Panchamakara
Panchamakara or Panchatattva, also known as the Five Ms, is the Tantric term for the five substances used in a Tantric practice. These are madya (alcohol), māṃsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudrā (grain), and maithuna (sexual intercourse). Taboo-breaking elements are only practiced literally by "left-hand path" tantrics (vāmācārins), whereas "right-hand path" tantrics (dakṣiṇācārins) oppose these.[1]
In the Vamachara tradition, adherents engage in literal consumption and use of the Five Ms, often in the context of ritual feasts (ganachakra), along with other ritual elements such as incense, music, and costumes. This approach represents a more overt embrace of these elements to attain spiritual transformation. In contrast, Dakṣiṇācāra practitioners interpret the Five Ms symbolically and metaphorically, emphasizing their spiritual significance and using them as symbols for meditation and inner transformation. This interpretation encourages practitioners to transcend their worldly desires gradually and embrace subtle Tantric practices.
Symbolic meaning
In the introduction of his translation of the Mahanirvana Tantra, Sir John Woodroffe, under the pseudonym Arthur Avalon, describes the individual makara.[2] He states that they include madya (wine), mamsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudra (grain), and maithuna (sexual intercourse). He describes both the symbolic and ritualistic significance of each element: madya represents a state of divine ecstasy, mamsa symbolizes the embrace of life's vitality, matsya signifies fluidity and adaptability in spirituality, mudra stands for sustenance on physical and spiritual levels, and maithuna represents the union of opposing forces for spiritual transformation. According to Woodroffe, these elements take on varying meanings depending on whether they are employed in Tamasika, Rajasika, or Sattvika sadhanas, reflecting different aspects of human existence and spirituality.[2]
Differences in interpretation
In Vamachara ("left hand path"), the "five Ms" are taken literally. Flowers, incense, perfumes, costumes, music, specially prepared food and drink, and Ayurvedic herbal preparations are considered important parts of the ritual feast (ganachakra) as well.[3]
In Dakṣiṇācāra ("right hand path"), the "five Ms" are interpreted symbolically and metaphorically.[3] According to Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, the purpose of the Five M's is dual: for people to practice yoga sadhana (meditation) while in the "midst of crude enjoyments" and then gradually reduce the consumption of wine, meat, fish, and not to overindulge in sexual activities; and after learning to resist the allure of these activities, to engage in the subtle practices of Tantra meditation.[4][5]
| The five M's | Vamachara | Dakshinachara |
|---|---|---|
| Madya | Wine | Amrita, divine nectar that drips from the glands in brain onto the tip of tongue and can be trapped using Khechari Mudra |
| Mamsa | Meat | Control of speech. It symbolizes the Khechari Mudra in which the tongue is swallowed back simulating eating meat. |
| Matsya | Fish | Ida and Pingala Nadis, controlled through pranayama. They are visualised as figure-of-8-shaped structures intertwining like two fish. |
| Mudra | Grain | Spiritual company, satsang; gestures the hands and body take when the Kundalini is activated and pass up through the central channel, the Sushumna Nadi. |
| Maithuna | Sexual intercourse, or female sexual discharge[6] | Raising kundalini to the Sahasrara chakra. |
Maithuna
Maithuna (Devanagari: मैथुन) is a Sanskrit term for sexual intercourse within Tantra, or alternatively for the sexual fluids generated or the couple participating in the ritual.[6][7] It is the most important of the Panchamakara and constitutes the main part of the grand ritual of Tantra also known as Tattva Chakra.[8] Maithuna means the union of opposing forces, underlining the nonduality between human and divine,[8] as well as worldly enjoyment (kama) and spiritual liberation (moksha).[9] Maithuna is a popular icon in ancient Hindu art, portrayed as a couple engaged in physical loving.[10]
Maithuna entails male-female couples and their union in the physical, sexual sense as synonymous with kriya nishpatti (mature cleansing).[11] Just as neither spirit nor matter by itself is effective but both working together bring harmony so is maithuna effective only then when the union is consecrated. The couple become for the time being divine: she is Shakti and he is Shiva, and they confront ultimate reality and experiences bliss through union. The scriptures warn that unless this spiritual transformation occurs, the union is incomplete.[12] However, some writers, sects and schools like Yogananda consider this to be a purely mental and symbolic act, without actual intercourse.[11]
Yet it is possible to experience a form of maithuna not solely just through the physical union. The act can exist on a metaphysical plane with sexual energy penetration, in which the shakti and shakta transfer energy through their subtle bodies as well. It is when this transfer of energy occurs that the couple, incarnated as goddess and god via diminished egos, confronts ultimate reality and experiences bliss through sexual union of the subtle bodies.[8]
History
