A Brief Note
In India, every Puja is done following three ways- 1. Vedic, 2. Puranic, and 3. Tantra.
The Puranic Pujas are greatly influenced by Tantra. Only Vedas are completely free from the influence of tantras. According to the Vedic worship, Tantra is not allowed to come near them at all. But common people unknowingly used to follow many rites of Tantra while following Vedic principles of worship. On one hand, Tantra gives Vedas the highest place while on the other hand Vedas refuse to accept Tantra, and not only that they don't even allow Tantra to come near them and due to these reasons, various doubts and mysteries have been created about Tantra.
The reasons prevailing doubts about Tantra
The main reason for this skepticism is that Tantra's philosophy was not presented in a systematic and coherent manner from the very beginning. This is a very important factor at the root of many misconceptions in the minds of ordinary people about Tantra. The Vedas and the Upanishads, the Qur'an of the Muslims, or the Bible of the Christians have all been systematically tied up from the very beginning. Just as the Purans of Tantra are inconsistent, the rituals or rites of Tantra are also out of place, so the system of Tantra is not fixed in any particular way. The most problematic aspect of Tantra is that even scholars do not know how many books there are in Tantra. Most of the books have not been published yet. On the other hand, no one can give an account of the number of branches of Tantra. The scholars who gave their lives for different branches of Tantra have now become extinct. There are many people of Tantra who have unknowingly introduced many new customs and practices into the Tantra.
Suppose there are ten scholars of the ten branches of Tantra. Now suppose I have a friendship with the number one scholar. In the meantime, the tenth scholar also befriended me. Now that he has befriended me, his influence also has come to me. Now suppose the tenth scholar has died afterward. Now the influence of the tenth scholar on me has influenced the number one scholar. Number one is again giving this effect to number nine. There was a quarrel with the number nine and ten. Now my effect is on one, the effect of one is on nine, and there is a quarrel between ninth and tenth scholars. This time number nine is going to number eight and number one is also going to number eight. As a result, it is difficult to know what the philosophy of number eight will be. This is the main problem of Tantra.
The Buddist Philosophies were against Vedas from the very beginning. On the other hand, Tantra says we are part of the Vedas, and since they consider Vedas, they are also part of the Hindu religion. Buddhists didn't accept Vedas but they included Tantra in their religious infrastructure. On one hand, Tantra takes Vedas very seriously and gives a high position but on the other hand, Buddhism didn't accept Vedas. So in the beginning Buddhists influenced Tantra and then later on the Buddhists moved from their initial stance to a different idea which changed the infrastructure of Buddhism differently. After this change, they again influenced the Tantra. Just as we mentioned before about the first, ninth, and tenth scholars of Tantra, the philosophies of Tantra shifted from Vedas to Buddhism and then transformed Buddhism which made the subject a hotchpotch. No one has any account of how many books Tantra has.