Academics and Tantric Shaktism

[Guest guest]

Thanks for that, JaiMaa1008 ...

 

Very interesting indeed! Kind of a devastating critique, really.

Chakravorty basically says White has all of his facts straight, but

that his entire analytical model is wrong, and therefore his

conclusions are nonsensical to the learned practitioner. It's a

pretty clear illustration of the problem Kochu always pointing out

between the scholar's and the initiate's viewpoint.

 

Basically (for those of you who haven't read the review),

Chakravorty says White's analysis works only if you use the "older-

is-more-authentic" model of the monotheistic faiths like Judaism,

Christianity and Islam. But when you use the Hindu "every-generation-

adds-something" model, White's analysis becomes somewhat irrelevant

to actual practice -- a kind of academic masturbation: self-

contained analysis with no connection to the living tradition under

discussion.

 

White definitely has a formidable grasp of the texts and traditions

of Tantra -- Chakravorty doesn't dispute it. But he is a bit too

narrow; as SE101 put it when we spoke about this article

today, "Hinduism/ Tantra are much more fluid than his way of

thinking allows. He is very either/or, black & white, linear. And

you and I both know Tantra is NOT that way."

 

The whole thing reminds me of an old story about the famous author,

Mark Twain. It's said that Twain was a most creative user of

obscenity. He'd get mad and come up with brilliant and hilarious

(but utterly vulgar) original expressions, and this habit

embarrassed his poor wife to no end.

 

So one day, after a particularly choice rant, she walked up to

Twain, looked him in the eye and repeated everything he had just

said, verbatim, without the slightest inflection. And when she

finished, she said, "Now, how did that sound to you?"

 

Twain looked at her for a long time ... then finally replied, "You

got the words right, my dear, but you still haven't learned the

tune!"

 

This statement is also very true of academics writing about Tantra,

and it is maybe what happened with White. In a way it's amazing to

behold -- it almost illustrates Tantra's legendary inscrutibility to

outside analysis.

 

The best academic writing on Tantra that I've seen would probably be

Brook's monograph on Sri Vidya in South India. But I'm absolutely

sure that Brooks is an initiate. You can just feel it in the way

that he writes. He uses all the ridiculous and verbose academic

language like the rest of them, but still there is a tangible

difference. His books are definitely academic -- they're not among

the New Agey translations and testimonials by devotees that we often

see on the market. But nonetheless, reading Brooks, one can tell he

has been initiated -- and practices too.

 

Again, as SE101 noted above, it's his WAY of thinking about the

subject matter that comes through. It's not so rigid or linear; at

least not all the time. To understand a lot of this stuff, one has

to shed a lot of Western thinking patterns -- and, perhaps just as

important, you've got to apply some Western thought constructs in

new ways -- like scientific method to spiritual examination.

 

SE101: "Fluid seems to be the operative word. The Western paradigms

are only a spring board -- you have to be flexible enough mentally

to go in directions where they dont necessarily point."

 

White, Brooks, Brown, Coburn, Hawley, Doniger, Kinsley etc etc --

all scholars who write well and very knowledgeably on Shaktism and

Tantra -- are still very much worth reading. They are invaluable

resources, especially for people approaching the tradition from the

outside. But you've got to read engage them one-on-one;

hypercritically and take your own experience into account as well.

You can't be a passive reader.

 

Aum MAtangyai NamaH

 

, "jaimaa1008"

<jaimaa1008> wrote:

>

> hi DB,

> Here's a very interesting review of Kiss of the yogini, saying

that

> its a gross misrepesentation of tantra. Tis is from the Svabinava

> site of Sunthar Visuavalingam(he has published great articles)

>

>

>

http://www.svabhinava.org/HinduCivilization/SitansuChakravarti/Tantra

M

> isrepresentedDavidWhite-frame.html

[Guest guest]

Jay Gurudev,

 

Thank you all of you and specially DB for the audio link. The

discussion on the audio as well as here, in the group was really

awesome. I think it answered all my queries. I find myself lucky

to be part of the group.

 

Thank You once again.

 

Regards,

 

Mithilesh