Hymns to the Goddess and Hymn to Kali
Hymns to the Goddess and Hymn to Kali

Author: Sir John Woodroffe

Publisher: DK Printworld (P) Ltd

Published: 2019-03-20

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 8124609802

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About the Book The Goddess or Devī is God in Its Mother aspect. Devī, who is existence, consciousness and bliss, is thought of as a female, a male or pure Brahman. This volume Hymns to the Goddess is an endeavour of Sir John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon) to translate the Sanskrit hymns in praise of the Goddess or Devī, scattered in Tantra and Purāṇa texts, Mahābhārata, and in the hymns of Śaṅkarācārya, who was an incarnation of devotion and a great philosopher, Vālmīki and Indra. After a general introduction, the book starts with a hymn to Kālabhairava, the spouse of Devī, followed by Devī stotras. In these hymns, Devī is praised as Bhairavaī, Bhuvaneśvarī, Ādyakālī, Lakṣmī, Tārā, Mahiṣamardinī, Aṇṇapūrṇā, Sarasvatī, Durgā, Tripurā in Tantra texts; Sarvaviśvajananī, Ambikā, Caṇḍikā, Mahādevī and Jagadambikā in Purāṇas; Durgā, Āryā, Durgā in Mahābhārata; Tripurasundarī, Gaṅgā, Ānanadalaharī, Yamunā, Narmadā and Mahālakṣmī. Hymn to Kālī (Karpūrādi Stotra), another book within the book, is a celebrated Kaula stotra, having commentary on the hymns. It, in addition to mantroddhāradhārā, contains stotras of dhyāna, yantra, sādhanā, madya, māṁsa, maithuna and phala-śruti matters. About the Author Sir John George Woodroffe (1865–1936), also known by pseudonym Arthur Avalon, was a British Orientalist whose work helped to develop in the West a deep and wide interest in Hindu philosophy and yogic practices. A lawyer by profession, he developed parallel interest in Sanskrit, Indian philosophy and religion. Sir Woodroffe wrote or translated more than a dozen books: Introduction to the Tantra Sastra; Tantra of the Great Liberation (Mahanirvana Tantra); Hymns to the Goddess; The Serpent Power; Hymn to Kali: Karpuradi-Stotra; The World as Power; The Garland of Letters; Principles of Tantra (2 vols) and Is India Civilized? Essays on Indian Culture are some of them.

Singing to the Goddess
Singing to the Goddess

Author: Rachel Fell McDermott

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 0195134338

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This collection presents 145 brief Bengali lyric poems dedicated to the Hindu goddesses Kali and Uma. These poems were written from the early-18th century up to the contemporary period. They represent the Bengali tradition of goddess worship (Saktism).

Hymns to the Goddess
Hymns to the Goddess

Author: John Woodroffe

Publisher: FilRougeViceversa

Published: 2021-08-20

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 3985945896

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She is seen as one and as many: as it were, but one moon reflected in countless waters.She exists, too, in all animals and inorganic things, since the universe, with all its beauties, is, as the Dev Pura says, but a part of Her. All this diversity of form is but the infinite manifestations of the flowering beauty of the one Supreme Life--a doctrine which is nowhere else taught with greater wealth of illustration than in the kta stras and Tantras. The great Bharga in the bright sun, and all Devat, and, indeed, all life and being are worshipful, and are worshipped, but only as Her manifestations. And he who worships them otherwise is, in the words of the great Devbhgavata, "like unto a man who, with the light of a clear lamp in his hands, yet falls into some waterless and terrible well." It is customary nowadays to decry external worship, but those who do so presume too much. The ladder of ascent can only be scaled by those who have trod all, including its lowest, rungs. The aktirahasya summarises the stages of progress in a short verse, thus: "A mortal who worships by ceremonies, by images, by mind, by identification, by knowing the self, attains kaivalya." Before brahma-bhva can be attained the sdhaka must have passed from pjbhva through hymns and prayer to dhyna-bhva. The highest worship for which the sdhaka is qualified (adhikri) only after external worship, and that internal form known as sdhra is described as nirdhra. Therein Pure Intelligence is the Supreme akti who is worshipped as the Very Self, the Witness freed of the glamour of the manifold universe. By one's own direct experience of Mahevar as the Self, She is, with reverence, made the object of that worship which leads to liberation.

Hymn to Kali
Hymn to Kali

Author: John Woodroffe

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2020-01-06

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13: 9781656366283

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This celebrated Kaula Stotra, which is now translated from the Sanskrit for the first time, is attributed to Mahākāla Himself. The Text used is that of the edition published at Calcutta in 1899 by the Sanskrit Press Depository, with a commentary in Sanskrit by the late Mahāmahopādhyāya Kṛṣhṇanātha Nyāya-pañcānana, who was both very learned in Tantra-Śāstra and faithful to his Dharma. He thus refused the offer of a good Government Post made to him personally by a former Lieutenant-Governor on the ground that he would not accept money for imparting knowledge. Some variants in reading are supplied by this commentator. I am indebted to him for the Notes, or substance of the notes, marked K. B. To these I have added others, both in English and Sanskrit explaining matters and allusions familiar doubtless to those for whom the original was designed, but not so to the English or even ordinary Indian reader. I have also referred to the edition of the Stotra published by Gaṇeśa-Candra-Ghoṣa at Calcutta in 1891, with a translation in Bengali by Gurunātha Vidyānidhi, and commentary by Durgārāma-Siddhāntavāgīśa Bhattācārya. I publish for the first time Vimalānanda-Svāmī's Commentary to which I again refer later. When in this Introduction or in the Commentary I have not mentioned these two works my authorities are the Tantras or Tāntrik works which I cite, or. the information I have gathered from those whom I have consulted. One of the chief features of this Stotra is that it gives the mantroddhāra of the Dakshina-Kālikā. It not only gives us the Dhyāna, Yantra, Sādhana and Svarūpa-varnanā of the Mahādevī, but it also contains the chief Mantras of Dakṣiṇakālikā. The adjective "Tava manu-samuddharaṇajanu" qualifying "idam stotram" in Śloka 21 expressly states this fact. Among the various Mantras of Dakṣiṇā Kālikā the greatest is the "Vidyā-rājñī" consisting of 22 syllables (Dvāviṁsākṣarī). This mantra gives the fullest and the truest symbol of the Svarūpa of Her. This mantra is contained in the first five Ślokas. So the first five Ślokas give us altogether 22 akṣaras i.e. the full Vidyārājñī. In Vimalānanda-Svāmī's Tīkā of the 5th Śloka in the revised Sanskrit text he has proved by quotations from the 9th patala of Śāktānanda-tarangiṇī that this 22-syllabled mantra is the full and true representation of the Svarūpa of the Mahādevī.

