Seminars
Graduate Seminars in the US
The non-dual philosophy of
Kashmir Shaivism has become increasingly recognized as one of
the important schools of Indian philosophical thought. However,
there are only a few graduate programs in the West where its texts
are studied in depth. Therefore Muktabodha has held two seminars
for graduate and Ph.D. level students on key texts of this philosophy,
led by senior US scholars in the field. Working directly with
the original Sanskrit texts, the seminars focused on passages
from Utpaladeva’s Isvarapratyabhijna
Karika and Abhinavagupta’s Tantrasara.
In these small, highly focused seminars, participants have been
able to work closely with leading scholars, studying significant
texts and topics that were not generally offered at their home
universities.
One participant described the seminars
as “one of the most rewarding learning experiences of my graduate
school career,” highlighting the value of “rigorous study of a
most challenging philosophical text, with the best professors
in the field, in the company of highly motivated fellow graduate
students.”
Entering
the Heart of Scripture:
a week's immersion in the Ishvara-Pratyabhijna-Karika
by Marcy Braverman.
Undergraduate Seminars in India
Ironically, the situation
in India is every bit as critical, since the living, oral tradition
that supports the texts of Kashmir Shaivism is rapidly dying out.
Recognizing this, our founder Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, encouraged
Muktabodha to make a commitment to help preserve and reinvigorate
this invaluable piece of intellectual and spiritual heritage.
From the time the early texts of
Kashmir Shaivism were composed some 1,000 years ago, students
engaged in their study were to be taught using a classical method
that blends agama (study of a
scriptural text), yukti (application
of logic), and anubhuti (reflections
on their own inner experience). This method models Muktabodha’s
aim to bring about a paradigm shift in the contemporary study
and preservation of Indian religious philosophy, a shift that
brings together analytic scholarship and the experiential knowledge
of the spiritual practitioner. This same traditional method was
used by leading scholars of Kashmir Shaivism when they taught
at a series of scriptural study retreats in Gurudev Siddha Peeth,
Ganeshpuri.
One participant wrote that although
the scholars’ teaching method was challenging, it quickly became
apparent that in addition to following the flow of specific ideas,
the process the scholars used of repetition, restatement, and
continuous pointing to a larger Truth embedded in and framing
the whole text “caused a kind of internal rewiring that took the
teaching deep into my being.”
Seminar at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
Muktabodha’s first seminar
in an academic setting was co-sponsored by the prestigious Kashi
Hindu Vishvavidyalaya (Benares Hindu University) and held on their
beautiful campus in Varanasi, the ancient city of scholars. The
seminar was taught by the leading scholars from Varanasi, Kolkatta
& Ujjain, and focused on Muktabodha’s publication Isvara
Pratyabhijna Karika (“Verses on the
Recognition of the Lord”). The 3 days had a vital feeling of breaking
new ground, though it was actually renewing old ground by bringing
together academics and students keen to imbibe the teachings and
experience the states of consciousness the texts describe.
* Pt. Hemendra Nath Chakravarty, formerly
the senior pandita of the IGNCA Research Centre and an internationally
recognized authority on Pratyabhijna philosophy.
* Dr. Kamalesh Jha, Head of the Department
of Agama & Dharmashastra at Banaras Hindu University, from
the lineage of the Kashmir Shaiva pandita, Rameshwar Jha.
* Dr. Devabrata Sensharma, formerly Head of the
Philosophy Department at Kurukshetra University, now at the Ramakrishna
Math in Kolkata, author of many works on Kashmir Shaivism, and
disciple of the great exponent of Kashmir Shaivism, Dr. Gopinath
Kaviraj. (Dr. Sensharma shown above with Dr. William K. Mahony)
* Dr. Kamlesh Dutta Tripathi, Dean of Kalidas Academy
at Vikram Vishvavidyalaya in Ujjain, formerly Head of Department
of Agama & Dharmashastra at Banaras Hindu University, and
author on Pratyabhijna philosophy.
In his opening remarks, the President
of Muktabodha, Dr. William K. Mahony, noted the symbolic significance
of holding this seminar in the sacred city of Varanasi on the
banks of the Ganges River. He reminded participants that Varanasi
is also known as Kashi, the City of Light, and that according
to sacred mythology there are actually three sacred Ganges rivers
that come together as a samgha, a junction, in this special place:
the celestial Ganges, the terrestrial Ganges, and the subterranean
Ganges. He then said that the seminar similarly brings together
three mutually-illuminating rays of light. The many participants
from different parts of the world are like the terrestrial Ganges.
The knowledge that descends from the heights of Shaiva wisdom
and expressed in the Isvara-Pratyabhijna-Karika is like the celestial
Ganges. And the participants’ own experience refined through their
dedication to the spiritual life is like the underground Ganges,
for it wells up from the depths of their own inner wisdom.
There are no seminars currently
planned.
