December 2015 Issue of Sutra Journal

Fritjof Capra on Science and Spirituality

December, 2015 by Fritjof Capra

The systems view of life, not surprisingly, includes a new systemic understanding of evolution. Rather than seeing evolution as the result of only random mutations and natural selection, we are beginning to recognize the creative unfolding of life in forms of ever-increasing diversity and complexity as an inherent characteristic of all living systems. Although mutation and natural selection are still acknowledged as important aspects of biological evolution, the central focus is on creativity... read more

Vaishnava Bauls of Birbhum Bengal

December, 2015 by Sandra Trishula Das

That is why, brother, I became a madcap Baul. No master I obey, nor injunctions, canons or custom. Now no men-made distinctions have any hold on me, and I revel only in the gladness of my own welling love. In love there's no separation, but commingling always. So I rejoice in song and dance with each and all - Rabindra Nath Tagore read more

Dancing Forth the Divine Beloved: A Tantric Semiotics of the Body as Rasa in Classical Indian Dance

December, 2015 by Dr. Jeffrey S. Lidke

In this essay I explore the connections between the temple-originated dance traditions of Andhra Pradesh, the hermeneutics of rasa articulated in both Tantric and alamkaracontexts, and the reflections on the danced-body by contemporary exponents of dance. This presentation reflects preliminary work on a larger book project on the embodied mysticism in Indian arts. In that work I seek to adopt Timalsina’s challenge for an application of a Tantric hermeneutics to Indian culture... read more

The Flowering of Freedom: The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali

December, 2015 by Dr. Richard C. Miller

Dr. Miller has translated several classical Indian texts from Sanskrit into English. In the last issue we published a seminal text of Advaita Vedanta - Drg-Drsya-Viveka: An Inquiry into the Nature of the Seer and the Seen. We now bring you Richard's translation of Patañjali's Yoga Sutras as a four part series along with his rich insights and incisive commentary. read more

The Love Song of Devi and Bhairava

December, 2015 by Lorin Roche

Your heart is a free and open space, always pulsating with the mantra of life itself. The most intimate core of your being is a temple, luscious like a flower, with gorgeous colors, shapes, scent, nectar flowing. Meditate here. Here is treasure - everything you love, everything you long for is here. Bathe in this splendor. This is your essence. Drink of this elixir and be happy, listen to the primordial mantra of your being and melt into god consciousness. read more

Tantra Unveiled through the Feminine - Chapter One

December, 2015 by Shantara Khalsa

Tantra is a complete spiritual path that culminates in liberation and transcendence of all that limits us as human beings. Tantra is the existence of manifest creation itself. To be able to hold our personal energy and at the same time to blend totally with another field of consciousness and energy knowing that all is One, this is tantra. This becomes a dance between the form and formless, and we could not exist without it. Yet seldom is this magic used in a conscious way. read more

Eternal Yoga

December, 2015 by Virochana Khalsa

Eternal Yoga, a term given to me at the end of a winter retreat in the Himalayas, is a set of practices where we go above our head to discover our eternal nature beyond conceptualization and individuality, while at the same time increasing our individual definition. This brings forth a conscious continuum where we know for ourselves what is our spirit, our soul, and the weaving into our embodiment. read more

Waking, Dreaming, Being: In Conversation With Evan Thompson

December, 2015 by Vikram Zutshi

The central idea is that the self is an experiential process, not a thing or an entity. How we experience having or being a self, including experiences we may have of losing or transcending the self, depends on our mode of consciousness - whether we’re awake and attentive, lost in thought, falling asleep, dreaming, having a lucid dream, deeply asleep, having an out-of-body experience, meditating in the waking or lucid dream states, or experiencing dissolution at death. read more

Art and Cosmology in India

December, 2015 by Subhash Kak

The Indian approach to reality is to seek a harmony that balances materiality with the spirit. It is this harmony that is the main goal of the artistic creation, and we see it expressed not only in the sacred arts, but also in music and dance. The Indian way offers a different perspective. Indian cosmology is not in conflict with science, although it does speak of the domain of spirit that lies beyond language and rational science. It makes claims regarding the nature of consciousness and transcenden... read more