Kali
Kali

Author: Elizabeth U. Harding

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 9788120814509

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"Never before in print have I seen Her brought to life with such passion and truth. Harding brings Mother Kali to everyone who sees her path".

The Serpent Power
The Serpent Power

Author: Sir John George Woodroffe

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 1974-01-01

Total Pages: 594

ISBN-13: 0486230589

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Written by a leading authority on Shaktic and Tantric thought, this book is considered the prime document for study and application of Kundalini yoga. It probes the philosophical and mythological nature of Kundalini; the esoteric anatomy associated with it; the study of mantras; the chakras, or psychic centers in the human body; the associated yoga and much, much more. Two important Tantric documents are included: The Description of the Six Chakras and Five-fold Footstool.

Sir John Woodroffe, Tantra and Bengal
Sir John Woodroffe, Tantra and Bengal

Author: Kathleen Taylor

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-10-12

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 113612098X

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Working with Bengali mentors, especially his close friend A. B. Ghose, Sir John Woodroffe became the pseudonymous orientalist Arthur Avalon, famous for his tantric studies at the beginning of the twentieth century. Best known for The Serpent Power, the book which introduced 'Kundalini Yoga' to the western world, Avalon turned the image of Tantra around, from that of a despised magical and orgiastic cult into a refined philosophy which greatly enhanced the prestige of Hindu thought to later generations of westerners. This biographical study is in two parts. The first focuses on Woodroffe's social identity in Calcutta against the background of colonialism and nationalism - the context in which he 'was' Arthur Avalon. To a very unusual degree for someone with a high position under the empire, Woodroffe the British High Court Judge absorbed the world of the Bengali intellectuals of his time, among whom his popularity was widely attested. His admirers were attracted by his Indian nationalism, to which his tantric studies and supposed learning formed an important adjunct. Woodroffe's friend Ghose, however, was the chief source of the textual knowledge in which the 'orientalist' scholar appeared to be deeply versed. The second part of this study assesses Woodroffe's own relationship to Sanskrit and to the texts, and highlights his very extensive but gifted use of secondary sources and the knowledge of Ghose and other Indian people. It examines the apologetic themes by which he and his collaborators made Tantra first acceptable, then fashionable. Partly because of his mysterious pseudonym, Woodroffe acquired a near legendary status for a time, and remains a fascinating figure. This book is written in a style that should appeal to the general reader as well as to students of Indian religions and early twentieth century Indian history, while being relevant to the ongoing debate about 'orientalism'.

Encountering Kali
Encountering Kali

Author: Rachel Fell McDermott

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 9788120820418

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Encountering Kali explores one of the most ramarkable divinities the world has seen. The Hindu goddess Kali is simultaneously understood as a blood thirsty warrior a deity of ritual possession a tantric sexual partner and an all loving compassionate mothe. Popular and scholarly interest in her has been on the rise in the west in recent years. Responding to this phenomenon McDermott and Kripal`s volume focuses on the complexities involved in interpreting Kali in both her indigenous south Asian settings and her more recent Western incarnation. Through the shifting lenses of scriptural history temple architecture political reflection and the goddess`s recent guises on the Internet the contributors pose questions that illuminate our understanding of Kali while addressing the problems and promises inherent in every act of cross cultural interpretation.

In Praise of the Goddess
In Praise of the Goddess

Author:

Publisher: Nicolas-Hays, Inc.

Published: 2003-12-01

Total Pages: 407

ISBN-13: 0892546166

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About 16 centuries ago, an unknown Indian author or authors gathered together the diverse threads of already ancient traditions and wove them into a verbal tapestry that today is still the central text for worshippers of the Hindu Devi, the Divine Mother. This spiritual classic, the Devimahatmya, addresses the perennial questions of the nature of the universe, humankind, and divinity. How are they related, how do we live in a world torn between good and evil, and how do we find lasting satisfaction and inner peace? These questions and their answers form the substance of the Devimahatmya. Its narrative of a dispossessed king, a merchant betrayed by the family he loves, and a seer whose teaching leads beyond existential suffering sets the stage for a trilogy of myths concerning the all-powerful Divine Mother, Durga, and the fierce battles she wages against throngs of demonic foes. In these allegories, her adversaries represent our all-too-human impulses toward power, possessions, and pleasure. The battlefields symbolize the field of human consciousness on which our lives' dramas play out in joy and sorrow, in wisdom and folly. The Devimahatmya speaks to us across the ages of the experiences and beliefs of our ancient ancestors. We sense their enchantment at nature's bounty and their terror before its destructive fury, their recognition of the good and evil in the human heart, and their understanding that everything in our experience is the expression of a greater reality, personified as the Divine Mother.