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As we can readily appreciate, we experience only a minuscule slice of what there is. Our perception is confined to a fairly narrow range of frequency. We do not hear the full range of the pulsed shrieks of bats or the ultrasound echolocation of dolphins, nor the low-frequency calls of elephants. We do not have the visual acuity of an eagle, nor can we see into the infrared or the ultraviolet spectrum. Our taste buds are not as efficient as those of fish, which have taste buds over their entire skin surface, and compared to a dog, our sense of smell is exceedingly poor. Understandably, we tend to regard the sliver of existence we experience through our senses as if it were the entire cosmos. If we fail to check this naive attitude, however, we end up with an impoverished materialist philosophy that stunts our spiritual growth and keeps us entrapped in samsāra. To avoid this pitfall, we must resort to reason and intuition. Accomplished tāntrikas generally enjoy greatly enhanced sensory and mental capacities, and therefore their testimony about the hidden or subtle aspects of existence carries weight. They all agree not only that the material world is a fraction of what there actually is but also that it constitutes the lowest vibratory level of cosmic existence. For them Parama-Shiva, the all-encompassing Being, is both utterly transcendental (vishva-uttīrna, written vishvottīrna) and immanent or “world shaped” (vishva-maya). The ultimate Reality is unfathomable creative vibration (spanda), the basis for all distinct vibrations composing the countless objects of the subtle and the material realms. David Bohm, one of the finest minds in modern physics, described reality as movement that occurs as “a series of interpenetrating and intermingling elements in different degrees of enfoldment all present together.”4 This comes very close to the Tantric notion of Reality, which is omnipresent vibrancy. What is missing from Bohm’s definition, though, is that this dynamic Being is supremely conscious. The Tantric adepts speak of the ultimate Reality as cit (“conscious” or “consciousness”), caitanya (that which is conscious), or parā-samvid (supreme knowing), or hridaya (heart). The last designation is particularly interesting, as it connects with an age-old spiritual tradition that regards the human heart as the seat of consciousness. Thus the heart is the gateway to the Heart. To a spiritual practitioner, the term “heart” conveys “that which I truly am,” which is not the body and not the mind, but pure Being-Consciousness-Bliss.
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