Why Vamachara you ask? And maybe you’re asking what the hell does it even mean?
In India, and especially in Tantrik circles there is a Dakshinachara; right hand path, and a Vamachara: left hand path. The right hand path is the typical way things are done in most situations, literally using only the right hand. For rituals in temples, for offering money, for accepting money, for accepting flowers from the priest, to eat and almost everything else they use their right hand. So in the right hand teachings of the Tantrik path you do everything in a sattvic way, using your right hand. In Vamachara you use your left hand for some of them and right hand for others. But figuratively it means more that you accept anything as part of God, not just the purified, puritanical, things as they do on the right hand path.
So an Aghori say, will be a left hand path practitioner because they do almost anything and think it’s holy. In the parampara that I’m in there is both being used in temple rituals, but in life oftentimes only the way of the right hand is followed if you live in an area where that is the only acceptable behavior. And Tantra allows for it’s practitioners to be hidden in their practices, because many prosecute Tantra as the path of black magic, even though it is the fullest antidote to black magic. This brings up a famous passage that is in a couple different shastras, not just Tantrik texts, but an Upanishad as well. In public worship Vishnu, in your home worship SHiva but in private worship Devi. Devi worship, or SHakta tantra, is considered in many parts of India to not even exist. And yet those areas have the most SHaktas around usually, but they keep it hidden.
So to be a Vamachari isn’t something you go screaming to the heights, unless you live in Guwahati near the Kamakhya temple where it is considered a very normal way of being. Or in some parts of West Bengal where it’s still very much accepted. These two area Kali is a big focus of worship as well, because Shakta Tantra is the norm there.
Vamachara, or the “left hand path,” has a lot to do with accepting what is right in front of you.
It’s also not about trying to only accept “pure” things into your body, or prejudging things as pure or impure. But taking in what is and transmuting it so that it becomes sattvic within your own being.
This takes the responsibility on yourself. If your Sadhana is not real, or deep enough, or strong enough, then this will not be a possibility. You need to beware of what you put inside yourself if you’re weak. Weak might sound like a strong word, but it’s the truth. If your sadhana hasn’t brought a certain level of power to you then you cannot transmute anything, so need to only eat sattvic, only think “clean” thoughts, purify yourself daily. But if your sadhana is strong you are purified already by all the work you’ve put into it. And if you’re say, an Aghori, you drink alcohol after it’s been offered to Maa, which it then becomes karana, and you then take it into your body as prasadam and begin your mantra, the energy of that can transmute it and make your awareness stronger. Even so strong you see into the ethers and “know” things that others seem not to know.
Same goes for meat, or for say fried foods, or tamasic/rajasic foods. Or sex without any connection to the person. You can take to your sadhana whilst in the act itself and trasmute the energy of the situation. Of course, in that case it’s always better to have someone also trained in the ways of Tantra who does have an energetic connection to you, then the results will be on another level.
Vamachara accepts that God exists in all things, not just in the sattvic, but that all can be made to become sattvic in the body and energy field of the being enacting them. And if God is in your right hand, which you eat with, how can God NOT be in your left hand, which (in India anyway) you wipe your ass with? Is the shit not the same food you put in your mouth at the other end of the very same tube?
Why then is it so reviled? I can’t say, that has to do with lots of generations of colonization that cannot be quickly undone. And many really believe there is a separation. But one path and the other are two sides of the same coin. Most just don’t want to admit or accept this….
MY MISSON STATEMENT
I’m here myself on this Earth trying to learn everything I can to come to understand why things are the way they are and how they got there. But even more so to understand something I believe to be true, that we as humans, are expressions of God. As is everything else on the planet, including the planet Herself.
As I’m learning I’m integrating and getting closer to feeling the fullness of whatever truth we are meant to discover, if we’re even meant to discover it. Though we definitely think we are entitled to that information because we believe we’re the most important thing under the sun, and to God.
My goal is as I’m integrating what I’m learning and getting insight from that to be able to share that with you. As my student or client, or friend. Though if I’m meant to make a living in this world I do need to charge most of you for my services, whatever they may be.
I teach Ashtanga Yoga, and am authorized to do so from the lineage holder of it’s creator. I also study Tantra with a Guru that I’ve been with since 2019 and learned from another teacher since 2016. I am authorized to share some aspects of that as well, if you’re interested. I also mentor people in teaching yoga, or in their study of philosophy and Sanskrit, or just in how to apply the tenets of yoga and tantra into their daily lives. Something I can meet people for online or in person. I also teach people about Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma, and what to do inside HIndu temples. Even lead tours to them if there are some around or we happen to be in India, especially Mysore where I’ve built a relationship with several local priests and temples in general.
All of these things are options if you want to study with me. I prefer to do things in person, but I often will do WhatsApp or Messenger calls as well.
But the mission I really wanted to elucidate here is that I use the tools listed above to help people figure out their own shit. It’s especially helpful to those who are interested in Eastern ideas of living and their practices to use towards self realization. If you’re not interested in any of these avenues, that’s okay. I may just not be the fellow for you. But if you are into any of these things, then maybe I am. Meet me and we’ll decide!
Memoirs of a spiritually “incorrect” type fellow
I’ve been told for many years from fellow “yogis” that I should write a book about my life. This is that effort but I didn’t put a lot of detail in every account. I just told the conversation like I would if you were sitting and talking to me at a cafe in Mysore. I’ve been a Wiccan, a yogi, a Sikh, a Tantrika, and many more things and this tells how I got to each one. There will be forthcoming books on what I’ve learned and how I teach the yoga I love so much and the tantra that I’m still trying to figure out, so if this whets your whistle for more, don’t worry, it’s coming…
