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

For us not to be lost in chronologies or in the appearance of individuals, such as in the story of Vashistha, who met a Buddha, it is important to understand that India does not share our sense of time, and tantric practitioners share it even less so. We can see, for example, that in the lineage of Matsyendranath he and his disciple Gorakshanath

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.

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

Vashistha received the teaching of the Kaula path, which swept away his prejudices and freed him from many long years of controlling the senses, which he had imposed in vain. He received the rituals, the practices, the worldview, and instruction in the use of the five “M”s: madya (wine), mamsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudra (grains), and maithuna

The most difficult aspect of dating the composition of tantric scriptures (known as tantras), and what actually makes all dating of them impossible, is the existence of the oral tradition. A text that is considered to be the first appearance of a Tantra can in fact come from a source that antedates it by several centuries.

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,

Civilization has brought us many marvelous things, but it has also cut us off from our ancient roots and from our connection to nature, to animals, and to the cosmos. The arrival of religions has added all sorts of regulations and rules, which have repressed our fundamental connections with the world. We have become frightened, conformist,

Kali’s four arms: Kali's arms represent the cycle of creation and destruction, the cosmic rhythm, the circular nature of life and death in continual movement. When she is not carrying the trident, Kali’s hand adopts the mudra that extinguishes fear and gives the courage to confront the real.