Hello!

Welcome to Sva-Tantra Blog another way we want to share svatantra, the freedom of the absolute Self to playfully express all Her potentials.

Zo and I started Sva-Tantra as a community to foster Self dis-covery through playful daily connection, practice, discussion and all forms of the dance of life. 

We both grew up in performance driven environments where our value was conditioned on results. That felt shitty to us. In our 20’s we both found traditional systems like Shiatsu, Taoism and Non-dual Śaiva Tantra (NŚT). We were drawn to these systems because they were logically substantial AND based on unconditional values of Bliss and Play (Ānanda and Krīda). We enjoy sharing all of this with those interested in exploring with us. 

I’ll describe NŚT in this first post because it will be the foundation for all of my posts. It’s the foundation on which I choose to build life and we chose to build Sva-Tantra.  

NŚT is described by some as transgressive and is radical compared to many other spiritual or religious systems.  Here is one of my favorite passages from the Mālinīvijayottara-tantra showing why:

Here there is no purity and no impurity, no dualism nor nondualism, no ritual nor its rejection, no renunciation and no possession… all the observances, rules and regulations [found in other Tantras] are neither enjoined nor prohibited in this way. Or, everything is enjoined, and everything forbidden here! In fact, there is but one commandment on this [path], O Queen of the Gods: the yogī is to make every effort to steady his awareness on REALITY. He must practice whatever makes that possible for him. (bold and capital text is my emphasis)

–Translation by Hareesh Walis, Tantra Illuminated, p187

Many spiritual perspectives, including many tantras, focus on specific points of view, practices, initiations, etc. Yet, in one of the most extreme perspectives, seen here, there is seeming simplicity, a focus on only REALITY. But what is reality? NŚT understands that you are the divine expressing so what is real for you… is real. Sounds crazy right? Keep reading.

Now we have another important question, the ultimate questions of NŚT, who is this “YOU” REALLY? Because you are the microcosm reflecting the macrocosm, this simple (but not always easy, at least it wasn’t for me) question leads us to dis-cover the reality of the cosmos. And the only way to know the cosmos is to know yourself.

Let’s skip to the end of this self exploration. NŚT knows you will find you are divine, along with everything in the cosmos. Since you are already divine and the divine is complete, you are COMPLETE. Often we don’t feel divine or complete. If you experience suffering, isolation, a broken heart, painful numbness, it does not mean you are wrong, unskillful, or the exception to what I just wrote. You are still the divine but have conditioning that seems to feel like you are alone, separated from the Divine.

NŚT gives tools and information to understand your true nature. The texts and practices give you an opportunity to explore and dis-cover the inherent bliss that is your true nature. At Sva-Tantra we have devoted our lives to exploring the underlying, unmoving aspects of reality so we have a strong structure to hold to while we fly through this Divine experience.

Welcome to the Sva-Tantra Blog.