Madya

(“wine”) In the secret ritually-based religious practice known as tantra, wine is
the first of the Five Forbidden Things
(panchamakara). Since “respectable”
Hindu society strongly condemns the
consumption of alcoholic beverages, its
ritual use in tantra must be understood
in the larger tantric context. One of the
most basic tantric assumptions is the
ultimate unity of everything that exists.
From a tantric perspective, to affirm that
the entire universe is one principle
means that the adept must reject all
concepts based on dualistic thinking.
One way to do this is to partake of the
“Five Forbidden Things,” consciously
breaking the societal norms forbidding
the consumption of intoxicants, nonvegetarian food, and illicit sexuality—
making sacred that which is normally
forbidden. Tantric adepts cite such ritual
use of forbidden things as proof that
their practice involves a more exclusive
qualification (adhikara), and is thus
superior to common practice. In its ritual
use—which is usually in very small
quantities—the intoxication produced
by wine is an approximation of the bliss
of realization. For further information see
Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe), Shakti
and Shakta, 1978; Swami Agehananda
Bharati, The Tantric Tradition, 1977; and
Douglas Renfrew Brooks, The Secret of the
Three Cities, 1990.