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.......... TANTRA AND PHILOSOPHY
INTRODUCTION
We all know, the thinkers and materialists alike, that 'this is an unreal and unsatisfactory world, strongly marked with the stamp of inadequacy, suffering, and evil. The world and the life we live in it is neither a bed of roses nor a path of joyous light. The life is 'a difficult journey, a battle and struggle, besieged by obscurity and falsehood'. It is because of this fact, we find the commonest and the highest aim of life for all the systems, is liberation, freedom from bondage or the self-realization. We also find, inspite of the highest goal being the same, different systems have different ways, different paths (Marga) to attain the goal. There is one more observation we come across, and that is each of these systems profusely varied in their theme and expression, claims to have emanated from a divine source. Tantra also has a similar claim, and, as such the Tantras are called by such names as Agama, Nigama etc. Since Tantras have evolved continuously from the remotest antiquity they are very huge and vast, on one side, and at the same time, they are not limited to any particular religion. We have Tantras, avowedly of a Buddhist character, and also those that have a veiled affiliation to the tenets of Jainism. In this paper, we are going to talk mostly about those general aspects and details that have allied themselves to Vedic metaphysics and theology. In fact, Tantras, due to their affiliation to various religions and systems have also been divided themselves into diverse, and sometimes apparently divergent cults, paths and rituals. All these, naturally,
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