Download or read book Mahanirvana Tantra Scholar s Choice Edition written by Arthur Avalon and published by . This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book Mahanirvana Tantra written by Arthur Avalon and published by Legare Street Press. This book was released on 2022-10-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book Tantra of the Great Liberation Mahanirvana Tantra written by Arthur Avalon and published by Martino Fine Books. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2012 Reprint of 1913 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "Tantra" is the name scholars give to a style of religious ritual and meditation that arose in medieval India no later than the fifth century, and which came to influence all forms of Asian religious expression to a greater or lesser degree. Strictly speaking, this usage of the word "tantra" is a scholarly invention, but it is justifiable on the basis of the fact that the scriptures that present these practices are generally known as "tantras," regardless of which religion they belong to. The historical significance of the Tantric method lies in the fact that it impacted every major Asian religion extant in the early medieval period (c. 500 - 1200 CE): thus Shaivism, Buddhism, Vaishnavism, and Jainism all developed a well-documented body of Tantric practices and related doctrines. Its influence spread far outside of India, into Tibet, Nepal, China, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Today, it is Tibetan Buddhism and various forms of Hinduism that show the strongest Tantric influence, as well as the international postural yoga movement and most forms of American alternative spirituality grouped under the New Age rubric. Defined primarily as a technique-rich style of spiritual practice, Tantra has no single coherent doctrine; rather, it developed different teachings in connection with the different religions that adopted the Tantric method. These teachings tended to support and validate the practices of Tantra, which in their classical form are more oriented to the married householder than the monastic or solitary renunciant, and thus exhibited what may be called a world-embracing rather than a world-denying character. Thus Tantra, especially in its nondual forms, rejected the renunciant values of Patanjalian yoga, offering instead a vision of the whole of reality as the self-expression of a single, free and blissful Divine Consciousness under whatever name, whether iva or Buddha-nature. Since the world was viewed as real, not illusory, this doctrine was a significant innovation over and against previous Indian philosophies, which tended to picture the Divine as absolutely transcendent and/or the world as illusion. The practical consequence of this view was that not only could householders aspire to spiritual liberation in the Tantric system, they were the type of practitioner that most Tantric manuals had in mind. Furthermore, since Tantra dissolved the dichotomy of spiritual versus mundane, practitioners could entail every aspect of their daily lives into their spiritual growth process, seeking to realize the transcendent in the immanent. Though the vast majority of scriptural Tantric teachings are not concerned with sexuality, in the popular imagination the term tantra and the notion of superlative sex are indelibly linked. This error probably arose from the fact that some of the more radical nondual schools taught a form of sexual ritual as a way of entering into intensified and expanded states of awareness and dissolving mind-created boundaries.
Download or read book Mahanirvana Tantra written by Arthur Avalon and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2020-02-02 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Indian Tantras, which are numerous, constitute the Scripture (Shastra) of the Kaliyuga, and as such are the voluminous source of present and practical orthodox "Hinduism." The Tantra Shastra is, in fact, and whatever be its historical origin, a development of the Vaidika Karmakanda, promulgated to meet the needs of that age. Shiva says: "For the benefit of men of the Kali age, men bereft of energy and dependent for existence on the food they eat, the Kaula doctrine, O auspicious one! is given" (Chap. IX., verse 12). To the Tantra we must therefore look if we would understand aright both ritual, yoga, and sadhana of all kinds, as also the general principles of which these practices are but the objective expression. Yet of all the forms of Hindu Shastra, the Tantra is that which is least known and understood, a circumstance in part due to the difficulties of its subject-matter and to the fact that the key to much of its terminology and method rest with the initiate. The present translation is, in fact, the first published in Europe of any Indian Tantra. An inaccurate version rendered in imperfect English was published in Calcutta by a Bengali editor some twelve years ago, preceded by an Introduction which displayed insufficient knowledge in respect of what it somewhat quaintly described as "the mystical and superficially technical passages" of this Tantra. A desire to attempt to do it greater justice has in part prompted its selection as the first for publication. This Tantra is, further, one which is well known and esteemed, though perhaps more highly so amongst that portion of the Indian public which favours "reformed" Hinduism than amongst some Tantrikas, to whom, as I have been told, certain of its provisions appear to display unnecessary timidity. The former admire it on account of its noble exposition of the worship of the Supreme Brahman, and in the belief that certain of its passages absolutely discountenance the orthodox ritual. Nothing can be more mistaken than such belief, even though it be the fact that "for him who has faith in the root, of what use are the branches and leaves." This anyone will discover who reads the text. It is true that, as Chap. VII., verse 94, says: "In the purified heart knowledge of Brahman grows," and Brahmajnane samutpanne krityakrityang na vidyate. But the statement assumes the attainment of Brahmajñana, and this, the Shastra says, can be attained, not by Vedantic discussions nor mere prayer, after the manner of Protestant systems of Christian worship; but by the Sadhana which is its main subject-matter. I have referred to Protestant systems, for the Catholic Church possesses an elaborate ritual and a sadhana of its own which is in many points strikingly analogous to the Hindu system. The section of Tantrikas to whom I have referred are, I believe, also in error. For the design of this Tantra appears to be, whilst conserving commonly-recognized Tantrik principles, to secure that, as has sometimes proved to be the case, they are not abused. Parvvati says (Chap. I., verse 67): "I fear, 0 Lord! that even that which Thou hast ordained for the good of men will, through them, turn out for evil." Hitaya yane, karmani kathitani tvaya prabho Manyetani mahadeva viparitani manave. It is significant, in connection with these observations, to note that this particular Tantra was chosen as the subject of commentary by Shrimad Hariharananda Bharati, the Guru of the celebrated Hindu "reformer," Raja Ram Mohun Roy. The Tantra has been assigned to the group of sixty-four known as those of the Rathakranta. It was first published by the Adi-Brahma-Samaja in 1798 Shakabda (A.D. 1876), and was printed in Bengali characters, with the notes of the Kulavadhuta Shrimad Hariharananda Bharati under the editorship of Anandachandra Vidyavagisha.
