Tantra is not a single system, but an accumulation of various rites to transform mundane into super mundane and identification of microcosm and macrocosm. In some Indian religions, a text that deals with esoteric aspects of religious teachings is referred to as tantra. There exist considerable tantric practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and to a lesser extent in Jainism. This is because tantric practices characteristically represent teachings of relatively late development and assimilate elements of different traditions they are often disdained by orthodox practitioners.

A real experience of Tantra is not merely a Tantric encounter group, or acquiring a Tantric guru to chant mantras to help one out with one`s difficulties in life. It comprises a direct contact with the Tantric deities and their energies as living powers, both within and around everybody. Tantric practice requires working with the forces of Nature as powers of consciousness, discovering the shakti or spiritual energy in life behind all that one perceives and experiences.

As per the modern research, there is a close relation between the Tantra and the Vedas. Tantra has the Vedic origin and it demonstrates sheer influence of the Yoga, Upanishads and Puranas. Tantra describes the reality as the Chit that is the consciousness. This pure consciousness is indistinguishable with Sat i.e. Being, and Bliss or Ananda. The sublimation in Tantric method follows three steps namely purification, elevation, and reaffirmation.

Tantra sadhana is said to be a sadhana of life and Nature. It does not come about anywhere apart from the daily life of an individual or apart from the surrounding natural world. It is a unification of the nature of an individual with the greater cosmic Nature. Tantric practice is not a purely human experience, but integrates the human experience into the greater cosmic dance.

The key to Tantra lies in the Tantric deities, the forms of Lord Shiva and Shakti as the cosmic masculine and feminine forces. Yet these Tantric devatas (referring to respective gods and goddesses) are not simply gods and goddesses made in the human form. They are one`s own inner divinity in its universal expression, of which the human form is but a metaphor. They are not just psychological symbols, but existential powers and presences that overshadow human existence and put the entire psychology to rest.

Shiva is the mountain and shakti is the mountain stream as much as they are the human male and female. Yet these forces are one. Every living individual as human being is also the mountain and the mountain stream, the root of the tree (Shiva) and its leaves, flowers and fruit (shakti). One`s status of humanity is a mask for universality, in which exists one`s true being beyond birth and death.

Tantra discovers the Divine in life, in the rasas or essences of beauty and feeling that all experiences are seeking. It is an alchemic process, a process of distilling the light out of darkness, which fills everything with colour. Tantra stands for the fabric of what life is woven of. It is these rasas that are the threads out of which one`s life experience is woven. Tantric rasas are the ones which link the outer world of experience to the inner realms of energy and awareness from which it arises, embracing all that is and is not.

Tantra is about arousing energy at a higher level, frequency and velocity. It is about balance; not as an invalidating out of forces, but as a profound union that brings about a higher life, meaning and way of expression. In this Tantric process, different goddesses have their authoritative roles. `Kali unfolds the transformative forces of time and space, time as the creative flow of transformation and space as the womb or matrix of new energies.` The goddess sets one`s sadhana in motion and keeps it going with Her relentless force that is at times almost overmastering.

Tara (another form of Goddess Kali) transports one from a new level of experience to another, allowing to ascend to higher and higher planes, breaking through obstacles and boundaries and removing negative energies with her rudra force. Bhairavi (another form of Goddess Kali) raises the kundalini or fire energy from the root chakra below, to rush spontaneously upward with indomitable force. Sundari (another form of Goddess Kali) provides the bliss and the descending flow of soma from the crown chakra, the ananda that is the very rasa of the path of an individual, and which weakens the ascending wrath and quenches all fear.

The goddesses are the mahavidyas or grand forms of knowledge, because they connote wisdom that arises through cosmic energies of life, not the knowledge found in books. They are that knowledge which integrates and transforms, not which merely analyses and informs. Shiva is the ground of the experience, who does not change but witnesses all changes. Shakti dances on the ground of Shiva, which is infinite space. They both interrelate and reinforce one another.

Of the two main great traditions of India, Tantra and Veda, both are one in nature and in mantra. The Vedas reflects Jyotirmaya Deva, the God of Light like the Vedic deities of fire, lightning, Sun and Moon (Agni, Indra, Surya and Soma). Tantra reflects the Shaktimaya Devi, the Goddess of Energy. But the shaktis are the powers of light, the electrical, magnetic, solar, lunar, lightning, dawn and fire forces. In the Yantric approach, based upon the teachings of the great Yogi Ganapati Muni, Ramana Maharshi`s chief disciple, one perceives Tantra and Veda as one.

