sivasakti.net - The Five Tantric Nectars

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T H E F I V E T A N T R I C N E C T A R S

"Here, in this body, there are the sacred rivers. Here dwell the sun and the moon, and all the holly pilgrimage places. I have never encountered a more joyous temple than my own body." (Saraha Doha)

In the Tantric vision, the human body represents the temple of the spirit, a veritable microcosm, an exact copy of the entire universe.

The incarnation in a human form represents the peak of the creation, and in the whole of the various life forms, the human body represents the highest physical form. The initiates say that this form is the most difficult to obtain of all life forms.

Consequently, this physical body that we "wear" in the physical world is of an inestimable sacredness, as it "shelters" the divinity under the hidden form of the divine Self - Atman and therefore the temple of the spirit has become a traditional Tantric concept when referring to the physical body.

It is known that all that comes from a temple is sacred, with the condition that the temple itself is treated as a sacred place, with a permanent attitude of spiritual awareness from the part of the one dwelling in it.

The temple is, by definition, a place of worship, an edifice dedicated to the service of God. However, according to the Tantric tradition, God represents our Supreme Self, Atman or in other words the divine spark within, which needs to be worshipped right in the "temple of the body".

Clean or dirty, good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable - all these are relative notions that regard the culture and the vision on things; nonetheless, they may act as a barrier against the quick spiritual evolution the Tantric people usually seek.

Unlike the traditional Hinduism, obsessed with that which is pure or impure, in the authentic Tantric traditions there is no such concept.

"Chandamaharosana Tantra" expresses this aspect as clearly as possible: "the practitioner must never think in terms of pure and impure;" he must never think in terms of "worthy being achieved" or "unworthy of being achieved", "fit for loving" or "unfit for loving". The yogi who will not respect this advice will lose all his or her siddhis".

The great majority of western cultures usually sustain the idea that perspiration, saliva, urine, sexual secretions and menstrual blood are impure.

Nevertheless, the Tantric teachings say that when the body is well nourished, healthy and clean, all that is produced within represents a sacred thing that can have for us a special utility.

The Tantrics sought to discover the special properties of all our body products.

Therefore, they searched to discover the properties of perspiration, tears, pieces of cut fingernails, the earwax, the hair, the beard, the eyelashes and eyebrows, or the pubic hair, and so on.

They explored each part of the body, and all the materials it produces, finding magic uses for each of these. They focused their research mainly on five bodily secretions, which are referred to in the Tantric and Buddhist texts as "the five nectars".

These are: saliva, urine, sexual secretions (sperm and vaginal secretions) menstrual blood and excretions. In the highest Tantric teachings, these are spiritual, sacred elements, that are used in the mystical rites as they help a person's evolution.

These "five nectars" are often referred to in both the Tantric and the Buddhist tradition; they are well-kept secrets of the Tantrics.

Their use as spiritual elements is somehow opposed to the vision exposed in the traditional Hinduism and Buddhism.

The Tantrics argue that if we truly consider our body a temple, and if we eat right and take care properly of our body, than all the products resulted from the internal processes are sacred substances, endowed with divine qualities.