Download or read book The Goddess in Hindu Tantric Traditions written by Anway Mukhopadhyay and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-20 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great Goddess, in her various puranic and tantric forms, is often figured as sitting on a corpse which is identified as Shiva-as-shava (God Shiva, the consort of the Devi and an iconic representation of the Absolute without attributes, the Nirguna Brahman). Hence, most of the existing critical works and ethnographic studies on Shaktism and the tantras have focused on the theological and symbolic paraphernalia of the corpses which operate as the asanas (seats) of the Devi in her various iconographies. This book explores the figurations of the Goddess as corpse in several Hindu puranic and Shakta-tantric texts, popular practices, folk belief systems, legends and various other cultural phenomena based on this motif. It deals with a more intricate and fundamental issue than existing works on the subject: how and why is the Devi – herself - figured as a corpse in the Shakta texts, belief systems and folk practices associated with the tantras? The issues which have been raised in this book include: how does death become a complement to life within this religious epistemology? How does one learn to live with death, thereby lending new definitions and new epistemic and existential dimensions to life and death? And what is the relation between death and gender within this kind of figuration of the Goddess as death and dead body? Analysing multiple mythic narratives, hymns and scriptural texts where the Devi herself is said to take the form of the Shava (the corpse) as well as the Shakti who animates dead matter, this book focuses not only on the concept of the theological equivalence of the Shava (Shiva as corpse) and the Shakti (Energy) in tantras but also on the status of the Divine Mother as the Great Bridge between the apparently irreconcilable opposites, the mediatrix between Spirit and Matter, death and life, existence-in-stasis and existence-in-kinesis. This book makes an important contribution to the fields of Hindu Studies, Goddess Spirituality, South Asian Religions, Women and Religion, India, Studies in Shaktism and Tantra, Cross-cultural Religious Studies, Gender Studies, Postcolonial Spirituality and Ecofeminism.
Download or read book The Indian Review written by G.A. Natesan and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 946 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mahanirvana Tantra written by Sir John Woodroffe and published by Nuvision Publications. This book was released on 2007-06 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These texts describe the esoteric teachings of Tantra, a belief system which originated in India, practiced by a number of Hindus and Buddhists. Tantra has become a synonym in the West for unbridled sexuality; however, sexuality is only one faucet of theis elaborate spiritual practice.
Download or read book Kul r ava Tantra written by Madhav Pundalik Pandit and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. This book was released on 1999 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kularnava Tantra is perhaps the foremost Tantra of the Kaula School and is constantly cited as an authority in Tantric literature. It is worthy of close study by those who would understand the tenets and practice of the tradition of which it is a Sastra. It calls upon man to wake up to the rare privilege that has been given to him, e.g., human birth in which the being becomes conscious of himself and is offered a choice, a choice between stagnation and rapid progression towards his Godhead. He is asked to purify himself and told how to do it. In unambiguous terms he is told that a wine-drinker is different from the drinkers of ecstasy; the union of delight is between the ascending Shakti and the presiding Lord above, and not between man and woman. The Introduction by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) gives a concise outline of the work. Sri M.P. Pandit, who is a keen student of the Tantras and Vedas, has rendered the work in English in eleven chapters. The Readings are free transla-tions with annotations where necessary, omitting technical details but preserving the spirit and essential import of the original in his characteristically lucid style. The complete text is given in Devanagari after being duly edited by Taranatha Vidyaranya for those who wish to study the book in the original Sanskrit..
Download or read book Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon written by Dave Evans and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A selection of worldwide scholars with nearly two centuries of hands-on pagan research experience among them presents a collection of researches inspired by, deriving from, or just celebrating the immense impact of Hutton's "Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft."
Download or read book Sri Vijnana Bhairava Tantra written by Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critical interpretation with text of Hindu Tantric text.
