Reflections From Ma Ananda Sarita on Her Tantric Path
Mar 09, 2026
Since 1990 I have been teaching Tantra and Holistic Healing Retreats. What follows is a peek into my world. It is almost non-stop activity, nourished by the still centre of meditation in the centre of the cyclone.
Usually, when teaching, I am fully present with the group in one way or another from 7:30am till 9:00pm for the duration. On many occasions I have several Retreats or Trainings in a row with perhaps one or two days off in-between. Intensity and totality is the name of the game. People often ask me such questions as, “how do you do it?” or, “what keeps you going?” “Where do you get all that energy from?” “What is your secret?”
Tantric Practices as Living Spiritual Practices
I will share with you my open secret. It is passion. I am utterly passionate about my work. I feel I am following exactly what my soul came to this earth to do. It is deeply nourishing being a witness to the many miracles which happen on a regular basis during the Retreats. The more I share from my fountain of bliss, the more it goes on overflowing, till it has become a river, and the river is pouring into a boundless ocean.
Indian Traditions and the Sacred Path of Tantra
When I discovered my spiritual master, Osho, in India, at the age of 17, I had already lived through more anguish than many are privileged to know in a lifetime. This intense suffering became a backdrop for powerful transformation. Osho gave me the name, Ma Ananda Sarita, meaning, ‘Mother of the Universe, River of Bliss.’ I heard him say, “if you continue with meditation, you will become this.” In the light of his compassion, I spent 16 years simply going in, using Tantra meditations alone and in relationship to cleanse, heal and uplift my being. Osho is such a master, that I never realised I was undergoing a training to eventually be able to support others in their transformation. I was only concerned about my own enlightenment.
Spiritual Practices Applied in Daily Life
Cleaning Osho’s house for 8 years functioned as a deep cleaning and purging of my egoic mind. Working in the press office for 7 years taught me to be comfortable with public speaking and the refinement of cognitive awareness. Learning to apply meditation in action through work became the foundation for living bliss in everyday life.
As an added bonus, the hours spent simply sitting in Osho’s presence as he gave discourse or receiving his Shaktipat transmission during Energy Darshan, gave me a direct download of multifaceted spirit, in human form. Naturally, I soaked it all up like a sponge, receiving and receiving more, till I was simply drenched and dripping with grace from the master. Being a rascal master, Osho offered his spiritual transmission with a tremendous sense of humour, letting us know that spiritual awakening doesn’t have to be a serious and tortuous process, but can be a celebration of all that we are.
Read: The Life of a Sannyasin: Being One of Osho’s Disciples
Tantric Lineages and the Student Teacher Relationship
One night, I had a dream that I had drilled a well so deeply into my being that I had hit a crystal clear fountain of water, which began spouting up out of the earth. Osho appeared beside me and said, “You have become your name. Now people will come to drink from this source.” Soon after this dream, he gave me a certificate with a title. The whole name with title was: Mahasatvaa Ma Ananda Sarita M.M. Arihanta. The meaning of Mahasatvaa was given as, ‘one who looks after the esoteric roots of his work.’
Literally it means, ‘great wisdom.’ M.M. means ‘Master of Meditation.’ Arihanta is a particular category of enlightened being who sits on their mountain, calling out to the people in the valley below, “come, it is wonderful up here!” However, the people in the valley, may not be able to understand how to reach the mountain top. Therefore, the challenge for the Arihanta type is to find ways and means to indicate the path.
Formal Acceptance, Deep Understanding, and Fierce Dedication
Mysteriously, after this event, a steady stream of people began coming to me asking for one on one sessions. I was taken aback since at that time I was doing press office work and had no session giving skill. People became more and more insistent, till finally I found myself offering psychic, (medical intuitive) healing sessions.
As soon as I began offering sessions, methods and trainings in various healing arts came towards me as if I had become a healing magnet. I dived totally into this work, and soon found myself in a teaching role. I trained with genius healers, Peter Mandel, (inventor of Colorpuncture, or Color Light Therapy) Kohrogi Sensei, (Master of Ito Thermie, Japanese healing method) and David Wagner, (inventor of the Tachyonization process.)
The Transformative Process of Becoming a Tantric Practitioner
During 7 years of total immersion in the world of healing, my Tantra experience began creeping into the foreground. The more I practiced Tantra methods alone or in love union, the more I felt compelled to offer the possibility of such divine experience to people everywhere. I had become aware during my healing work that the root cause for many physical, emotional and mental problems stems from unresolved sexual and relating issues. Tantra is the perfect antidote, since it offers transformation on all levels, accepting the human being as he or she is and using this as a door into the expansion of consciousness.
Tantra Teachings Transmitted Through Direct Experience
The moment I began teaching Tantra, something very mysterious occurred which can best be described as a download of thousands of years of Tantra research. It is something like what happens when you click on google and a long list appears, relevant to the subject you have typed. Tapping into the Tantra experience opened me up to the Akashic Records of Tantra. The whole Tantra path became illuminated in crystal clear detail.
Such an awakening is beyond the mind, and therefore I call it mysterious. It relies purely on trusting the moment. If I am in a group, and there is a discourse to be given on a subject, or there is a situation which needs attention, or a question to be answered, I simply become empty and wait. At this point, the Akashic Records takes over and a download appears on that subject. I may not know the next word out of my mouth, but rather reside in a state of deep trust, love and devotion. The words and ambiance arise through each pore of my body in response to being in attunement with source.
