Articles for February 2016 on Sutra Journal

February2016 Issue of Sutra Journal

Mark Dyczkowski in Conversation

February, 2016 by Lea Horvatic

Dr. Mark Dyczkowski is one of the world’s foremost scholars on Tantra and Kashmiri Trika Shaivism and has lived and worked in India for close to forty years. Both a scholar and a practitioner, he was initiated by the great Indian teacher Swami Laksmanjoo in the year 1976. He has an undergraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University and a Ph.D. from Oxford University, where he researched Kashmir Shaivism under the guidance of Professor Alexis Sanderson. read more

Reflections on the Buddha: Historical and Philosophical - Part 1

February, 2016 by Jeffery D. Long

The Buddha, the Awakened One, is certainly one of the most inspirational figures to have ever walked this planet–perhaps the most. His teaching is the foundation of the world’s fourth largest religion (in terms of numbers of adherents)–a religion that has transformed cultures from Afghanistan to Japan, and continues to transform lives around the world. In addition to establishing Buddhism, the Buddha exerted a profound influence on Hindu thought and practice as well. read more

The Essence of Kriya

February, 2016 by Virochana Khalsa

Kriya is an active synthesis of breath, visualization, mental focus, repetition, discipline, internal alchemy, a good nature, and posture to internalize our awareness. In contrast to a passive approach, which also has its place, kriya charges and directs the current of your mind and breath, which keeps you engaged as you ride it into a deeper centering of presence. read more

Ahiṁsā in the Mahābhārata

February, 2016 by Christopher Key Chapple

Ahiṁsā or nonviolence might seem an unlikely topic for one of the world's greatest war epics. Any student of Indian philosophy or religion undoubtedly associates the Mahābhārata with Lord Krishna urging Arjuna to take up his weapons and fight and the bloodbath that follows. And despite the attempts of Gandhi and many others to make the struggle between the Pāṇḍava brothers and the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra metaphorical, no one can deny the reality of carnal savagery in the text, even on the part of the good guys. read more

The Dance of Shiva

February, 2016 by Liesbeth Bennink Pankaja

There is only one place that can be called the Home of the Dancing Shiva and that is the sacred city of Chidambaram, in Tamil Nadu. In the large and ancient temple that is the heart of the city, Shiva as Nataraja is the presiding deity and is worshipped here as the Cosmic Dancer dancing in the Golden Hall. All other bronze Natarajas found in temples all over South India have been inspired by the deity of this temple, Nataraja dancing the Ananda Tandava, the Dance of Bliss. read more

Holy City of Benares: Daughter of the Ganga

February, 2016 by Pratapaditya Pal

Banaras is where all pious Hindus aspire to be liberated from the chain of rebirth, which is why it is characterized as ‘avimukta kshetra’ or the land of final emancipation. Also called Kashi, the city’s patron deity is Shiva as Vishvanath or Lord of the Universe whose temple, though not an ancient structure, remains the holiest Hindu shrine, which most adherents of the faith strive to visit at least once in their lifetime. read more

Radiance Sutras: Where Body Meets Infinity

February, 2016 by Lorin Roche

The Vijnana Bhairava Tantra is a classic meditation text that describes 112 doorways for entering divine awareness right here in the midst of everyday life. Lorin was introduced to the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra in 1968 while working in a physiology lab at the University of California that was doing research on meditation. It was love at first listening, a love that continues to this day, this moment. read more

A History of Indian Art Through Five Masterpieces - Part 2: Mahabalipuram

February, 2016 by William Dalrymple

The great Pallava kings of South India were arguably the greatest of these South India dynasties who became rich and powerful from their control of the spice and silk trade. From their great port of Mahabalipuram, near the site of a former Roman trading station, the Pallavas sent naval expeditions to Sri Lanka, Thailand and to South East Asia, where the inscriptions they left still survive as witness to the scale of this first great Indian diaspora. An eighth century Tamil poem speaks of... read more

The Asta Matrikas: Mandalic Mothers of Bhaktapur, Nepal Part 1

February, 2016 by Laura Amazzone

The Matrikas are a collective of seven or eight goddesses, whose paradoxical natures express the interrelationship between the cyclical nature of women’s bodies and perennial earth based rituals.They are Mother Goddesses, yet not restricted to the procreative implication of motherhood. The Matrikas are aspects of the Great Goddess in her full power and work together in collective form. read more

The Flowering of Freedom: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Part Three

February, 2016 by Richard Miller

Dr. Miller has translated several classical Indian texts from Sanskrit into English. This is the third part of Richard's translation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, along with his rich insights and incisive commentary, published here as a four part series. read more

The Magic of Creation: The Sufi's Way

February, 2016 by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

In the past many spiritual teachings have focused on the transcendent aspect of the Divine, on spirit separate from matter, heaven rather than earth. But as our present culture spins out of balance, destroying the fragile web of life in a ever accelerating ecological crisis, there is a pressing need to remember the sacred nature of creation and thus deepen our understanding of its spiritual and transformative qualities. read more

The Role of Yoga in Bengali Shaktism

February, 2016 by June McDaniel

The love of deities may be passionate or obedient, wide-ranging or focused, ordered or wild. As Friedhelm Hardy has shown, there is intellectual bhakti which emphasizes loyalty and obedience, and there is ecstatic, emotional bhakti which is overwhelming and intoxicating. read more

The Tantric Age: A comparison of Shaiva and Buddhist Tantra

February, 2016 by Christopher Wallis

The main thesis of this paper is that in the medieval period, Tantric Buddhism (mantranaya, vajrayāna) and Tantric Śaivism (mantramārga) were conterminous, coeval, and co-functional. In fact, I believe the evidence supports the notion that these two were co-functional and conterminous to roughly the same degree as Śaivism was with Brahmanism (vaidika-dharma), circa the 10th century CE, thereby belying the notion that the latter two can be considered two branches of a single “Hinduism” in that period. read more

Transforming Life through Tantra: Chapter 3 of Tantra Unveiled

February, 2016 by Shantara Khalsa

I am blessed to say that I write this from direct personal experience, rather than from anyone else’s perspective or from within the flavored context of religious scriptures and writings. Tantra was given to me totally in the raw, there was no buffer of dialogue or organization and that is how I see it remaining as an eternal mystical path. read more

Vedic Cosmology - Integrating God and Physics

February, 2016 by Mauricio Garrido

Even though the explanations found in the texts of the world’s spiritual traditions are admittedly not exhaustive in the details referring to the origin of the universe, they do outline key concepts thereof which are important to the development of the philosophy for spiritual development that they present. The Vedic cosmology of ancient India is incredibly rich and has many points of tangency with modern cosmology which may help in the construction of that common ground between science and religion. read more

Sufism, Islam and the Lower Self

February, 2016 by Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

For many people Sufism and Islam are synonymous; in fact Webster’s dictionary defines Sufi: as a Muslim following the principles of a special form of Islamic mysticism. Yet, the tradition of Sufism pre-exists Islam and is considered by many as the original mysticism; existing since the beginning of time and available in all religion, cultures and countries. read more

The Six Seasons: Part Three

February, 2016 by Freedom Cole

The seasons made Prajapati (the creator) sacrifice with them, and because of that he prospered. This is the ancient reasoning behind Vaidik seasonal rituals: because the seasons made the creator god do it, and it made him successful. But the deeper implication is that the seasons are the Natural Order, and even the creator must follow this order – even he must be in tune with the seasons. Prajapati (as the Creator) is the year itself, consisting of twelve months. read more

dharma	yoga	tantra
ayruveda	meditation	buddha

February2016 Issue of Sutra Journal

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