Sandeep Verma

Peace, bliss, harmony. Who can experience these states?

Nowadays most of us are struggling with our mental state. Influenced by our conditionings and overwhelmed by the pressures of day-to-day living in today's increasingly stressful society, most of us are full of mental tensions, which manifest as anxiety, nervousness, guilt, fear, obsessions, and sometimes, phobias.

Some of us turn to drugs, alcohol, shopping, or superficial relationships as temporary means of escape and solace. Some seek help from psychiatrists or psychotherapists to try to cope.

If you observe, all of us are looking for some form of change; a little relief from our inner conflicts and suffering. We want to feel at ease with ourselves and experience, if not bliss, just a speck of peace and contentment.

As humans, we enjoy happy thoughts and tend to push away sad or morbid thoughts. This push results in the suppression of thoughts. Suppression causes mental blocks over time. The suppressed thoughts remain in the subconscious mind and become the source of inner conflict and suffering.

Tantra is an ancient tradition that encompasses every aspect of life, to achieve ultimate freedom. The word "tantra" is derived from two root words: "tan", which means to expand consciousness, and "tra", meaning "a medium".

Once you have expanded your consciousness, this paves the path to inner peace. There are many techniques in tantra and one of the techniques is Antar Mauna, which is a beautiful tantric process that directly works at the mind level.

There are many misconceptions regarding tantra, but as per the tradition, expansion of the consciousness using various endeavours in life is the goal. Antar Mouna literally translates to inner peace. 'The peace', which is attained not by suppression of an inner experience, but after harmonizing the activities of the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mind.