The modern definition of “tantric sex” is connected more to the blissful sensations. As White states, the goal is to replace thoughts with “enlightened God-consciousness” (15). It can be concluded that the modern notion is focused on the physiological aspect. The first example of the way that pre-modern tantric sexual practices differ from the popular notions of “tantric sex” is early Hindu Tantra. As White states that in the past sexual intercourse had a rather practical meaning as it was used for “generating the sexual fluids that constituted the preferred offering of the Tantric deities” (16). The process of initiation involved a male and a female – an initiate and a consort. The role of the female consort was essential in the process as it was considered that females had vital fluids to which males had no access. The second example is Hindu Tantra of the 10th and 11th century. At that time, the aspect of consciousness was recognized as part of the notion. As White explains it, the orgasm was accompanied by physiological feelings and the “effects of the oral consumption…substance as female discharge (sexual emissions and menstrual blood” (17). The act was supposed to bring the thought process of a man to the God-consciousness.
Works Cited
Bryant, Edwin, editor. Krishna. Oxford University Press, 2007.
White, David, editor. Tantra in practice. Princeton Readings in Religions, 2000.