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Hinduism - What Is Madya? Why Is It Considered Ritually Impure? Who Is Allowed Madya?

 

 (“wine”) Wine is the first of the Five Forbidden Things in tantra, a secret ritual-based religious practice (panchamakara).

Because "respectable" Hindu culture forbids the intake of alcoholic drinks, its ceremonial usage in tantra must be understood in the context of tantra as a whole.

The ultimate oneness of everything that exists is one of the most fundamental tantric principles.

To proclaim that the whole cosmos is one principle from a tantric viewpoint implies that the adept must reject all dualistic conceptions.

One method to achieve this is to consume the "Five Banned Things," purposefully breaching cultural conventions prohibiting the intake of intoxicants, non-vegetarian cuisine, and illegal intercourse, and thereby making holy what is generally forbidden.

Tantric adepts point to the ceremonial usage of banned objects as evidence that their practice entails a higher level of exclusivity (adhikara) and is therefore superior to ordinary practice.

The intoxication generated by wine in its ceremonial use—which is normally in very tiny quantities—is an approximation of the ecstasy of enlightenment.

See Arthur Avalon's (Sir John Woodroffe's) Shakti and Shakta, 1978; Swami Agehananda Bharati's The Tantric Tradition, 1977; and Douglas Renfrew Brooks' The Secret of the Three Cities, 1990 for further details.


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