The Heart of the Secret

A Personal and Scholarly Encounter with Shakta Tantrism in Siddha Yoga

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20199653
AutoresSarah Caldwell (autor de correspondencia)
Año2001
Volumen5
Número1
Páginas9-51
Fecha de publicación2001-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNova Religio The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1092-6690 • E-ISSN: 1541-8480
EditorialProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/nr.2001.5.1.9
OpenAlexW1974312509
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas3

This article suggests two apparently contradictory theses: namely that Swami Muktananda (1908–1982) was an enlightened teacher and practitioner of an esoteric form of Tantric sexual yoga, and that he also engaged in actions that were not ethical, legal, or liberatory with many disciples. These two theses are brought into creative tension through a developing Tantric hermeneutic. In discussing secrecy and power, the article addresses critical cultural, feminist, and psychological issues about sexual abuse and the importation of Asian religious traditions into contemporary American society, and argues that what has happened in the recent history of Siddha Yoga arises directly out of Tantra's long history of dissimulation and secrecy. I suggest that a hybrid scholarly sensibility might emerge out of the secret heart of the Tantric teachings, itself offering a way forward in the study of such traditions

Aesthetics · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Secrecy · Siddha · Sociology · Swami · Tantra · Theology · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Social Influence · Religious studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices