TANTRIC-QUEST-Encounter-with-Absolute-Love

the self. Liberalism, tolerance, direct experience of naturefundamentally free from thought, as opposed to the vainspeculations of religious sects and intellectuals. Love as opposedto sexual exploitation. Respect for nature as opposedto frenzied depletion of its resources. Absolute freedom withregard to dogmas, the clergy, the state, the caste system,and the social, religious, dietary, and sexual taboos of classicalHinduism derived from Aryan Vedism. All these valuesderive from unconditional respect for each human being'sfreedom, which Tantrism proposes to rediscover withoutgetting lost in an external, illusory quest.An important segment of society today realizes that wemust return to these values or else suffer chaos and destruction.The Tantric way is open to all the richness ofhuman nature, which it accepts without a single restriction.It is probably the only spiritual path that excludesnothing and no one, and, in this way, it corresponds to thedeep aspirations of women and men today. Those who acceptthe marvelous recognition of female power and thefeminine part within themselves, source of richness andcontinual development, no longer have a position to defendin the war between the sexes. They have integratedthis recognition and gone beyond the persistent duality thatimpedes all deep progress.Seven thousand years* of a continuous Tantric traditionincludes an incredible art of concealment from the "foreigner."This prudence has always existed. In northern India,Tantrism is everywhere, but the closer one approaches*The most ancient texts date from 5500 B.C. See Alain Danielou, While theGods Play (Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions International, 1987).22