Just start dating, boys

Sthaneshwar Timalsina is a professor of comparative religion at some American university, specializing in Tantrism. Timalsina is orginally from Nepal. He is also a Tantrika himself...

This interview with Timalsina, made by Vaishali Shah (of whom I know next to nothing) is seemingly boring, until you actually start listening. It turns out that the professor is something of a joker, while Vaishali quickly drops all pretensions of deference to the guru, asking him some pretty aggressive questions. Yes, she wants to know more about Tantric sex and black magic, and says that people on her chat want Timalsina to give them a mantra so they can get lucky in love! (Translation into even more explicit English: get laid.) The Nepalese scholar´s answer is priceless: instead of getting a mantra, perhaps people should just start dating? :D 

Indeed, it seems that Timalsina spends a good portion of the conversation trying to deflect all the "Tantric questions" from Vaishali (and the chat)! Perhaps this man should seriously consider running for office? 

Some other highlights...

When Indians think of Tantrism, they think of black magic, as in some guy trying to hurt his neighbors by sacrificing a chicken in the dead of night. When Westerners think of Tantrism, they always think of sex. Timalsina wonders aloud if Westerners are particularly repressed on sexual matters? A priceless comment from a guy who is evidently a professor in California! *What* sexual inhibitions?! 

Hindu civilization is Tantric and comes from the Agamas. For instance, all the beautiful Hindu temples. Tantric all. So Tantrism isn´t just about drinking alcohol and having sex.

The professor denies drinking and having ritual sex. "I follow a different path".

Timalsina loves the Sanskrit language, and even wrote a book entirely in Sanskrit. He admits that it wasn´t exactly a best-seller. Translating Agamas into English is very difficult, though, since every word in Sanskrit can have at least four or five different meanings! (We heard *this* one before, haven´t we, fam?)

When Timalsina was a teacher in Nepal, presumably at a gurukula, he was harassed by Maoists, who beat him up and threatened to kill him. In this way, he overcame his fear. 

Tantrism is good for women and children. By overcoming fear, they wouldn´t be abused so often.

People should study Advaita Vedanta instead of hating on it.

Not sure if this is your cup of very black spiced tea, but I found this at least somewhat interesting...