Aryan Books

Pasyanti: TRIKA SAIVISM OF KASHMIR - Themes and Practices

By :- Bettina Sharada Baumer

Edited By :- Sadananda Das

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Type: English

Pages: xii+268

Format: Hard Bound

ISBN-13: 978-81-7305-686-4

Edition: 1st

Publisher: ARYAN BOOKS INTERNATIONAL

Size: 17cm x 25cm

Product Year: 2023

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The present volume contains 17 selected articles of Bettina Sharada Bäumer which are the outcome of her study and research in the field of non-dual Trika Śaivism of Kashmir over the last four decades. They provide insights into essential aspects and themes of the philosophy and spirituality of Trika Śaivism, as well as elements of the spiritual practice involved in this tradition. Her approach is based on the fundamental texts as well as on the living traditions.

The first section titled “Stotras – Hymns to the Absolute”, contains four articles which focus on the study and translation of some of the important hymns of the non-dual Śaiva traditions of Kashmir. The articles include an introduction to the philosophy of Kashmir Śaivism through the benedictory or mangala verses; a translation and study of the mystical hymn “Sāmbapañcāśikā”, in which Sun-worship is discussed in the light of the Śaiva philosophy of Consciousness; an article on the non-dual nature of praise and finally a translation and commentary on three important hymns of Abhinavagupta, together with two stotra fragments.

The second section, “Non-Dual Tradition of Śaivism of Kashmir” contains 13 significant articles presenting themes and practices of the tradition. The articles are based on fundamental Tantric texts such as Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra, Svacchanda Tantra and Netra Tantra. The author discusses some of the important concepts of Kashmir Śaivism, such as vāc, līlā, time and timelessness, harmony and disharmony, mudrā, the space of breath, śūnya and creative contemplation in the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra, the approach of paramādvaita in the mystical hymns of Utpaladeva´s Śivastotrāvalī, the intensity of emotions and how it is a path to liberation, the concept of sarvaṃ sarvātmakam, i.e. “everything is related to everything else” or “all is in all”. The last article in this section is dedicated to Swami Lakshman Joo, author’s spiritual preceptor.

Paśyantī offers scholars and students, philosophers and seekers a spiritual voyage into the very heart of Indian spirituality. This volume will be useful not only to students and scholars of Indology but also to lay readers.

Foreword by Kapila Vatsyayan

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

From the Author

I. Stotras - Hymns to the Absolute

1. Auspicious Beginnings or Philosophy in a Nutshell
An Introduction to Kashmir Śaivism through its Maṅgalaślokas

2. Sūrya in a Śaiva Perspective: The Sāmbapañcāśikā, a Mystical Hymn
of Kashmir and its Commentary by Kṣemarāja

3. Stuti: Praise in a Non-dualist Context

4. Selected Stotras of Abhinavagupta

II. Non-dual Tradition of Śaivism of Kashmir

5. Vāc as Saṃvāda: Dialogue in the Context of Advaita Śaivāgamas

6. The Play of the Three Worlds: The Trika Concept of Līlā

7. Sun, Consciousness and Time: The Way of Time and the Timeless

8. Universal Harmony: Samatā

9. Disharmony: The Root of Evil

10. Mudrā: Its Metaphysical Basis

11. The Space of Breath in the Kashmiri Śaivāgamas

12. Creative Contemplation: Bhāvanā in the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra

13. Attaining the Form of the Void: Śūnya in the Vijñāna Bhairava

14. Paramādvaita in the Mystical Hymns of Utpaladeva’s Śivastotrāvalī

15. Intensity of Emotions: A Way to Liberation in the Advaita Śaiva
Āgamas and their Exegetes

16. Sarvaṃ Sarvātmakam: Abhinavagupta’s Interpretation of the
Maxim

17. Swami Lakshman Joo: Saint Scholar of Kashmir

Bibliography

Bibliography of the Works of Bettina Sharada Bäumer

Index cum Glossary

Acknowledgments

Bettina Sharada Bäumer is an eminent scholar of Indology and Religious Studies in general and of non-dual Trika Śaivism of Kashmir in particular. She is a direct disciple of Swami Lakshman Joo (1907-1991). Visiting Professor in several universities including Vienna, Salzburg and Berne (Switzerland), she has been teaching the philosophy of non-dual Kashmir Śaivism in seminars and retreat seminars in India and Europe for the last 20 years. She was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University in 1993 and a National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, from 2015-2017. Her recent publications include: Abhinavagupta´s Hermeneutics of the Absolute, Anuttaraprakriyā, An Interpretation of His Parātriśikā Vivaraṇa (2011); The Yoga of Netra Tantra, Third Eye and Overcoming Death (2019); Utpaladeva, Philosopher of Recognition, co-edited with Raffaele Torella (2016); Tantrapuṣpāñjali: Tantric Traditions and Philosophy of Kashmir, Studies in Memory of Pandit H. N. Chakravarty, co-edited with Hamsa Stainton (2018).

In 2015 she was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India.

Dr. Sadananda Das has been teaching Sanskrit language, literature, Kashmir Śaivism and spoken Sanskrit at the Institute of Indology and Central Asian Studies at Leipzig University, Germany since 2005. He has taught spoken Sanskrit in summer schools at different universities and educational institutions in India, Australia, Spain, Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Ukraine and U.K. His publications include: Śilpa Prakāśa, Medieval Orissan Sanskrit Text on Temple Architecture, revised, translated, and coedited with Bettina Bäumer and R. P. Das (2005); Sāmarasya, Studies in Indian Arts, Philosophy and Interreligious Dialogue in Honour of Bettina Bäumer, coedited with Ernst Fürlinger (2005); and Subhāsita-Mañjarī (A Selection of Hundred Subhāsitas from Sanskrit Literature with English Translation) (2015).

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