by Kenneth Johnson
When most people hear the word tantra, they think of “sexual yoga.” Although this is an important part of the tantric tradition, it’s not the whole story. Tantra is the “magic” of India, and includes ritual, mantra, talismanic magic, and a whole universe of goddess mythology in additional to the sexual techniques. By way of example, here is a dream yoga from the tantric tradition designed to help you access the goddess or god who will appear to you as your inner dream lover.
Begin by making sure that your sleep will be as restful as possible. Make your final meal of the day a light one, and get some mild exercise before bed. Best of all, release your daily anxieties through reading, listening to peaceful music, or meditating. Try to sleep in a clean, quiet, well-ventilated room decorated in soft blues or greens.
Lie down on your back with your hands folded over your solar plexus. If you still feel too restless to fall asleep, visualize a blue flame burning at the base of your spine between your genitals and your anus—the psychic center or chakra that is called the muladhara or root chakra in Hindu occultism. Allow the light of the blue flame to spread out in all directions through your body. When at last you are perfectly restful and calm, affirm that your dreams will contact the higher powers whose guidance you seek. Then silently repeat the words “dream lover, dream lover, come to me now.” Do this several times.
Try to fall asleep lying on your right side with your knees slightly bent, the left leg on top of the right one, and the right cheek cupped in your right hand. Your left arm will lie on your left leg. Traditionally, you should be facing north, although this isn’t absolutely necessary.
When you wake up, record your dreams before doing anything else. If you remember only vague fragments, then record the fragment. If you remember absolutely nothing, record the first thought that was in your mind when you woke up. If you wake up during the night, record whatever you may remember from the dream state, though in general, the most important dreams will be those that occur just before waking in the morning.
After a week or so, examine your dream journal, paying special attention to dreams that take place in another time period or in unusual surrounding as well as meetings, conversations, or activities invoking people whom you do not know in ordinary life. Pay special attention to sexual symbolism. Be creative. Sexual symbolism is everywhere, if you know where to look for it. Don’t be afraid of being naughty or feeling like a Freudian.
In time the sexual symbols will constellate around a relationship with a particular dream character. Hindus and Tantric Buddhists regard such a dream lover as a goddess or god, one of the divine sexual beings called dakas (if masculine) or dakinis (if feminine). As a Westerner, you are more likely to meet your dream lover in the form of a movie star, casual stranger, the boy or girl next door, or some mysterious, unknown personage.
When you finally meet your dream lover, the process leaps to a whole new level. Every time you encounter him or her during sleep, you must remember to meditate on the dream as soon as you wake up. Recreate the entire dream in your mind. As you replay the dream, examine its content and its symbols with as much conscious awareness and detachment as you can muster.
Repeated contemplation of the important dreams wherein you meet your dream lover will in time lead you to yet another level. According to tantric tradition, your meditations will eventually guide you out of yourself, traveling along the silver cord that attaches your astral body to your physical body. You will be guided into a whole new universe. There, in that other reality, you will come face-to-face with the magical being who has brought you this far, and who has chosen to act as your initiator and spirit guide in the other world.