Icchā Śakti: Why Tantra Says Desire Is Sacred

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IN THIS EPISODE

Most of us were taught somewhere along the way that wanting is the problem. Renounce desire, want less, be more content. Tantra says the opposite.

The texts say the universe itself begins with a wanting. Icchā Śakti, the first of the three powers, the divine impulse to manifest. Without icchā, nothing comes into being. The work isn't to silence wanting. It's to recognise the wanting itself as the divine moving through you.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✦ What icchā śakti is: the first stirring in Śiva's stillness, consciousness desiring to know itself as another

✦ The three powers of the Trika system: icchā (the wanting), jñāna (knowing what is wanted), kriyā (bringing it into form)

✦ Where this sits: above the Sāṃkhya map rather than inside it, Kashmir Śaivism building layers on top of Puruṣa and Prakṛti

✦ Not an ego desire: not the casual craving for hot chips, but the impulse moving through you

✦ The same three powers that create the universe create your morning: the wanting to rise, the knowing of what you'll do, the body actually rising

✦ Why you don't have to know what you want yet: icchā comes first, jñāna comes second

✦ Paige on prajñāparādha: the crime against wisdom, and what it costs to suppress the body's natural urges

TEXTUAL REFERENCES

✦ Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, opening sūtra: consciousness, free and self-luminous, is the cause of the manifestation of the world

✦ Mālinīvijayottaratantra: icchā śakti as the first stirring, the moment of self-awareness within luminous consciousness

✦ Bhagavad Gītā 7.11: "I am the strength of the strong, free from passion and attachment, and in beings I am desire that does not conflict with dharma"

✦ Yoga Sūtra 4.7: the yogi's karma is neither black nor white, and for others it is of three kinds (sañcita, prārabdha, kriyamāṇa)

✦ Swami Rama, paraphrased: in our tradition we accept Patañjali's yoga as a preliminary step toward the deeper practices

✦ The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield: the first insight, following the coincidences

TRY THIS IN YOUR PRACTICE

✦ On the mat, notice the small desires: to move or to be still, to do more or to do less. Then ask where that desire is coming from

✦ Eat slowly, and wait for the first burp. It's often just a small passing of air, so you'll only catch it if you're listening

✦ Stop overriding the body's natural urges. Hunger, thirst, tears, the need for the toilet. This is where listening begins

✦ When someone arrives in your mind for no reason, call them

✦ Ask: what does life want to experience through me? Where is that pull taking me?

✦ Discern between the two. Is this the will of the ego, or the will of the divine?

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HARI OM