Sublime

Swāmī Muktānanda (“Bābā”) probably did more than anyone else in the 20th century to make the teachings of Śaiva Tantra known in the West,

Devipuram—“The Goddess’s Abode”—the temple complex that Guruji had spent more than three decades building up from almost nothing in the rural wilds of eastern India.

I especially enjoyed the work of Sir John Woodroffe (1865–1936), a.k.a. “Arthur Avalon,” who—while prominently serving as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in British India—spent his private hours explaining, defending and ultimately practicing in the then widely reviled Hindu religious schools of Shaiva and Shakta Tantrism.

At the deepest level, the one without whom none of this would have happened is Gurumayī. The spiritual awakening I had through her grace catalyzed a process of unfolding that allowed me to encounter the words of the Tantrik master Abhinava Gupta as palpably living energy, not mere fossils. Without Gurumayī’s unfailing love and grace, I would likely

Among many others, I draw on the ideas of two spiritual teachers I should mention. One is my friend Douglas Harding, whose unique and inimitable approach sheds light on the Self as Consciousness, which is pure Kashmir Shaivism. The other is the enigmatic 20th-century teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. I met his teachings in my earliest days as a spiritual se

First of all, you may remember what we learned about the word LORD on Day 1 in Genesis 1–3. When we see it in all caps, it’s a reference to YHWH, which is often pronounced “Yahweh” or “Jehovah”; it’s God’s personal name.

Edwin Arnold's THE SONG CELESTIAL