Yoga in Palestine

December, 2015 by Meera Grace Hoon

Many teachers and students who are practicing Muslims and Christians have said that yoga has helped them connect with or deepens their own spirituality. For example, in various trainings and workshops, women and men have spoken about the similarity between the bowing and kneeling in Muslim prayers and the yoga postures, and found themselves more flexible for the five-times daily prayers. Many have said that they benefit from the focus and stillness of the meditative aspect of yoga, bringing.. read more

Sanskrit in the Mughal Court

December, 2015 by Vikram Zutshi and Audrey Truschke

Audrey Truschke’s work concerns literary and historical interactions between members of the Sanskrit and Persian traditions in Mughal India. Her current project investigates the literary, social, and political history of Sanskrit as it thrived in the Mughal courts from 1560 to 1650. read more

Science vs Spirit: A Secular Spirituality for the Digital Age

December, 2015 by Nick Seneca Jankel

For a long-time, I was stuck in the classic double bind of modernity. I enjoyed a deep love affair with science - Randomized Control Trials, Evidence-based Solutions, Proofs and Refutations, Logic, Reason… Brilliant! But I thought all this conflicted with an even deeper intuition of something inherently meaningful and interconnected about the universe we live in. read more

Why Believe in Rebirth?

December, 2015 by Dr. Jeffery D. Long

In a now famous conversation between Carl Sagan and the Dalai Lama, Sagan, a scientist and renowned skeptic, asks, Your Holiness, what if we were to prove, scientifically, that there is no such thing as reincarnation? To Sagan’s great astonishment, the Dalai Lama replied without hesitation that if rebirth were to be disproven, then the word would need to be put forth that Buddhists should stop believing in it. The Dalai Lama, however, then stumped Sagan with the question... read more

In the Land of the Siddhas

December, 2015 by John Weddepohl

A siddha is a free thinker and a revolutionary, refusing to allow himself to be carried away by religion, scripture, or ritual, denouncing idol worship, ritualistic practices and petitionary prayers as fetters holding back the soul. read more

The Six Seasons - Part One

December, 2015 by Freedom Cole

This begins a three part article giving insight into the traditional six Vedic seasons. In my previous article about the zodiac, I compared its seasonal and stellar correspondences. Here, we explore the seasons to understand the tropical zodiac, before later going into the stars. Here, we aim to get a deep felt-connection to the seasons on a physical, emotional and astronomical level. read more

How Deepest Tantra Saves the World: Part 3

December, 2015 by Dr. Stuart Sovatsky

In this issue of Sutra Journal, Dr. Stuart Sovatsky concludes a discussion on the nature and the impact of the Scientia Sexualis, the sex-desire-centric ‘liberated sexuality’ based in Freudian theories and supported by modern birth control methods, which has also appropriated Indic Ars Eroticas of Kundalini-Tantra and Hatha Yoga in Scientia modes of ‘neo-tantra’ and ‘neo-yoga’. read more

Akhilandeshwari: The Power of Brokenness

December, 2015 by Laura Amazzone

Akhilandeshwari is a South Asian Goddess who is known as She Who Is Never Not Broken. Her name references Her Universal and Cosmic powers: Akhila (Universe) Anda (Universe) Ishwari (Sovereign, Ruler). The word, akhilanda means always broken or never not broken. The double negative is meant to emphasize the truth of Her brokenness. In Shakta Tantra the microcosm is the macrocosm and Akhilandeshwari is broken because we, and the world, are broken. read more

Sally Kempton (podcast)

December, 2015 by Philip Goldberg and Dennis Raimondi

Sally Kempton was a well-known journalist in the early 1970s when she met Swami Muktananda and began working closely with him. She was initiated into the Saraswati order of monks and taught in the Siddha Yoga lineage as Swami Durgananda for 20 years. After leaving the monastic life in 2002, she became a highly popular teacher, workshop leader and author whose books include Meditation for the Love of It, Awakening Shakti and Doorways to the Infinite. We spoke about her fascinating life and work... read more

Yogacharya Ellen O’Brian (Podcast)

December, 2015 by Philip Goldberg and Dennis Raimondi

Yogacharya is the Spiritual Director of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment in San Jose CA. Ordained to teach by Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, she is the author of several books, a frequent speaker at conferences worldwide, a leader of service projects and host of The Yoga Hour on the Unity FM network. We spoke about her work, her unique background and her observations of the contemporary spiritual scene. read more

dharma	yoga	tantra
ayruveda	meditation	buddha

December 2015 Issue of Sutra Journal

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