The Journey Begins

I'm frequently asked the question: What is Homoerotic Tantra? Even  people who are somewhat familiar with Tantra, ask "What is Navatantra?" My usual response is: Tantra is you; Tantra is the Moon; Tantra is the tides. But in essence Tantra is you.

The single most damning characteristic of modern humankind is the impulse to name, define and to control everyone and everything. Actually, the very act of naming and defining something is an act of control, an unnatural act of the intellectualizing and discerning mind to be comfortable with the Other. That's simply not right or healthy.

In Sanskrit there is the concept of Shabd, the Word. The concept is basically that the word is identical with the form (abstract). Think of it this way: Shabd is the personification or the reification of the abstract. So when we necessarily resort to words we do so hoping that the word, a symbol or an avatar, successfully represents the abstract or the intangible.

Try this: Think of the word "moon," and avoid making the thought physical. I will allow you to make it visible in the sense of an image, if that helps, but I'd rather you just contemplate "moon" and let it take you away. Where does it take you?

It's more difficult when it comes to an unfamiliar concept like Tantra. How can you contemplate or visualize something unfamiliar or unknown to you? The answer is that you can't. So we have to morph that something into something you can get your arms around, so I say, "Tantra is you," and the conversation now has a foundation, a thesis, because the next question might be, "Who are you?" or "Who am I?" Great questions. Do you know?

This is a particularly interesting — even hazardous — question when you ask a straight man or a woman that same question, they are too caught up and hung up in confusion, denial, and uncertainty; they're too busy trying to be what their insider culture says they need to be. That is one of the reasons why I choose to work with gay men; most of them are far more open-minded and versatile than their straight cousins.

Straight men are either operating within the rigid constraints of beastiality (love is a good fuck) or they are slaves to the sociocultural mold into which they are forced -- albeit often kicking and screaming --, and women in the West have done themselves a great disservice by putting too many limits on intimate interactions, and are the authors of their own loneliness and isolation. That's why I choose to work with gay men, or with men who are flexible, open, versatile and willing to be natural men, even if it means that they have to depart the cultural paradigms of what is male and assume the moniker, "bisexual."

Gay men, I find, are more eager to interact, to explore, to leap out of the mold and to venture beyond the boundaries. That's much to their credit.

That is what Homoerotic Tantra requires: interaction, exploration, venturing beyond the ordinary. It also means self-awareness and self-consciousness, the ability to be authentic, to accept vulnerability as a positive aspect, and the trust to surrender to the Tantric Lover. This is the concept on which I base my Homoerotic Tantra disciplines.

This website and my Homoerotic Tantra blog provide most of the essential information to help potential practitioners, Homoerotic Tantrika, to discern how Tantra can work for them to enrich their personal, professional, erotic, and spiritual lives.

Thank you once again for joining me on this journey into bliss. I'd be very grateful if you would share your needs, interests, and requests on this topic, and how I can best be your daka, your guru.

Thank you once again for joining me on this journey into bliss.

Namaskar and peace and joy to you!