Tantric literature is written in Sanskrit with the exception of approximately a thousand texts in Pali, Prakrit, Tibetan, Hindi, and Bengali.

The tantric literature is so vast that it is almost impossible to study it all, let alone practice a significant fraction of it, although a true adept might be able to practice all the tantric disciplines in a thousand lifetimes.

This vast body of literature represents the cumulative knowledge of tantric masters over millennia, and by the 10th century a.d. the volume of tantric literature had become so huge and varied that scholars did not know how to categorise it.

Because some sort of system was required, different approaches were adopted, some based on geography, others on the religious flavour of the texts, and still others on the ritual objects used in the practices.

All tantric texts and the techniques they describe, however, have one characteristic in common: an integrative approach to sadhana (a disciplined and dedicated practice or learning), with the objective of making the best use of all available resources within and without.

According to tantric literature, the human body is the apex of creation, which is why gaining complete knowledge of the human body and how its active and dormant forces correspond to the forces of the cosmos is the highest tantric discovery.

Through their own direct experience, hundreds of masters confirmed the tantric premise that whatever is in the cosmos can also be found in a human being because the whole universe lies within every human.

Thus tantric practitioners throughout the ages have involved themselves in exploring uncharted ground. They learned which particular herbs, minerals, and metals correspond to a specific part of the body or to its functioning forces. They experimented with the power of sound (mantra), form, colour, and shape (yantra), and discovered how they influence both humans and the different aspects of nature.

They studied the subtle properties of animals, herbs, and minerals, and found ways of awakening their dormant forces to activate mantra, yantra, and finally the power of mind.

In the process they discovered how the energies of herbs, minerals, gems, planets, and constellations correspond to different parts of the human body. These findings resulted in the development of tantric systems of medicine, astrology, and alchemy.

Tantra is a holistic approach to sadhana, (a disciplined and dedicated practice or learning), holding that to experience the beauty and joy contained in the fabric of life we must weave together all its constituent threads.

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This article is an extract from https://yogainternational.com/article/view/the-living-science-of-tantra-part-3