Challenging Spiritual Materialism in Modern Tantra
Tantra Essence is helping to shift the popular misconceptions around Tantra. In general, people hearing the word Tantra think, “sex, orgies, nudity.” They are completely unaware that it is actually a deeply refined path to enlightenment using methods of meditation, mantras, yantras, and all encompassing wisdom in the art of life. In Tantra, all aspects of the human being are accepted as divine, from sex to spirit. People have taken the fact that Tantra includes meditations on sexuality to try and stuff it into a box labelled ‘sex.’ This is because our society as a whole tends to divide sex from spirit. Bringing them together is revolutionary, and yet when we do so, our long suffering of dividing ourselves in parts comes to an end. We become whole, discovering our true joyous nature.
The Student Teacher Relationship in Tantric Tradition
Tantra has always been taught as a transmission, direct from master to disciple. This is because it is not a series of rules, or commandments, or code of ethics. It relies on methods. The teacher will create situations and the correct ambiance for the student to discover transformation through direct experience. As the student practices each method, he or she will sooner or later discover the nectar hidden there. Just as bees find the honey hidden in the flower, the practitioner of Tantra discovers ultimate wisdom through tasting deeply of the methods.
The realisation of each individual is unique, and therefore, each Tantra teacher has their own particular way of passing on what they have learned according to their deeply lived experience. This is why there are many styles of Tantra throughout the world. Each one reflects one or many facets of the vast body of wisdom offered by the Tantra path.
The Mandala Principle and the Union of Opposites
One of the potent teachings offered by Tantra is the union of opposites, bringing about an alchemical transformation as the two become one. This can happen with any two opposites. When such union happens it becomes an exogate through which Godliness is experienced. This can happen with a man and woman, night and day, sex and samadhi, birth and death and also inside oneself. Since we are all made of male and female aspects, each person has the opportunity of experiencing ‘inner union.’ Such a state of being is called ‘Ardanareshvara.' It is the unveiling of god as half man half woman.
A Sacred Path of Progressive Awakening
My Tantra experience spans several phases of personal evolution and transmutation:
- Loving and accepting myself as a microcosm of the macrocosm
- The Soul Mate: diving so deeply into love with a man that my individuality disappears, and I became one with my lover.
- Universal Love: expanding from one on one relationship into love with the whole of life.
- Ardhanareshvara. The meeting of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, creating an androgynous experience of life, sensing my inner man inner woman to be in ecstatic union.
Complete Engagement and Formless Presence
When I am teaching, offering conferences, podcasts or online courses, giving sessions or writing, I am in ecstasy, sensing my body/mind to be a hollow flute through which the music of life is played. I am not there as a person, but simply holding the space as a presence for Tantra to manifest.
After a Retreat, there is a subtle shift, as I come back to being my simple self. In my resting phase, I like to shift gears by watching funny movies, or shopping, or walking in nature, going to spas or swimming in the sea. I love to be in ecstatic communion with my lover, or gather with friends, cook meals together, laugh and tell jokes, and exchange sessions or receive massage. Each day, I do yoga exercises and sit in silent meditation. I eat organic vegan food and use Tachyon, Colour Light Therapy, Herbs, Ayurveda Pancha Karma Retreats and Acupuncture to remain in a balanced physical state.
I am sharing all this so that anyone who would like to receive Tantra training with me knows from where my transmission has arisen, and can sense something about me as a person and as a teacher.
Trusting the inner flute is my way of life.
FAQ
What is the Tantra path?
A Tantra path is a living spiritual path that uses every dimension of human experience as a vehicle for awakening rather than an obstacle to it. Tantra says yes to life in its entirety. In the East, this wisdom gave rise to two broad categories of practice: the Hindu Tantric traditions rooted in sacred sexuality and the union of Shiva and Shakti, and Buddhist Tantra, which flowered into Vajrayana Buddhism emerging across the first millennium CE as a rapid path to achieve enlightenment within a single lifetime. The Tibetan Buddhist path became one of the most complete expressions of these Vajrayana teachings, preserving empowerment ceremonies, secret mantras, ritual liturgies, and preliminary practices within an unbroken lineage of transmission.
In the twentieth century, teachers such as Chogyam Trungpa carried the Vajrayana path to the West, founding meditation centres, the Shambhala Training Program, and Naropa University through which senior students could begin Tantric practices and receive comprehensive teachings within the Tibetan tradition.
What does it mean if someone is Tantric?
To be Tantric is to meet life with total presence, nothing excluded. A Tantric practitioner works consciously with spiritual energy in the body, engaging both form practices and formless practices, which invite the mind to rest naturally in its own inherent clarity. In the Vajrayana path, it is considered of central importance to first complete preliminary practices before receiving deeper Vajrayana teachings, as these lay the foundation for genuine transformation.
In the modern approach to Tantra, Osho has played a pivotal role, having made ancient Tantra teachings and precepts available and understandable to a contemporary audience. This body of work is usually offered under the title, Neo-Tantra.
A Tantric practitioner has made peace with their swirl of emotions rather than suppressing them, understanding that even the most challenging aspects of human experience can become doorways into awakening. They no longer divide life into sacred and ordinary. The river of bliss and the chaos of daily existence are recognised as one and the same current, flowing always toward the boundless ocean. The methodology of how to attain equanimity in all emotional states happens through applying witnessing consciousness to each and every life experience, including emotions.