Maithuna intercourse has been traditionally interpreted to be performed with semen retention by the male practitioner,[8] although other writers consider it optional, possibly relegated only to late Tantra.[13] Early maithuna might have insisted on generating sexual fluids (maithunam dravyam, or solely maithuna by metonymy) in order to be ritually ingested, in a similar way to the other four edible Panchamakara.[6][7] The shedding of semen is also compared to water-offering (tarpana).[6]
Ascetics of the Shaivite school of Mantramarga, in order to gain supernatural power, reenacted the penance of Shiva after cutting off one of Brahma's heads (Bhikshatana). They worshipped Shiva with impure substances like alcohol, blood and sexual fluids generated in orgiastic rites with their consorts.[14] As part of tantric inversion of social regulations, sexual yoga often recommends the usage of consorts from the most taboo groups available, such as close relatives or people from the lowest, most contaminated castes. They must be young and beautiful, as well as initiates in tantra.[15]
Jayanta Bhatta, the 9th-century scholar of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy and who commented on Tantra literature, stated that the Tantric ideas and spiritual practices are mostly well placed, but it also has "immoral teachings" such as by the so-called "Nilambara" sect where its practitioners "wear simply one blue garment, and then as a group engage in unconstrained public sex" on festivals. He wrote, this practice is unnecessary and it threatens fundamental values of society.[16]
Later sources like Abhinavagupta in the tenth century warn that results of maithuna are not meant to be consumed like the rest of Panchamakara, calling those who do so "brutes" (pasus). The 11th century Toḍala tantra places maithuna as the last of its pañcamakāra or "set of 5 M-words", namely madya (wine), māṃsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudrā (grain), and maithuna.[6]
Around the 12th century, practices seemed to turn towards the absorption of sexual fluids into the body of the practitioner, like that of vajroli mudra.[6] This is related to similar practices like rajapana, the drinking of female discharge found in Kaula Tantra, and the mixing of all five ingredients into nectar (amrita) in the Jagannatha temple of Puri, as described by Frédérique Apffel-Marglin.[6]
Douglas Renfrew Brooks states that the antinomian elements such as the use of intoxicating substances and sex were not animistic, but were adopted in some Kaula traditions to challenge the Tantric devotee to break down the "distinctions between the ultimate reality of Brahman and the mundane physical and mundane world". By combining erotic and ascetic techniques, states Brooks, the Tantric broke down all social and internal assumptions, became Shiva-like.[17] In Kashmir Shaivism, states David Gray, the antinomian transgressive ideas were internalized, for meditation and reflection, and as a means to "realize a transcendent subjectivity".[18]
See also
- Karmamudrā – Vajrayana Buddhist practice
- Yab-Yum – Symbol in Tibetan Buddhist art
- Yogini § Panchamakara
References
- Rawson 1978, p. .
- Avalon 1913, Introduction: Panchatattva
- Grof 1985, p. 230.
- Anandamurti 1985, p. .
- Anandamurti 1993, p. .
- White, David Gordon (2006) [2003]. Kiss of the Yogini: 'Tantric Sex' in its South Asian Contexts (paperback ed.). University of Chicago Press. pp. 81–85. ISBN 978-0-226-02783-8.
- Cush, Denise; Robinson, Catherine; York, Michael (2012). Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Routledge. ISBN 978-1135189785.
- Eliade, Mircea (1969). Yoga: Immortality and Freedom. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691017648.
- Thomas, Paul (1960). Kāma Kalpa, Or, The Hindu Ritual of Love. Bombay [Mumbai]: D.B. Taraporevala. OCLC 762156601.
- Menzies, Jackie (2006). Goddess: Divine Energy. Art Gallery of New South Wales. ISBN 978-0734763969.
- Devi, Kamala (1977). The Eastern Way of Love. Simon & Schuster. pp. 19–27. ISBN 0-671-22448-4.
- Garrison, Omar (1964). Tantra: the Yoga of Sex. Causeway Books. p. 103. ISBN 0-88356-015-1.
- Balaban, Oded; Erev, Anan (1995). The Bounds of Freedom: About the Eastern and Western Approaches to Freedom. P. Lang. ISBN 978-0820425146.
- English 2013, p. 40.
- English 2013, p. 41.
- Flood 2006, pp. 48–49.
- Brooks 1990, pp. 69–71.
- Gray 2016, p. 11.
Works cited
- Anandamurti, Shrii Shrii (1985). Namah Shiváya Shántáya. Ananda Press.
- Anandamurti, Shrii Shrii (1993). Discourses on Tantra. Ananda Marga.
- Avalon, Arthur (1913). "Introduction". Mahanirvana Tantra.
- Brooks, Douglas Renfrew (1990). The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-07569-3.
- English, Elizabeth (2013). Vajrayogini: Her Visualization, Rituals, and Forms. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-861-71657-9.
- Flood, Gavin D. (2006). The Tantric Body, The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion. I.B Taurus. ISBN 978-1-84511-011-6.
- Gray, David B. (2016). "Tantra and the Tantric Traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.59. ISBN 9780199340378.
- Grof, Stanislav (1985). Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transcendence in Psychotherapy. Ithaca: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0873959537.
- Rawson, Philip (1978). The Art of Tantra. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0500201664.
