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Lord Shiva gave two schools of Tantra. One is a purely internal practice in which the goal is the merger with the Supreme. There is also an external school (kuala tantra) in which the objects of sensual enjoyment (eating of meat, drinking of wine, and sexual union) have not yet been give up, but are engaged in in a ritual fashion which gives them a spiritual context that allows the student to eventually give them up. This practice is not followed easily as without the element of detachment it will degenerate into pure indulgence. Most of what is called tantra in the west is either kuala tantra, or a mixture of the two called mishra tantra.
These external practices may tap into a lower unconscious level of the mind which recalls the undifferentiated state of the infant, in which complete identification of the self with external objects occurs. The goal of this path is to use a model of merger in the cruder kosas as a model for merger in the subtler kosas, converting a crude union into a subtle one but learning to perceive the consciousness behind all objects. This is the true meaning of Brahmacarya.
This may also be a method for exploring portions of the unconscious mind, and bringing up in a ritual setting in which they may be integrated.
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