For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish What is Vāmācāra, the Left Hand Path of Tantra?
Dec 18, 2025
A clear run through what Vāmācāra and Kaulācāra really refer to, beyond sensational myths. Discussions cover ritual uses of meat, wine, and fluids as symbolic practice. The talk explores bhāva, the pulse of spanda, and how perception shapes consciousness. It maps inward and outward paths via the Śrī Chakra and frames Vāmācāra as an integrated, devotional way of engaging life.
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Vāmācāra Means Devotional Fearlessness Not Just Hedonism
- Vāmācāra is often mischaracterised as mere hedonism or transgression in the West.
- Nishanth Selvalingam clarifies Vāmācāra includes transgressive offerings (meat, wine, sexual fluids) but is primarily about a devotional, fearless bhāva toward the Goddess.
Spanda Is The Pulse Of The Divine Through Expansion And Contraction
- Tantra emphasises spanda, the dynamism of the absolute, as the core reality rather than seeing change as illusion.
- Nishanth explains spanda as unmesha (expansion) and nimesha (contraction) using breath, moon cycles and seasons as embodied examples.
Experiencing Objects Contracts Consciousness Into The Jiva
- Perception of the world is an unmesha of objects that simultaneously contracts consciousness into a limited perceiver.
- Nishanth uses tasting coffee and meditation withdrawal (pratyahara) to show how outward expansion always implies inward contraction, and vice versa.