A review of "Monsoon of Grace"
This is a short essay by Mark
Canter alias Adyashakti, not to be confused with the more well-known Adyashanti.
The essay is also available at one of Canter's blogs, The Way of Wonder. The
author compares four spiritual teachers who emphasized the “descending” force
of the kundalini, not just the “ascending” force: Abhinavagupta, Sri Aurobindo,
Ramana Maharshi and Franklin Jones (Adi Da Samraj).
The essay sounds scholarly and can therefore be hard to digest for the general reader. I can't say I was slain by the Shakti when reading it, but it's nevertheless interesting to find Aurobindo and Ramana mentioned in a Tantric-kundalini context. Usually, Ramana is depicted as a guru of the Advaita-empty-your-mind-and-despise-your-body sort. Aurobindo is often portrayed very exoterically as an Indian Teilhard (or an Indian Ken Wilber!), who believed in Evolution and is therefore Modern. The “descending” kundalini could also be a new concept for many people, used to the (by now frankly tiresome) pictures of chakras found in every run-of-the-mill spiritual book (yes, that's the “ascending” kundalini).
Canter is careful to add some footnotes on the cult allegations against Franklin Jones, and Ken Wilber's somewhat awkward relation to the man. If you are interested in these subjects, and is used to a more scholarly-sounding language, Adyashakti's little essay may perhaps be of some interest as a “teaser trailer”.
The essay sounds scholarly and can therefore be hard to digest for the general reader. I can't say I was slain by the Shakti when reading it, but it's nevertheless interesting to find Aurobindo and Ramana mentioned in a Tantric-kundalini context. Usually, Ramana is depicted as a guru of the Advaita-empty-your-mind-and-despise-your-body sort. Aurobindo is often portrayed very exoterically as an Indian Teilhard (or an Indian Ken Wilber!), who believed in Evolution and is therefore Modern. The “descending” kundalini could also be a new concept for many people, used to the (by now frankly tiresome) pictures of chakras found in every run-of-the-mill spiritual book (yes, that's the “ascending” kundalini).
Canter is careful to add some footnotes on the cult allegations against Franklin Jones, and Ken Wilber's somewhat awkward relation to the man. If you are interested in these subjects, and is used to a more scholarly-sounding language, Adyashakti's little essay may perhaps be of some interest as a “teaser trailer”.
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