Dear reader, what happens in your body when you hear the word tantra?
What vision, memory, or shadow rises in your mind?
Today, the mission seemed simple: visit tantric temples. Sanctuaries built in liminal territories (caves, riverbanks, cremation grounds, deep forests, mountains) where sacred architecture rises over geomagnetic nodes. Thresholds where the veil thins and the sacred, through the divine feminine, becomes tangible.
And yes, we visit them.
By mid-afternoon, we reached the final stop of our journey on the Vindhya Mountain Range: a shrine dedicated to Ashtabhuja Devi. In Sanskrit:
ashta = eight
bhuja = arms
devi = goddess or mother
The eight-armed goddess, a manifestation of the goddess Durga, an expression of Shakti (the primordial feminine energy).
Everything felt familiar: vibrant colors, devotion in motion, the synchronized choreography of priests and devotees, mantras and incense suspended in the air, bells ringing.I crossed the narrow doorway that led into the small cave. The low lintel made me bow, kneel, surrender to enter.
A few steps inside, at the altar, the priest (Pandit) guided me through a brief ritual. Look, touch here, bow your head, and a final mantra.
I looked for a place to sit. There was only room for two people. I was just about to leave when, in the left corner, a man stood up as if he had perceived a silent signal.
I walked towards the empty sport.
I sat.
Closed my eyes…
And in that instant, Ashtabhuja Devi welcomed me.
Pure gentle sweetness.
And then, as if a veil had been lifted, I remembered this green hill, alive and vivid: lush, with low dense vegetation and flowers everywhere. A kind of wild garden. Back then, thousands of years ago, the light was crystalline and fresh. I also saw a pond, perhaps a river, with stellar, translucent water where we often bathed. In that place, we received solar codes and the wisdom of the moon.
We came to this cave to make love, to experiment, to grow.
This is a place where many souls met for the first time, where we learned and practiced the arts of love, which, at that time, were not hidden, but honored as deeply sacred.
Then Ashtabhuja Devi said:
Cave of love.
Cave of beloved lovers, of cosmic orgasms.
Cave of lovers, of caresses, of seduction, of pleasure, of joy.
The cave where only love exists.
The most human divine love.
She went on to explain that many humans were unable — or believed they were unable — to consummate their love at that moment of space and time. Since then, they have found each other again and again, only to lose each other once more. And for many—perhaps for you too, dear traveling companion—this lifetime has offered, is offering, or will offer a new possibility: to rediscover that love and experience it fully. Not to conclude the story, as an ending, but to elevate it. To expand it to its highest expression, which Ashtabhuja described as:
Loving each other raw.
Raw loving.
Raw love.
If you find yourself before that soul once again, Ashtabhuja Devi offered one more instruction:
Accompany each other along the way, as long as each does their part.
The journey is together, of truths, of actions.
The journey is made.
Healing is not a solitary task. It is a task for both of you.
Do the mutual work of healing each other, of loving each other raw.
After a long moment of silence, Ashtabhuja Devi revealed the threads of light that connect her cave with the cave-home of the royal couple Sita and Rama, during their fourteen-year exile in the forest (in what is now the city of Nashik).
They did not only take refuge there. They also made love, the divine union between the Prince of the solar lineage (Rama) and the consort of his heart (Sita, daughter of the Mother Earth goddess).
It is the same love that compelled the Prince to cross the Indian subcontinent, to traverse the bridge to Sri Lanka, and rescue his beloved from the hands of the demon Ravana. And so, the Divine Masculine incarnated in Rama and the Divine Feminine embodied by Sita return in oneness to Ayodhya, the earthly royal capital of Kosala — where they inhabit the most sacred territory of all: their inner kingdom, the alchemical reunion of Shiva and Shakti, the homecoming that ends duality.
Silence.
Then Ashtabhuja Devi finalized her transmission, offering this final instruction:
Be a living memory of tantra, of the genuine, of the true.
Be walking tantra.
Be joy… Walk, walk.
Follow your path, you already know the beginning and… the end. Here or there. The end is the same as the beginning, in the end, another beginning begins.
I opened my eyes.
I felt the trace of dried tears on my cheeks and my heart fully expanded.
So much love! So much grace!
I then asked the priest: “Is there a lake or river nearby?”
“Yes, of course”, he replied immediately. “Gangama is 2 kilometers from here”.
Back at the hotel, transcribing the transmission, I began to write about what I had experienced today. I did some more research and discovered that:
1. The Ashtabhuja Devi Temple is right at the point where three energy lines or currents of the Indian subcontinent converge. This is no coincidence. Each current flows with its own vibration and direction and is represented by a goddess:
- A current of transformation in a north-south direction, represented by the goddesses Kali and Chamunda (Chakra: root – alchemical fire).
- A protective energy flowing diagonally, connecting other lines of the goddess in central India. Its vibration is represented by the goddess Durga (Chakra: heart – compassion).
- A nourishing energy line that runs east-west following the pulse of the Ganges River towards Varanasi. Represented by the goddesses Anapurma and Lakshmi (Chakra: solar plexus and high heart – nourishment, prosperity).
Three energy currents. Three directions. Three goddesses. The triple union that forms an energy node, a vortex for the evolution of consciousness. Spiritual technology.
2. I recognized the dragons again, not as winged beings, but as a serpent of Shakti energy ascending the Vindhya Mountains. Upon reaching the Ashtabhuja Temple, the serpent changes its movement, expanding in a spiral shape (one of the dragons’ favorites). It is not just a geometric shape, it is a code.
3. I understood that the connection between Ashtabhuja Devi and the Ramayana runs far deeper: a living and sacred connection.
The epic poem narrates the life of Prince Rama (avatar of Vishnu), his wife Sita (incarnation of Lakshmi), his brother Lakshmana, and Hanuman. A journey of initiation: exile, forest, trials, kidnapping, war, and return to the kingdom of Ayodhya.
- When the demon Ravana tries to kill Sita in the forest, she prays to the Goddess. Guess who comes to her aid?Ashtabhuja Devi. She is the protector of Sita´s purity, integrity, and life throughout her captivity and stay in Sri Lanka.
- Before the final battle with Ravana, Rama seeks Durga’s blessing. Guess who that protective and warrior goddess Durga is? Ashtabhuja Devi. She is the spiritual guide of the avatar.
4. On the banks of the Ganges River in Vindhyachal is Sita Kund, Sita’s sacred pond. It is only a 10-minute drive from the Ashtabhuja Devi Temple.
Legend has it that the pool was made by Rama for his beloved consort, so that she could bathe during her years in exile. How love builds sanctuaries!
Its waters are said to be healing, purifying, and restorative. A mirror of Sita, of her purity, resilience, and grace.
5. Finally, I found a quote attributed to Yogi Bhajan about Ashtabhuja Devi: “You are the giver, the birth of all eight facets: four sides, above, below, time and space, eight.”
Eight arms. Eight symbolic objects. Eight dimensions.
So, the goddess is the axis that creates, preserves and dissolves realities. She is the principle that organizes time and space.
In that instant, everything came together. Another loop in the spiral of consciousness.
It iterated my journey through Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia during this fall — the return to the center, the time of no-time, the ouroboros, and the Lemascara. A point of no return that began the moment I crossed the Alchemical Door in Rome, on the evening of September 10th , 2025.
And so, the journey continues.
PS: Thank you, Prianka Mantri and Arvind Singh, for your comments on this post prior to its publication.
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