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Archive for February 2014

  1. Reading the Saundarya Lahari – X

    In this non-dualist tradition, adepts affirm the distinction between subject and object (in this case between human and divine) through darśan in order to dismantle distinctions between human and divine natures. The ritual’s aim is not to affirm a sacred space occupied by the śrīcakra in order to distinguish its “sacrality” from the “profane” ordinary world but to affect a transformation in understanding concerning the everyday world by identifying it as structured through the cakra’s form.
    Douglas R. Brooks, The Srividya School of Sakta Tantrism: A Study of the Texts and Contexts of the Living Traditions in South India

    “In this way the united Kāma and Kalā are the (three) letters whose own form (Svarūpa) is the three Bindus. It is She who is the Mother manifest as the three Gunas (Triguṇa-svarūpiṇī) and who assumed the form of the triangle.”
    Kāmakalāvilāsa, v25

    Continue reading »

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  2. On the perils of becoming a Gopi – I

    India has many religious traditions in which both female and male practitioners seek to become goddesses or are oriented towards exemplary female models which represent the ideal devotee in relation to the divine. As a follow-up to Ardhanarishvara and other conundrums of gender I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at the Gauḍīya Vaisnava tradition – in which both male and female devotees seek to identify themselves with the gopis – the “cowherd maidens” who participate in Kṛṣṇa’s sacred drama – and how this identification is approached in theology and practice – and its limits. For this first post, I’m going to briefly discuss some of the key elements in Gauḍīya Vaisnava theology and practice which relate to the ideal of becoming a gopi. In future posts, I will examine some issues which circumscribe the “limits” of this practice – such as the so-called “heresy” of Rūpa Kavijāra in the eighteenth century, and heterodox movements influenced by Gauḍīya Vaisnavism – such as the Sakhibhavas and Sahajiyās. Continue reading »

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  3. Announcement: Old stones and ancient bones, poems from the hollow hills

    oldstonescoverGordon MacLellan, writer, storyteller, environmental artist and occasional contributor to enfolding.org has just published a new book of poems: “Old stones and ancient bones, poems from the hollow hills”. Inspired by visits to prehistoric sites, old quarries and other wanderings, these poems move from the Orkneys to Derbyshire, inviting the reader to enter a world of chambered tombs; kelpie-haunted streams and faerie rings.

    Old stones and ancient bones, poems from the hollow hills is available from Lulu or Amazon uk, priced £8.

    More about Gordon’s work and the book at Creeping Toad

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