opportunity is gone. And in that, both the guru and the practitioner can observe their current state. If you want to know more, Bhairav Ji has spoken in videos about these obstacels in Tantra, sometimes refered to as the 8 obstacles, Ashta Pasha.

Many people lament their missed chances, thinking they can prepare for the next time. But the "video game" rarely presents the exact same test again. You will be tested again, yes, but now that you have had a glimpse, and a taste, the next challenge must be more intense, more amplified. Why? Because it must reach beyond your mental preparation, beyond any script you have rehearsed. It must test your true nature, your actual sanskar, not your premeditated response.

This is the nature of Siddha Tantra Arts, fresh, vibrant, alive and entirely relevant to your current state. It is not something distant from where you are. It matches you, works through your raw edges, and pulls you into higher frequencies. Through practices of Siddha Tantra Arts you increase your chances to refine yourself and your abilities, removing any obstacles in the way.

It is you, alone, with and against yourself.

If possible spend time in solitude. Let yourself be stripped of the distractions that hide your real state from yourself. Learning to see who we are when we are alone can sometimes bring in the rawest, most uncompromising transformations. It also helps in the path of Tantra since when you are on the spot, you will be alone and have to find your own strength and power in that moment.

Even your Guru will not interfere with certain lessons and situations happening in your life and might keep a distance and watch how you wiggle around in your inability to resolve a certain issue. Because pain, loss, confusion and even failure are tools and moments where you need to use your current state to allow for grace.

With all this said and explained, you may start your journey through structure, through repetition, through discipline and calculated efforts. But you must transcend structure at some point or you will never leave the level of controlled learning.

Where you and Tantra meet is not where you might have thought it is. It is in the space between logic and surrender, between discipline and wild abandon, between the known and the unknown and it is real, in the flesh, in the bones, in all the realms that you currently exist, not only when you decide to do a practice.

We refine our practices so that we can start noticing how teachings and insights happen.

With Love,

Swedish Bhairavi