Though often associated with sexual practices, traditional Hindu Tantra presents a body of sophisticated psycho-physical techniques for attaining enlightenment. The tradition is often perplexing to the uninitiated due to Tantra's use of metaphors that serve to keep the teachings secret from outsiders. The author reveals the secrets and hidden meanings of important Tantric symbols and distills 50 years of practice and teaching into a form accessible to readers new to the tradition. Drawing on his own experience, the author presents a demystified and simplified version of Tantric practices that any sincere spiritual aspirant East or West can actually do.
We gay folk, who inhabit bodies of the type we naturally desire, require a sex-positive spiritual practice that celebrates and utilizes our gay being instead of opposing it. We need a spiritual practice that teaches us how to use our senses instead of merely shutting them off or repressing them. We need a practice that empowers us to integrate all the rejected aspects of self to form a strong, healthy gay identity, which confers a spiritual advantage in deep spiritual practice. We need a spiritual practice that recognizes that gender and gender identity are fluid, that we all contain elements of the masculine and feminine. We need a spiritual practice that recognizes not only that same-sex love is possible, but that our love can powerfully energize a deep quest for Self-awareness and enlightenment. We need to realize that any feeling of shame or unworthiness connected to our gay being shackles our spirit and blocks us from the full realization of God/dess within, for the Divine Being is gay, too.
Mahamudra is the union of great bliss and emptiness--the very subtle mind that experiences great bliss and realizes ultimate truth. By enabling us to go within to uncover the deepest level of our mind and then to use the very subtle mind to meditate on ultimate truth, Mahamudra practice destroys all our delusions at their very root and thus propels us quickly to the state of full enlightenment. "Mahamudra Tantra" begins by explaining the basic correct view and intention needed for successful Mahamudra meditation, as well as the meaning of Tantra and the two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra practice, and then explains the preliminaries and stages of training in this profound practice.
Tourism consumers are increasingly demanding and seek to base their travel decision-making process on relevant and credible tourism information. In recent years, user-generated content on social media, the opinion of travel bloggers, and entertainment programs in the media have influenced the public's travel purchasing behavior and acted as a driving force for the development of tourism products, such as film tourism. It also has played a role in the evolution and development of marketing, giving rise to new applications, as in the case of digital and influence marketing. On the other hand, tourism organizations and destination management organizations face major challenges in communicating the attributes of a tourism product, since this cannot be experienced before consumption. Thus, they need to know how and in which means or platforms of communication they can inform potential consumers. Impact of New Media in Tourism provides theoretical and practical contributions in tourism and communication including current research on the influence of new media and the active role of consumers in tourism. With a focus on decision making and increasing the visibility of products and destinations, the book provides support for tourism agencies and organizations around the world. Covering themes that include digital marketing, social media, and online branding, this book is essential for professionals, academicians, researchers, and students working or studying in the field of tourism and hospitality management, marketing, advertising, and media and communications.
India is a civilisation of many images a culture of many visual feasts a tradition where th visible and the palpable are as important as the oral and the occurrent, where our highest truths are embodied in our kathas and gathas our songs and stories, where our temples are not only places of worship but equally a gallery of beautiful forms and figures where myth is as important as doctrine, where ancient memories are full of cherished narratives where mythic beings are real in many different ways and we enrich our lives by festivals which celebrate events from the lives of our mythic gods and goddesses and where knowledge is gained as much from itinerant performers as it is from learned discourses and where when the wind blows thorugh the Pipal tree is as if we hear the hymns of the Vedas.
In a commentary on the Buddhist poem "Training the mind in seven points," a Tibetan Buddhist teacher presents a series of methods for developing unconditional love and compassion.
