Around 1500 BC the Aryans invaded the Indus Valley of India ~ they found the country totally populated with savage aboriginals ~ whom they civilized with their patriarchal morality. And this is the history of India that remains in most history books.
In 1925, when the British were building a railroad to Lahore, the two English civil engineers in charge ran into a problem in the plains, they could not find sufficient stones to ballast the track. An Indian foreman told them, "You want ballast? No problem, under that nearby mound are bricks by the millions." Amidst the bricks they found small carved objects with an unknown script (the famous Indus seals). Sensing that they had discovered an unknown civilization ~ they called in archaeologists who discovered the cities of Mohenjo-Daro & Harappa, and over the decades, many more forgotten cities.
In the last few decades, a totally new perception of the history of India has surfaced...
The Dravidian race created around 3000 BC, the Indus Valley civilization ~ an empire containing hundreds of cities, some having a population of 30 to 40 thousand. The cities were centers of high civilization, every household contained a bathroom ~ each city contained a sewage system far in advance to 18th-century Paris. The harbor of Lothal could handle up to 50 ocean going vessels, involving trade as far away as Egypt.
The only problem the Dravidians had was they were a civilized peaceful matriarchal empire ~ totally unprepared for invasion by the barbaric patriarchal tribes of Aryans ~ yet the empire held out for several centuries. When the conquest was complete the Aryans imposed a harsh patriarchal control over the land. The population was divided into four classes: first, the Brahmins or priesthood of the Aryan's patriarchal religion; 2nd, the Kshattrias or warrior-class, their war-lords becoming the Rajas or Maharajas; 3rd, the Vaishyas, or businessmen & landlords; 4th, the defeated Dravidians, now called the Shudras, slaves whose only right was to faithfully serve the upper 3 classes of Aryans. The division was rigid and strictly racial. Remnants of the ancient empire who hid out in the jungles & forests were outlawed by the Aryan society ~ and became the Untouchables, who did not even have the status of human beings.
The Aryans systematically destroyed the Indus Valley Civilization ~ fully replacing the Goddess religion with the Vedic religion with its innumerable sacrifices to the gods.
However the Dravidians managed to retain aspects of their matrifocal faith known as Tantra ~ modern Hinduism originated from a centuries-long merging of the old & new belief systems.
Though even more of the essence of the original religion was lost in the centuries of the merging ~ one would rightly assume that Tantra contains the essentials of one of the original prime belief systems. However, from diligent translation work & recreative archaeology, a rather complete whole system is being reassembled ~ and it holds the possibility of containing a complete view of one aspect of the original religion of this planet.
Today, for the Indian population at large, Tantra refers to any non-Vedic doctrine or cult ~ the source of fundamental antagonism between the Aryan-Vedic-Brahminical system and Tantra.
We will strive for an understanding of the pure source of Tantra. Defining Tantra is both indispensable & arduous allowing for the myriad of possible meanings, each with its own particular nuance. Depending on its context, Tantra means a shuttle (in weaving), the warp (of a fabric), even a mystical & magical doctrine. The best new translations from the original texts is ~ Tantra means a "loom" or "weaving" ~ Tantra offers a perception of the universe as a fabric where everything is, in one form or another, interconnected, woven together ... If you connect the remnant remaining ~ "tra" = "weaving instrument" to "tan" = "to stretch, to expand" ~ you get tan-tra, literally, the instrument to expand ~ and now, in a spiritual context ~ a means to expand ordinary consciousness ~ to reach, awaken, and harness the wellspring of primal powers.
What is Here, is Elsewhere.
What is not Here, is Nowhere.
The above excerpt from the Vishvasara Tantra will seem quite familiar to those whose Mystery Schools used the phrase.
"As Above, so Below"... should underline the fact that Tantra is a philosophy involving concepts far beyond modern Western views that Tantra is basically nothing more than a form of sexual yoga.
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