Download or read book The Indian Decisions written by and published by . This book was released on 1912 with total page 1336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism written by Wendy Doniger and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism written by and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1990-10-15 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A wider range than usual of Sanskrit texts: not only interesting Vedic, epic, and mythological texts but also a good sampling of ritual and ethical texts. . . . There are also extracts from texts usually neglected, such as medical treatises, works on practical politics, and guides to love and marriage. . . . Readings from the vernacular Hindi, Bengali, and Tamil traditions [serve to] enrich the collection and demonstrate how Hinduism flourished not just in Sanskrit but also in its many mother tongues."—Francis X. Clooney, Journal of Asian Studies
Download or read book Tantra written by Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D. and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 1998-07-28 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading yoga researcher offers a clear and lively introduction to the history, philosophy, and practice of the Tantric spiritual tradition Tantra—often associated with Kundalini Yoga—is a fundamental dimension of Hinduism, emphasizing the cultivation of “divine power” (shakti) as a path to infinite bliss. Tantra has been widely misunderstood in the West, however, where its practices are often confused with eroticism and licentious morality. Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy dispels many common misconceptions, providing an accessible introduction to the history, philosophy, and practice of this extraordinary spiritual tradition. The Tantric teachings are geared toward the attainment of enlightenment as well as spiritual power and are present not only in Hinduism but also Jainism and Vajrayana Buddhism. In this book, Georg Feuerstein offers readers a clear understanding of authentic Tantra, as well as appropriate guidance for spiritual practice and the attainment of higher consciousness.
Download or read book Tantra Yoga written by Nik Douglas and published by New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharlal. This book was released on 1971 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrations: Numerous Colour Illustrations Description: Tantra Yoga is a way of life...a practice based upon the philosophy of Human Experience, by means of which the Wisdom of Reality can become a part of one's innermost Nature. The Tantra is the way of the Yogi-Mystic of the East, who, through practice of this Yoga, is able to transmute the normal Mortal-Consciousness into Cosmic-Consciousness , and so experience the Blissful Joys of Reality. This book summarizes the tradition of Tantra Yoga from its origin and development in the earliest times to the present. The spread of tantrism...Animist, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sufic...from the original centres to Tibet, and thence to the West, is discussed, and the influence of this special esoteric teaching on both science and religion, is indicated. The philosophical, psychological and practical aspects of Tantra Yoga are presented, with detailed chapters on the Tantric Cosmology, Theory of Evolution, Concept of Vibration, Alchemy, Symbolism, Ritual, Rite and Sadhana (Yoga practice). Light is shed on the problems and joys which underlie the experience of life, and practical methods are indicated for overcoming the obscuring factors and for attaining the Tantric Realization. The symbolism and esoteric language is indicated and explained through the medium of sixty six beautiful colour plates, and the explanations are clarified and supported by quotations from relevant authoritative texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Tibetan Book of the Dead, Hevajra Tantra, Mahanirvana Tantra and original texts, as also from the works of leading scholars. This book is a concise guide through the inner principles and outer practices of Tantra Yoga.
Download or read book Encountering the Dark Goddess written by Frances Billinghurst and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-26 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Dark Goddess is often associated with the Underworld where she leads the uninitiated through a transformative journey of self-discovery, change and soul renewal. She is connected with the unwanted, the forgotten, the ignored or even ashamed parts of our psyche. However there is more to her than that. Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms guides you through what this challenging facet of the Divine Feminine, the Dark Goddess, is truly about, and encourages you to step through the veils into her hidden realm to explore 13 aspects of herself. Whether you seek healing from past trauma, release from fears or acceptance of the “unacceptable” aspects of your self, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms offers ways for you to transform and heal your life through the power of meditation, ritual and inner journeying with the Dark Goddess into her shadowy realms. Use the 13 goddess myths as a guide to discover how to remove the stagnant and unwanted and embrace the ever changing aspects of life that can drag us into the pits of despair. When we connect to the Dark Goddess, we are able to find the light within the darkness and our lives are enriched through the integration of all aspects of our soul as a perfect whole.
Download or read book In Praise of Adya Kali written by Aditi Devi and published by SCB Distributors. This book was released on 2013-12-12 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Praise of Adya Kali details the goddess Kali, and her culture of devotion in West Bengal and South Asia. Different from most contemporary books about this Dark Goddess, this book offers a liturgy of worship—a spiritual practice, the Song of the Hundred Names of Adya Kali, that readers can use to cultivate a direct devotional relationship to Kali. In Praise of Adya Kali is also a context-setting guide, establishing this practice as a general orientation to life. Most compelling, the text of this liturgy and Commentaries contain an intimate revelation of how the goddess establishes herself in her devotees’ bodies and thus intervenes, by unconditional love and acceptance, in their lives. A lengthy Introduction, both scholarly and personal, describes the goddess and the possibilities that these prayers will offer. Aditi Devi guides us in how to build a shrine to Kali, various types of offerings to make to her, and suggests a schedule for how to use this liturgy with a long-term commitment over the course of 108 nights. “This Song of the Hundred Names is a powerful teaching that all forms are her forms,” the author notes. Male, female, or other gendered, readers are presented with the possibility to experience the depths of their own internal feminine energies, and thereby come into greater healing and wholeness, more readily able to express this often neglected part of ourselves.
