Sowbagyavathy Renuka,
Dear Raghy,
Tantra I feel to a certain extent still very much gives too much importance to senses and bodily identification.
As far as I know no Bonafide Guruji or Swamiji has advocated Tantra as a mode of attaining the Supreme State.
I don't follow Tantric devotion in total. Actually I don't follow any devotion. There are two main branches of Tantric rituals. One is Dakshinachara and the other is Vamachara.
Dakshinachara includes usual pooja, yoga, complete sense control etc in Saivaite, Vaishnavite, Souravya, Saktha and Budhhist branches.very philosophical. It's just huge like in Hinduism. Most of them are said to pre-date vedic periods.
The next type is the secret rituals, Aghories etc. True sense control and true detachment is not very common in regular Hindu rituals too. everything is based on desires.
Sense control,detachment, control of desires etc at the end of the day come down to individual choices.
But tell me frankly Raghy..how much can anyone really enjoy?
Ok I am going to be point blank here..just say a person follows the Kamasutra page by page on daily basis one fine day he has to come back to page 1 isn't it?
See what I mean? How much can one enjoy..eventually we will look for something that does not tire out our mind,body and senses.
Eventually we are going to look for that Consciousness that pervades everything,Self Sufficient and not drawing energy from us but rather the source of everything.
Why get exited about the light form of the senses when we can be the power house of Consciousness itself...Prajnaanam Brahma.
To become the powerhouse of consciousness, we have to go through many stages, don't we? It can't just happen. It requires sacrifices ( not animal sacrifices like all the clowns believe but self sacrifice).
You can't sacrifice something you don't want anyway. You have to have a strong attachment with something before you can detach yourself from that as a sacrifice. Ask yourself what is your attachment? Do you have anything to sacrifice?
You are going to ask me, why should I sacrifice anything? I can get detached with anything and everything and move towards becoming the powerhouse... good luck to you young lady! I don't know if it can be done like that. One's attachment is the 'self' and the detachment is 'burning the 'self' at the alter'. That's what I think anyway.
Now, coming back to your initial question, How much can anyone really enjoy? there is nothing to enjoy really.
I know you are going to say BS! to me. But it is true. All the pleasaures are just transient. I am not attached to any of them. True, I do them regularly as rituals. But once they become 'rituals', they can be discarded. You asked me a 'point blank' question; my answer is, I am not attached to it. Let me explain - up to end of 2004 i was doing it like a bloody rabbit.. then I went to Canada just on my own.... Stayed in a shared accomadation.. had all sorts of opportunites... never bothered. Just drew a blank. Just abrupt kaput. When I bought a house in Keswick, I advertised to have boarders to share accomadation because I was living on my own in that house.. the next day a girl came along, saw the room and took it immediately.. I asked her to move in with her boy friend.. she said she didn't have one and wanted to share the house with me.. without hesitation, showed her the way out... Even now, if I wanted it, I would only 'offer it'.. if the counter part is not interested, I won't bother.. Well, my 'offering' is my way of asking too but my counter part doen't have to say 'No' to me.. but she can say, " No thanks, not now!'.. That is detachment. i am not walking away from the desire itself.. it is there. very much there.
Attachment was the topic of conversation with my wife too. We were just going through what we were really attached to.. we are just attached to our children's well being and nothing else. I thought I was overcoming all my desires.. I was proved wrong recently. Luckily for me, before the situation got out of hand, Thanks very much, a good friend firmly and politely steered me in the right path again.
As a ritual I drink JD every week. Last night I drank much more than I should. My wife asked me why didn't i drink the following night since I had one more day off... but that would have changed the ritual. Am i going to stop drinking altogether? probably not. Not now anyway.
So, everything comes down to what we really want in life. Some of the senses could control us; we can very well control some of them. How much one can really enjoy? The real enjoyment is in giving, not in getting. Well, sometimes the counterpart may not be that strong physically, may have to yield to the process of 'getting'.. That particular point blank question became a game long back. My counter part is happy that I am still playing that game because I am not keen on anything else around me. This forum is an important attachment for me. This forum is is attachment because I am attached to so many members here; but we don't even see each other, possibly may not see any of the members ever.. still attached.
As you can see, I am not quite clear. It is confusing. If I am perfectly clear, I would just do that and ask others to do just that. No one has the answer for these things. It's like the 'G' spot. Everyone says it's there. but no one could put a pointer to indicate " G spot is here". We have to be really subtle and gentle in search of that. We have to go with the flow and keep looking. Sometimes We do hit it and should make the most of it. We shouldn't get distressed for not able to find it when we search; we need not find it every time. I am talkking about life and self awareness. One day we become that peaceful and calm, we don't care about searching anymore. We are absolutely comfortable with ourselves. If we do it before our one way visa gets stamped, before we become the work order for Medical Officer to pronounce us 'dead', we can go in complete peace.
So, answer to your question is - "But tell me frankly Raghy..how much can anyone really enjoy?".. We can really think we are enjoying until the day we become peaceful, calm and perfectly happy with ourselves. So is it Today? That is for every individual to meditate upon.
Cheers!