Layering traditional kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation, Krishna Das has been called yoga’s “rock star.”
This personal essay will focus on various issues which arise when one is a scholar-practitioner in a spiritual tradition.
Pramāṇa means right knowledge, a correct understanding of reality that can be acquired in one of three ways: sense perception, logic, and verbal testimony as the sources for the acquisition of valid knowledge.
Mālā literally means “garland.” Japa mālās are a string of beads used to count mantras. They have been used for centuries in India as a spiritual tool for meditation and prayer.
The Upaniṣads, the ancient oral texts within the corpus of the Vedas, are the world’s earliest extant discussions of nonduality. They develop an integrative vision that reveals the hidden connections tying individuals to the world.
Lucidly expressed in the Bhagavad-Gita and especially in Tantra, we see instructions on why we should not escape the endless woes of samsara, but rather embrace this dualistic world of ecstasy and heartbreak openheartedly and with deep spiritual intention.
How do we define the feminine, especially the divine kind? And who gets to define the divine feminine?
The question of the Hindu goddess’s feminism is embedded within the larger question of the instrumentality of religion in the post-colonial nation and thus moves far afield of a de-contextualised if more focused consideration of an answer.