The Heart of the Secret

A Personal and Scholarly Encounter with Shakta Tantrism in Siddha Yoga

Dados Bibliográficos

ID20199653
AutoresSarah Caldwell (autor correspondente)
Ano2001
Volume5
Fascículo1
Páginas9-51
Data de publicação2001-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoNova Religio The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1092-6690 • E-ISSN: 1541-8480
EditoraProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/nr.2001.5.1.9
OpenAlexW1974312509
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas12
Referências 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