The tantric mandala is more than simply a clever form of geometric artwork, it is a map (or maybe an architect’s drawing) of how the universe manifests from the all-encompassing absolute point of origin. What you see is an expansion of repeating patterns, a pulsation from the centre towards multiplicity and manifestation. But you will also notice that, in the expansion outwards, nothing of the original is lost, the same pattern reoccurs at each new level of manifestation.
In this tantric conception, rather than creation being a division of power, it is a concealment. The originating divinity is present in all things, it is merely concealed beneath the solidity of manifest existence. Concealment then, is a founding concept of tantra.
Consequently, liberation is a process of revelation; of identifying the divine power that exists inside you and tracing it backwards, to its originating source. According to this concept it is the fringes, the parts of the mandala furthest from the centre, those that are most corporeal, that are most attached to concealment and that hinder liberation.
But as can be seen in the mandala, the recurring pattern of manifestation exists at multiple levels. Whilst it represents the energy channels of the subtle body, the same subtle energy channels also exist geographically, societally and politically.
Although there have been very few tantric kingdoms, within those that have existed tantric practitioners have visualised the political system as a manifest mandala and have used their practice to channel energy back towards the centre – the central authority. But for those living within a non-tantric system it is the tantric community – the kula – that represents the centre of the mandala, and the ruling elite become the fringe, the part that is most attached to the corporeal, that promotes attachment and that hinders liberation. In this system, practitioners channel their energy away from those in authority and towards their own community.
Historically, this situation resulted in a pragmatic approach to tantric practice, with practitioners being advised to be "outwardly Vedic, a Saiva at home, secretly a Sakta (i.e., a Tantrika)". A modern western rendering may be something along the lines of: “outwardly mainstream, internally yogic, secretly tantric”.
It can be imagined that within this regime the tantric teacher may be comparable to a spy master, living a mainstream life but all the while looking to recruit and initiate their own network of Tantrikas. And the practitioners themselves may be comparable to spies or saboteurs, because they knew that the same liberating energy they learnt to experience within their own physical bodies would ripple outwards, spreading from their own individual mandala through the subtle channels of society, inspiring and awakening everyone around them, increasing the size of their community and undermining the powers of greed, materialism and attachment.
This then, is the tantric rebellion - come join it!
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