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Tantric Āgamas, considered to be divine revelation, are in dialogical format. In their monistic philosophy, Abhinavagupta and Kṣemarāja exploit this unique aspect of Āgamas and apply it to address the nature of the self that is identical with consciousness as well as the supreme divinity, Śiva. This theological assumption derives from the linguistic philosophy where consciousness and speech are inseparable. When applied in the context of the mantra speech, this concept provides a theological foundation for explaining the eternal dialogue of Śiva and Śakti, where the truth is constantly expressing itself. This understanding contrasts not only with the idea that truth is revealed in a monologue by the transcendent entity, but it also makes the manifestation of the absolute an eternal process. In other words, truth is dynamic, is constantly being revealed, and is always manifest dialogically. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Advaita of Śaṅkara portrays consciousness as a single reality, with the material world and the body as the product of ignorance. In contrast, the shamanic worldview centres on the body, with various methods to induce altered states of consciousness. A cursory examination reveals a polarity between Śaṅkara’s non-dualism and the shamanic practices that use body as the means of experience and cultivate embodied states for transforming subjective experience. This article aims to dismantle this misconstrued polarity, arguing that embodied experience is at the core of both shamanic and non-dual practices. I will examine the status of the body in Śaṅkara’s philosophy in order to make this argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the spiritual healing practices in classical India that are still prevalent throughout the sub-continent. Primarily relying on the text, Netratantra, with its purview of religious exorcism, mantra healing, and yogic and contemplative practices, this article explores the possibility of relating practices in the field to what has been inscribed in the texts from within the culture. This research demonstrates the fluid relationship existing between the textual and oral traditions, in contrast of the ‘high’ and ‘low’ cultures conceived by the Indologists. Tantric texts are exemplary in this regard, as they attempt to provide a framework for the cultural references they are encoding. In a broader sense, this article explores the understanding of the body that is presupposed in the detailed prescriptions of mantra healing. Although what is ailing is the flesh, healing practices detailed here are directed towards the mentally constructed body, and rituals include visualisation, chanting, and other forms of practices. The body in this belief-system defies the oppositional boundaries of ‘outside’ and ‘inside’, and ‘subject’ and ‘object’. The healing process relies on the interaction and interpenetration of mental body with the constructed body and the flesh through mantras and other agents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the cultural appropriation of Tantra in India and the West. The term ‘Tantra’ evokes one sentiment in contemporary India, the birthplace of Tantra, and a widely divergent meaning in the West. In these contrasting understandings of Tantra as the black magic or as sex, the sacred of some has been turned into an object for appropriation and commodification for others. This shift relies on identifying Tantra as the ‘other’, in relation to what the mainstream culture defines itself as the ‘self’. Due to secretive nature of Tantric tradition since the classical times, Tantra has never found its own voice, and with the mainstream culture claiming the power over truth, marginal voices repressed within the rubric of Tantra have never been heard. The emergence of religious consumerism has assisted in peeling off this secretive Tantric body, bringing the heart of sacred practices from India to the consumers in the West. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]