Eroticism and Cosmic Transformation as Yoga: The Ātmatattva of the Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyās of Bengal (original) (raw)

Abhinavagupta’s Erotic Mysticism: The Reconciliation of Spirit and Flesh

International Journal of Hindu Studies, 2007

This article focuses on the erotic aspects of a particular mystical worldview, the “erotic mysticism” of Abhinavagupta, the Hindu Tantric sage of Kashmir (ca. 975–1025 CE). In particular, I concentrate on Abhinavagupta’s intertwining of consciousness and sexuality, as one example of his interpretative capacities. I focus on consciousness and sexuality, precisely because of the lack of attention that sexuality often gets in academic discussions of the seemingly abstract notion of consciousness. For Abhinavagupta, these two “polarities” are reconnected in his form of Tantra that I will refer to as “erotic mysticism.”

Metaphoric Worlds and Yoga in the Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyā Tantric Traditions of Medieval Bengal

Scan of a chapter from Yoga: The Indian Traditions, edited by Ian Whicher and David Carpenter, London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003, pp. 162-184. This chapter applies "contemporary" or conceptual metaphor theory, developed initially by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, to translated portions of a seventeenth-century Vaisnava Sahajiya Hindu Tantric text, the "Necklace of Immortality." It focuses on issues of embodiment and the subtle yogic body, tantric rituals, visualization,and gender.

Blood, Sex, & Liberation: A Christian Critique of Hindu Tantric Sexuality

2017

Human sexuality is ubiquitously experienced around the planet because every human being is a sexual being. However, how sexuality is explored and constrained differs within every cultural system. This paper examines Hindu Tantric Sexuality (HTS) by first defining Hindu Tantra and exploring a mythological origins stories, which shaped the sexualization of Hindu Tantra. The paper's final section contrasts a Biblical understanding of human sexuality with Hindu Tantric sexuality. *This paper includes sexually explicit material. Be advised.