This area represents
the main body of my most current work. By Tantra I mean the Kashmir Shaivism of Abhinavagupta and his
students. This doctrine teaches that the world is alternately illusory and real, making our task here
challenging but also of great value. I believe that this viewpoint is shared by Adi Shankara and Paul
Brunton, among others.
Here are the writings included in this section:
Talking Gods: This 10 page article applies the Vedântic notion of 4 states of consciousness to the Tantric doctrine of 4 levels of sound. This matrix is then correlated to how we understand the speech of the Gods, and what we may hope to discover of their presence in - and as - our own language.
The Flowering of Reality: This brief article is primarily a textual companion to a series of diagrams which map the super-abundance of Brahman. It follows the geometric consequences of generating a vesica. This symbolizes Reality making an image of itself - an image called Maya by some and Being by others. Once this second circle emerges, a further two circles emerge - representing Life and Intellect (or Prâña and Îshvara). For the rest, read the article!
The Third Brahman: This article explores a difficult verse from the Trident of Wisdom by Abhinavagupta, which says: "The one not born of Yogic mysticism, nor belonging to the World-God, glimpses the exploding clarity of the triadic Brahman in the heart of the Awe-ful Âtman, O Womb of Beauty!" This essay is based on a word-by-word analysis of the Sanskrit original, and concludes with a few comments about the samâdhi herein described.
Trident
of Wisdom: This is a major exploration of the Tantric text "The Trident of
Wisdom," through verse 20. (I expect to return to this work and complete it, hopefully by the end
of 2005.) These remarkable verses inspired a great commentary by Abhinavagupta, which has been further
developed by Paul Muller-Ortega and Jaideva Singh. My effort focuses on contacting the inspiration
within the verses themselves, and does assume some familiarity with - or at least awareness of -
the work of these authors. I consider this Tantric text to be on par with the mâñd:ûkyopanis:ad
in its depth and significance to the sincere practitioner of jñâna yoga.