Divine Masculine and Feminine in Tantra

In most Western traditions, there is no equal counterpart to the masculine deity. There are women who appear in the story, but they tend to play second fiddle. But in the context of Tantra—particularly in the text we've been studying these last couple of weeks, the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra—we find something different.

The Dialog Between Shiva and Shakti

This tantra presents a dialog between Shiva and Shakti, and Shiva is that big, ohming consciousness—the whole empty space, the vibratory field out of which everything arises. Shakti is material reality; she's everything you can see and touch. They're having a dialog like lovers because they're inseparable lovers. You can't have one without the other.

Shiva basically says, "I am all things," and she responds, "You are all things." He continues, "But nobody can get to me unless they come through you, Shakti. They have to come through the body, through their sensory embodiment, their awareness." And she agrees: "You're right. They have to come through me to get to you."

The 112 Meditations

Then Shakti asks him what people should actually do to reach him—what are the practical steps beyond "they have to come through me"? In response, Shiva gives her 112 meditations we can use to jump from individuated consciousness into knowing the One.

Some of these meditations are remarkably simple:

Eye gazing: Sit and look into someone's face, staring into their eyes. Eventually, when you look into their pupils long enough, their whole eyeball becomes the universe. You see only the cosmos at the back of each other's eyeballs. This would happen with any of us practicing together.

Color meditation: Look at this book and go right to the edge where orange and white meet. Gaze at the place where those two colors meet—right at that line—until it opens up into consciousness.

Sound meditation: Like the one we did in our opening practice—opening the ears wide, then concentrating on one sound until everything pops out into realization. You hear the oneness in every sound.

The Universal Principle

These beautiful offerings show us that if you take your full concentration and focus it on anything long enough, you will see God.

Divine Pairings in Hindu Tradition

This relates to every Hindu pairing you encounter: Sita and Rama, Shiva and Shakti, Radha and Krishna. Every time you see these as a pairing, they are always one being—not two separate individuals hanging out together. They're literally two halves of the same whole, and you can't have one without the other.

Now, the patriarchal overlay in those religions might obscure this for a time, but consider Sita and Rama as a representation of a river: Rama is the duty-bound structure and rules—he is the riverbank. Sita is the water running through the river. You can't have water without the riverbank, and you can't have riverbanks without the water, but you can only have a river when you have both together.

Balance of Masculine and Feminine

Similarly, when you look at Shiva and Shakti in this balance, in the embodiment of these traditions, the agency and strength of the sacred masculine and the receptivity, softness, and suppleness of the sacred feminine need one another. They have to be in complete and perfect wholeness for us to be healthy in our lives.

This is not tied to genitalia. Consider this: In your own heart, you are half your mother and half your father, and you will be for all time. In your loins are all the children and grandchildren you will ever have—both sons and daughters. You might be in a masculine or feminine body at this moment in time, but your energy has to encompass both.

The masculine form that gets genetic, forceful, hard, and rigid—the "Viagra form" of life—without suppleness, sweetness, and receptivity will break or turn violent. The feminine aspect, if not balanced by masculine agency, will become like water and diffuse completely across the plane, collapsing unto itself.

Integration at the Heart Center

Right in the center of your heart, just like in all of yoga, suppleness and strength are partnered in equal measure. Then you can express this however you need to. The divine masculine has his agency and is also able to receive his partner in utter beauty. The divine feminine is able to receive her partner in utter beauty and is also able to give and act in her life as she needs to.

Unity Consciousness

While we have the divine feminine and the creative power of Shakti at the core of many tantric traditions, she is not alone. It's not goddess worship without god worship—they go together in the Ardhanarishvara, the half-and-half god.

For the first time, we get to stand in the Christed consciousness of Magdalene and Jesus as one being, of Adam and Lilith as one being before it split off into Eve. You get to really feel into the possibility that all of creation is equally masculine and feminine, and they both deserve complete reverence together as one being.