The Goddess Of Tantra

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.

In Hindu theology, Divine Power is conceived as a divine woman-the Goddess. Sometimes she is wholly autonomous and sometimes she is the divine spouse of the creator God, Siva or Visnu. She is also held to be the evolving material source of every created phenomenon. Religious texts like Puranas and Tantras have thoroughly investigated the mysterious nature of the Cosmic Goddess. Tantra as a religious practice endeavoured to show how through ritual and Yoga one may achieve the realization of the mystery of the Supreme Goddess. Authors in Sanskrit and modern Indian languages have poured out their ecstatic devotion to the Goddess. She is close to the heart of the passionate devotee, who adores her as mother or daughter - a mortal emotional bond with the divine so peculiar to Hindus. She is also sovereign Power a little part of which reigning royalties covet to possess in order to be good rulers. AS the divine woman she is represented in all women. Therefore women should be holding a high position amongst Hindus. But the question is, do they? In spite of the obvious contrary evidence, women do succeed in carving out a very important position in Hindu religious practices by having their alternative religious rituals highly valued by Hindu women have a very complex interrelationship. The book focuses on the great cosmic Goddess and her ritual worship, Tantric theology and praxis in a wider sense, the attitude of her devotees towards her authority and the social character of the Tantric practitioners, and the position of Bhakti. It also figures out the position of women inside the Tantric and non-Tantric Hindu religious milieu. The Goddess symbolizes the supreme divine authority that activates the creation, protection and governance and necessary dissolution of the world in accordance with the ancient Indian concept of cyclical time. But She also discharges the divine sovereign privilege of punishing evil-doers and rewarding true devotees. Finally, the relevant forms of the Cosmic Goddess in this book are Sri/Tripurasundari/ Lalita; Goddess Kali and Her various emanations; and Laksmi and Her powers in the Pancaratra canonical texts.

This Book Deals Mainly With Tantra Sadhana With The Help Of Illustrations Of The Important Yantras That Are Commonly Used In The Spiritual Practices By The Tantrikas.

This book provides an excellent introduction to the essence of Hindu Tantrism, discussing all the major concepts and correcting many existing misconceptions.

Hinduism cannot be understood without the Great Goddess and the goddess-orientated Śākta traditions. The Goddess pervades Hinduism at all levels, from aniconic village deities to high-caste pan-Hindu goddesses to esoteric, tantric goddesses. Nevertheless, the highly influential tantric forms of South Asian goddess worship have only recently begun to draw scholarly attention. This book addresses the increasing interest in the Great Goddess and the tantric traditions of India by exploring the history, doctrine and practices of the Śākta tantric traditions. The highly influential tantric forms of South Asian goddess worship form a major part of what is known as ‘Śāktism’, and is often considered one of the major branches of Hinduism next to Śaivism, Vaiṣṇavism and Smārtism. Śāktism is, however, less clearly defined than the other major branches, and the book looks at the texts of the Śākta traditions that constitute the primary sources for gaining insights into the Śākta religious imaginative, ritual practices and history. It provides an historical exploration of distinctive Indian ways of imagining God as Goddess, and surveys the important origins and developments within Śākta history, practice and doctrine in its diversity. Bringing together contributions from some of the foremost scholars in the field of tantric studies, the book provides a platform for the continued research into Hindu goddesses, yoga, and tantra for those interested in understanding the religion and culture in South Asia.

The role of women and ideas of gender are fundamental components of all religious traditions. This book examines the representations of women within Tantra using a case study of a selection of Hindu Tantric texts from the 15th through 18th centuries in Northeast India.

This book is about spiritual tantric love. It is not a tantric sex how-to-do-it manual, though it does show new ideas and ways to experience the love relationship and the love ritual. This book does not contain any sexual images, though it does contain tantric metaphor and figurative language. This book is more about unique kinds of experience - different perspectives, attitudes, and ways of being in the love ritual. It is about different ways of loving and different kinds of lovers. Moreover, it's about understanding oneself and the other. The emphasis is mostly on increasing one's understanding of the spiritual powers and energies potentially involved in the love-sex experience, and also having an attitude of spontaneity and exploration, so that we are always in wonder and discovery in the magic of love. Yet any real learning about this whole subject, as well as any increase of one's love powers, will have to come from personal experience - from exploration and discovery. So all that this teaching can provide are ideas and suggestions to explore. This book is primarily about the powers and qualities of Goddesses - in relation to sexual love and the love ritual. Our main focus here is on four love Goddesses, their unique powers and qualities, as well as their unique attitudes and approaches in the love-sex relationship, as manifested through a woman. These goddesses can also be understood as love archetypes; each with a distinctly unique power and quality, attitude and approach. Each woman will recognize at least one of these goddesses in her self-experience, perhaps even a few, or maybe all four goddesses in varying degrees. Part Two focuses on the spiritual sacredness of each other, in love and in love-making, and how to spiritually experience one another as manifestations and expressions of the Great Divine. In this are ideas and ways to greatly enhance and spiritualize the love experience for both lovers, woman and man. The man will begin to see his woman lover as the expression of one of the Love Goddesses, or even as the Goddess Herself. He will experience the woman as the Goddess loving him, and he will be worshiping and devoting himself to Her. Likewise, the woman will begin to see her man lover as the expression of the Divine Love God. She will be the Divine Attraction and he the Divine Force. He will be the Divine loving her, and she will be the Divine loving him. Then both will come back into Union as One. Part Three focuses on the Great Goddess Shakti and her spiritual love relationship with the Great God Shiva. Tantric love, at its heights of realization, is the love play and enjoyment between Shiva and Shakti, and their eventual re-union as being really One Being. Here we find juicy love metaphors at its erotic depths. The goddesses, Kali and Maya, also come into this love play.

Tantra Goddess is Caroline Muir’s memoir of her personal journey from innocent Kansas girl to skilled sexual and spiritual healer and leader. She shares the experiences that shaped her and lessons learned over a lifetime of searching for, and most often finding, love. While pioneering the now burgeoning Tantra movement in the United States and abroad, she experiences the highs and lows of the polyamorous, Tantric lifestyle, finds peace at last in a sexually monogamous relationship, and a new found sense of herself.