Oriental Tantrik Order
The Oriental Tantrik Order was created by Shri Gurudev Mahendranath in 1979 as a joke at the expense of Kenneth Grant's Ordo Templi Orientis. Although a charter was written, the recipient of the charter did not fulfill a specific condition given to him by Shri Mahendranath, who exposed the joke in two 1985 letters to Shri Kapilnath.
In a letter dated 16 August 1985, Shri Mahendranath wrote:
- "Vilasanath has never been to India and has had no initiation from me. About 1978 he wanted to start a tantrik order as he claimed many contacts. I gave him a charter to start and expand the 'Oriental Tantrik Order' and gave him the name Vilasanath. Since ‘78 I suspect nothing has got under way and I have thought of the O.T.O. as defunct... After I gave him the charter part of the condition was that he took initiation from Shri Lokanath to set matters in order, but he has never done so."
He followed this up with a letter dated 25 August 1985, in which he made the following two statements:
- "[Vilasanath] is not a disciple of mine but a reject. He has played the role of 'bete noire' to Lokanath for too long. To me he & his are excommunicatio."
- "[Oriental Tantric Order] was originally my 'lila' and only a joke to give Kenneth [Grant] a second O.T.O."
Thus the charter remains an interesting but inactive historical curiosity. The Uttara Kaula teachings intended for the "Oriental Tantrik Order" have since been subsumed into Shri Gurudev Mahendranath's International Nath Order.
Further reading
Scans of the charter
The following charter is inactive, having been repudiated by Shri Gurudev Mahendranath in 1985, and is included here only for its historical interest.
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