TANTRA

The three components of Tantra are Shiva, Shakti and Jiva.
Shiva is consciousness
Shakti is the agent though which consciousness acts.

Jiva is the individual person or identity.

It is the Shakti in us whose nature has to be transformed from tamsic to sattwic.

Shakti has progressive tendencies. The lowest is the Pashu Bhawa which is tamsic, a modified form of animal instincts.

Courage or Veera Bhawa happens when we are able to manage our tamsic instincts and keep them in balance. Through meditative awareness we are able to transcend our Pashu Bhawa to Veera Bhawa (the Rajsic nature) our instincts remain the same, we cannot change these but we can change the attitude that we bring to it.

The divine state (Divya Bhawa )is that harmonious ( Sattwic )state we arrive at when we are able to fine-tune our rajasic nature too.

There are four major instincts that govern all our lives.-

Insecurity and fear - Overcome these though discrimination and detachment.
(1) The desire for procreation

(2) This powerful instinct is to be managed through discrimination and detachment. Detachment means a separation of self from the action and senses.

(3) Craving for personal satisfaction - emotional and physical. This is the urge to find contentment and satisfaction in life and leads to anxiety, nervous tension and depression when discrimination and detachment are not applied at every moment of our lives.

(4) Sleep is the fourth aspect. In the tantric context it implies a state of blocking out. We block out things, happenings people, if these agitate us. Hence we block out large chunks of reality and live in our own world without moving forward. Blocks are formed in our head, heart, and in the unconscious. In Tantra an effort is made to overcome these 4 instinctive aspects of our nature, fear, craving, sexual urge and sleep, by applying the knowledge of Kundalini(latent) energy in the human body. This vast wealth of energy lies untapped in the majority of us, a tantra gyani or knower of tantra masters the techniques of utilizing this energy available to all of us. Mantras (combination of sound vibrations) and Yantras (geometrical symbols for concentration and meditation) are tantras contributions.