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Mud

Can you think of two things as different as mud and a lotus flower? But the lotus flower comes from the mud and rises above the waters …the lotus flower is such a transformation, but without the mud there will be no lotus flowers.

Tantra is a life approach, which honours everything that the human being is, as divine. There is a saying in Tantra; “no mud, no lotus.” The mud symbolizes sexuality, our animalistic and instinctual nature. This is our basic life force energy. Instead of condemning and repressing this energy, the practitioner of Tantra will enter into an intelligent experimentation with his or her sexuality and learn how to refine it. In this way, the stem of the lotus begins growing out of the mud, rising up through the chakra system. This is also known as the ascent of Kundalini energy. As the stem of the lotus plant reaches to the crown chakra, it opens into a magnificent flower, known as a thousand petaled lotus. This ‘lotus of consciousness’ gathers nutrition from having its roots deep in the mud of sexual energy.

If the rich humus of wise sexual exploration is not there in the seeker of truth, no lotus of consciousness can be produced. When we see the lotus sitting so delicately on the surface of the lake, we are not aware of the mud. The enlightened being appears to have transcended the strong pull and attachment to the earthy instinctual aspects of being human. And yet, it is good to remember that human beings have only one energy. This energy can be expressed through the downward and outward release of sexual fluids, or it can ascend to be expressed as love, or as superconsciousness. Condemning sex will not help the process of transcendence. Be rooted in sex, with so much sensitivity that it is natural for this energy to begin it’s ascent into love. And love so totally that it is natural and easy for this loving energy to flower into superconsciousness.