The Mālinīvijayottara, a root Tantra of the Trika, teaches a rich variety of yogic practices. These include primarily three systems. Firstly, “The Yoga of Six Ancillaries” (Ṣaḍaṅgayoga), the common core of Śaiva yoga praxis, secondly, a series of elaborate Dhāraṇās to effect a visionary ascent through the seven modalities of perceiverhood, and, thirdly, a Trika version of the Kaula yoga of the four immersions called Piṇḍa, Pada, Rūpa, and Rūpātīta. After placing these practices in their historical context, we will read the textual passages teaching this third form of yoga.
This material will be presented in a series of five lectures on the following dates, from 5:30 to 6:45 pm each night:
Thursday, Sept. 1
Friday, Sept. 2
Sunday, Sept. 4
Tuesday, Sept. 6
Thursday, Sept. 8
COST FOR THE SERIES: $100
ABOUT SOMDEV VASUDEVA
Somdev Vasudeva received his PhD from Oxford University for his work on the Yoga of the Mālinīvijayottara in 2000. Since then he has been a Postdoctoral Researcher at the EFEO in Pondicherry in South India and has held Sanskrit teaching positions at UC Berkeley, at Columbia University in New York, and now at Kyoto University in Japan. His main areas of research are Esoteric Yoga and Sanskrit Poetry and Aesthetics.