Sexual rituals have nothing to do with the actual Tantra.

In the West, Tantra is often called the "Yoga of Sex." While there is a kernel of truth in this phrase, the popular press has created a misleading impression that Tantra is about having better orgasms or about becoming a better lover. Since taantrik practices are designed to expand consciousness, they can expand a person's capacity to give, receive and experience pleasure, not only in the sexual realm but in all areas of life, provided that person is willing to do the work. It is important to be aware that Tantra is not an easy path; it is "the way of the hero who neither rejects nor fears any aspect of life."

Many Western Tantra teachers emphasize very powerful techniques for enhancing sexual pleasure and intimacy, while some traditional(Indian) teachers discourage students from exploring sexual Tantra at all. Gurudev has spent years studying traditional, lineage-based Tantra in India.

Sexual rites may have emerged from early Hindu Tantra as a practical means of generating transformative bodily fluids. Although popularly equated with Tantra in its entirety in the West, a minority of sects practised sexual rites. For many practicing lineages, these Maithuna practices progressed into psychological symbolism.

In Tantra one may go beyond the sexual plane of existence only by its complete acceptance; utilising it and spiritualising ones innate sexual tendencies towards greater awareness. The tantras recognize several approaches as methods for conditioning aspirants prior to sexual meditation. The guru takes into account individual proclivities and spiritual achievement. The guru usually considers the path appropriate only for certain individuals whose temperament and self control will enable them to forego sexual indulgence - a necessity, if the act is to serve as a tool to transcend identification with the mortal body. As with other taantrik practices the presence of a guru is a paramount and essential condition.

When enacted as enjoined by the tantras the ritual culminates in a sublime experience of infinite awareness, by both participants. The taantrik texts specify that sex has three distinct and separate purposes - procreation, pleasure and liberation. Those seeking liberation eschew frictional orgasm for a higher form of ecstasy, as the couple participating in the ritual, lock in an ecstatic embrace. Several sexual rituals are recommended and practised. These involve elaborate and meticulous preparatory and purificatory rites. The act yields a balance of energies coursing within the pranic ida and pingala channels in the subtle bodies of both participants. The sushumna nadi is awakened and kundalini rises upwards within it. This eventually culminates in samadhi wherein the respective individualities of each of the participants are completely dissolved in the unity of cosmic consciousness. taantriks understand the act on multiple levels. The male and female participants are conjoined physically and represent Shiva and Shakti, the male and female principles. Beyond the physical, a subtle fusion of Shiva and Shakti energies takes place resulting in a united energy field. On an individual level, each participant experiences a fusion of their own Shiva and Shakti energies.