During the various techniques of tantra yoga, the sexual energy is awakened and amplified to a great extent. It is important to preserve this energy in our aura, so that we could use it in superior ways instead of wasting it.
It is known that in Tantra yoga the pleasure, be it however intense, must be entirely controlled, and therefore the ejaculation (or the explosive orgasm) must be avoided. However, especially nowadays, in the West, there are beginners who still mix the two ways of experiencing the sexuality; also there sometimes may occur accidental (involuntary) losses of control at some beginners. For all these reasons, it is said that at least one hour after every Tantric technique, all sexual manifestations (masturbation included) are prohibited; this has the object of avoiding any risk of having the energy lost, allowing it to be integrally used for higher goals.
The Hands
The TANTRIKA-s (Tantric adepts) are especially careful concerning the care of the hands, since they are the main "instruments" for touching, and caressing, and the Tantric techniques often involve specific use of the hands, fingers, or nails. Some texts advise the cutting of the nails of the thumb, and index (especially of the right hand), so that they are short, and these two fingers present a soft, round tip (for avoiding any scratching, or wounding), while the other fingers should have rather long nails, but very clean and manicured. It is deemed that long nails conduct better the etheric energy of the hands, thus enhancing the intensity of the touch, stroke, and massage. Many TANTRIKA-s can be recognised after the special way in which their nails are manicured.
The Sexual Organs
All Tantric texts mention the care, and cleanness of the genital organs, and area, as being very important, for both hygienic, and aesthetic reasons. Moreover, the cleanness of the sexual organs is said to enhance their sensitivity, thing that will be noted with the practise of the perception techniques.
For women, it is often recommended that the pubic hair should be periodically shaved or depilated with wax entirely, so that the sensitivity is enhanced, and the sensuous feelings and excitability are amplified a lot.
Light
"Tantra Yoga loathes the darkness", is a traditional saying; therefore all the Tantric techniques shall be performed with some form of light, never in darkness. The Tantric techniques are structured for stimulating all the senses, including the visual one; moreover, the darkness makes possible the manifestation of certain uncontrollable psychic energies, which should be avoided by spiritual probationers. Amongst the recommendations, Tantra Yoga prefers the natural light (candle-light, for an instance), and sometimes recommends the use of coloured lights; the red light is said to stimulate the male sexuality (and the root-CHAKRA), while the violet light is highly recommended for enhancing the female sexuality (opening the throat-CHAKRA), and therefore they shall be used according to the circumstances.
Food
Tantra Yoga emphasizes the importance of a natural diet, without toxic products, and as much as possible without those food that are usually forbidden to the high classes of the Indian society (meat, alcohol, fish, tobacco, coffee, drugs, etc.). Tantra Yoga states that all the senses must be stimulated to the highest extent, but with a perfect mastery; this is also a very personal matter.
The Understanding and the Abnegation
Tantra Yoga forbids those deeds by which the elementary rights of another human being are denied. Amongst others, the Tantric Masters will never try to persuade at all cost outsiders to perform special Tantric techniques. The understanding must come from inside, and the approaching of the Tantric way must be done with the participation of one's entire being, and with total self-offering.
The Meaning of Love
In most of the languages, and especially the Germanic ones, the word "amour" - love is very hard to define. Tantra Yoga deems love as a gradual expansion, by which, starting from the finite, one reaches the infinite; this definition should be meditated upon, for making its meaning clear. Love also means here the total empathic identification with the innermost being of the other, as part integrated in the harmony of the macrocosmic Infinite.
The Polarity of the Energy
Tantra Yoga is pre-eminently a science of the polarity; the man and the woman are here the personification of the two fundamental cosmic poles: SHIVA - the Male consciousness, and SHAKTI - the Female manifestation. Therefore it is particularly important to remind a few elements concerning the polarity of the energy. Any energy of the manifestation (and therefore any thing, being, phenomenon, state) is composed of two distinct poles: the solar one (male, active, emissive, +, YANG), and the lunar one (female, passive, receptive, -, YIN). The condition of harmony, and therefore the aim of any method of spiritual development - Tantra Yoga included - is to reach a perfect balance of these two poles. The traditional teachings state that the unbalance of these two energies (solar (+), and lunar (-)), in whatever sense, creates the condition of disharmony that entails disturbance, disease, pain, limitation, and unhappiness. Their balance, on the other hand, creates a condition of perfect harmony, which is the springboard for the higher spiritual accomplishments. Here are some practical examples concerning the predominance of the two polarities in the manifested world:
the left side of the body, generally, is of lunar (-, YIN) polarity, while the right side of the body is generally of solar (+, YANG) polarity.
Women are generally predominantly charged with lunar (-, YIN) energy, while men are (or should be) prevalently charged with solar (+, YANG) energy.
Some food are charged prevalently with YIN (-, lunar) energy, while others are predominantly YANG (+, solar). This shows one of the several ways of balancing the YIN/YANG energies of the being, which is particularly accessible for the Westerners.
Tantra Yoga teaches that various other conditions of the environment (such as: cold/warmth, light/darkness, colours, etc.), as well as of the personal behaviour may entail a YIN (-, lunar), or YANG (+, solar) predominance.
The problem of the polarity of the energy is complicated by the fact that there can be found a related kind of polarity, between the telluric (or Earth's) energy, and the cosmic one; this polarity is somehow different of the left/right, +/- polarity mentioned above. However, it is deemed symbolically that the telluric energy is also predominantly feminine, -, while the cosmic energy is male, +, although these two forms of energy may each have their solar/lunar (YIN/YANG) polarity.
In Tantra Yoga there are data concerning the polarity of the energy between a man, and a woman during the sexual union, in relation with the various "bodies", or ranges of frequency of the being. Since we haven't yet made a methodical study of this topic (of the various bodies), we'll mention these information briefly for the time being.
Thus, at the level of the physical body (called in YOGA: ANNAMAYAKOSHA) the man is predominantly +, and the woman predominantly -. At the level of the etheric body (PRANAMAYAKOSHA), the woman is +, and the man -. On the astral plane (MANOMAYAKOSHA), the man is again +, and the woman -, while at the level of the mental body (VIJNANAMAYAKOSHA) the woman is solar, and the man is lunar. Meditating upon the various meanings of the solar/lunar polarity, deeper understanding of these brief statements will occur.
