("stretching") Tantra is a hidden religious practice in which rituals are performed.
The individual conducting the ritual associates certain
sounds, generally in the form of seed syllables (bijaksharas), with portions of
the human body, deities, and material items in the practice of nyasa.
This is done to establish a sequence of connections between
the macrocosm of the cosmos and the microcosm of the body, allowing activities
in the microcosmic ritual realm to have an impact on the macrocosmic
counterpart.