Yoga in the deeper sense is also inherently Tantra, an integration of the forces that weaves the fabric of the life of an individual. Similarly Tantra is intrinsically Yoga or inner integration. Tantra provides a form and a vehicle for these powers of yoga, making them out of the dry field of meager techniques and personal strivings, into tools of worship, adoration and ecstasy beyond the mind and ego.

Shambhavi, as in the Shambhavi mudra in which one keeps one`s eyes open outwardly but directs one`s attention within, is the inner gaze of Shiva as it opens new worlds within and turns the outer world into an inner experience. It is the open `third eye` that when seeing nothing, sees all. From that inner eye, the shakti springs up as the lightning of perception that energises all the forces of light from the fire within the Earth to the Sun in heaven above. There is no division of life and sadhana, inner or outer experience, one`s personal and spiritual life. This allows a magic to enter into the life of an individual.

Shakti dwells everywhere in Nature. Each temple and holy site has its own shakti or inimitable power and beauty. These places can arouse various experiences hidden within and direct the sadhana of a person along in a way unique to each seeker. Tantra is sure to transform oneself wholly and allow one to experience its full flowering and effulgence woven in the tapestry of all life. Tantra will also help awaken the yoga shakti within, which will take one in an own inner journey to such realms that are unknown, unpredictable, magical and sublime.

Tantra Yoga is the holistic approach to the study of universe from the individualistic point of view i.e. the study of macrocosm through the study of microcosm. Tantra Yoga involves various sciences-astronomy, astrology, numerology, physiognomy, physics, chemistry, Ayurveda, psychology, mathematics, geometry and so on, which identifies the highest ideal of philosophy in the daily life.

The ultimate goal of Shaiva Tantra is self-recognition and realizing of one`s own self with Shiva. The ultimate goal of yoga is Kaivalya isolation. In Shaivism the Purusha and Prakriti comes into integration. Philosophy of tantra in Shaivism is the union of self with Shiva. As Shiva in Shaiva tantra is depicted as Yogeshwara.

Tantra has its origin from the ancient Hindu scripture Veda, especially the Atharva Veda. Tantra also involves the worship of Hindu deities and thus closely related with Hinduism.

Moreover, Shakti sadhana in Tantric practice implies a whole-hearted veneration of the prowess of Shakti in everyday life. Tantra directs Shakti sadhana in three levels, signifying Dakshinachara, Vamachara and Samayachara. Shakti on the other hand is the manifestation of divine power in one`s body: physical, subtle and casual. Hence the sadhana of Shakti demands absolute belief and perseverance.

Yoginis in Tantric practice perhaps seize the most commanding position, owing to their superlative and secret qualities within. Numerous authoritative legends abound about the arrival and creation of yoginis, beginning from goddess Durga and her slaying of the demons. However, a yogini while zealously into a Tantric practice is often portrayed as an inauspicious image, varying from fierce to dreadful. Always looked at as a female embodiment, a yogini takes part in every ritualistic occurrence with her sexual partner.

Tapas in Tantric practice exists as an indivisible part of a human body, trying to achieve the goal of non-attachment and Brahmacharya. Tapas is a sublime form in Tantra, denoting rigorous penitence, bring about an understanding of body and mind. Goddess Bhairavi, another form of Goddess Kali is considered as the real essence of tapas in Tantric practice.

Tattvas play a vital role in tantric practice. Tattvas in Tantric practice connotes various meanings under separate schools of philosophy. However, the basic understanding of tattva stands for the factual essence of anything, the microcosm uniting with the macrocosm. Tattvas in Tantra are directly related with the Almighty and one`s faith in oneness. There lies several parts of tattvas, which are sometimes categorised into Sudhha and Asudhha. However, earth, water, fire, air, ether are the five fundamental tattvas in the universe.

In addition to these, Anugraha in Tantric practice is integral to one`s achievement in meditation. Anugraha stands for the Divine Grace, with the help of which one is liberated from evil thoughts, resting only within inner soul and perceiving a magnanimous future.

Spanda, Vibration is the basis of preliminary stages of Tantra and Tantric practices. One can never achieve mastery in Tantra without this vitality of life. Spanda means vibration or an arising within the soul, leading to supreme consciousness. It harmonises and balances human life cycle, contrary to which one lies in the peril of losing sense or focus on everything. Just like any other Tantric concept, Spanda too has associations with Shiva and Shakti.

There are a number of Tantra Yoga teachers and painters who devoted themselves in Tantric practices. Many painters have taught Tantra through their paintings. Among them Baba Dwarka Das, Harish Johari, Suresh Johari and Chandra Bal are the most renowned names.