The word yantra in Sanskrit literally means “a support or instrument.” A yantra is “a mystic diagram used as a symbol of the Divine as well as of its powers and aspects.”

This is one of the constants in tantric thought: the solution to a problem lies in the problem. Moving outside it will not set things straight. On the contrary, you must have the courage to penetrate to the heart of the darkness and stop constructing an idealized being who has all the trouble in the world coexisting with deeply human reality.

The yoga of the five elements (five of the thirty-six tattvas) is the beginning of the transformation of the ordinary body into a cosmic body. This practice transforms the yogi into the five elements: earth, water, fire, wind, and ether, or space. It stabilizes the spirit, destroys poisons and egoism, and makes consciousness known. This practice

If, on the other hand, it’s a matter of being fully alive, let us move on toward all that sets us vibrating, refusing nothing, leaving behind austerities that dry us out, and instead let us see the reality of the world. This major difference explains why Abhinavagupta, who played the great vina (a stringed instrument), had such an admiration for

The Kularnava Tantra also insists on the fact that the practices typically associated with yoga, such as asanas (postures), pranayama (breath control), and the austerities, are not part of tantric practice. The only physical exercise that is practiced—in conformity with the Vijnanabhairava Tantra and with ancient texts and iconography—consists of

The body itself is the temple in the Kaula tradition. Within it are to be found the thirty-six tattvas, or categories, which extend all the way from the base to the Absolute beyond Shiva/Shakti.*7 Therefore, it is not necessary to reject the body or abandon it to know union with the Divine; on the contrary, one must dissolve it into the cosmos,

Following this path, a yogi feels at ease in any place and under any circumstance. The yogi plays like a child; he has no image to defend, nothing to justify. He is free of the judgment of others.

The Kularnava Tantra relates that there are three forms of initiation: by touch, by voice, by spirit. All three are without a definite form, without ritual. The disciple receives grace through contact with Shakti.

Composed around the year 1000, the Kularnava Tantra provides the most complete definition of the central approach for understanding the Kaula tradition as the Royal Road of Shakti, which abolishes the dichotomy between renunciation and enjoyment. It is also the vira path: the tantric hero way. The Kularnava Tantra says: “No doctrine, no path can