Digital Ebook (PDF) — Tantrik Texts Series, Volume XIV: The Sanskrit Text with an English Introduction by Arthur Avalon
Text / Tradition: Kaulāvalī-Nirṇaya (Kaulavali, a major compendium of the Kaula school of Tantra) | Composed by Jnanananda Paramahamsa | Edited by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) | Tantrik Texts Series Vol. XIV, Agamanusandhana Samiti / Sanskrit Press Depository, Calcutta
Key Features
The Kaulavali-Nirnaya — "The Ascertainment of the Way of the Kaulas" - is one of the most important and comprehensive practical manuals of the Kaula tradition, presented here as Volume XIV of the celebrated Tantrik Texts series edited by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe). Composed by the adept and master Jnanananda Paramahamsa, and accompanied by Avalon's illuminating English introduction, this edition makes the Sanskrit text of a foundational Kaula compendium available to scholars and practitioners alike.
A substantial work of twenty-two chapters, the Kaulavali is a true compendium, drawing together — and often expressly quoting — the authority of earlier scriptures such as the celebrated Kularnava Tantra, while always stressing the practical application of the tradition's teachings. It traces the lineage of the early Kaula gurus, and opens, like the Kularnava, with a meditation on the preciousness of human birth and the necessity of devoting one's life to the realization of the Supreme (the Tattva, the Brahman). From this foundation it unfolds, step by step, the complete discipline of the Kaula sadhaka.
Across its chapters the text sets forth the daily observances and purificatory rites — the sacred bathing with its mantras and mudras, the bhutashuddhi performed through pranayama and nyasa, the placing of the life of the deity within the body of the worshipper, and the inner offering by which all of one's acts, doubts, merits, and sins are surrendered as oblation. It treats the greatness of Kula and the characteristics of the true worshipper, the lunar, solar, and fiery kalas arising from the letters of the alphabet, the mysteries of the chakra and the awakening of the pulsating essence of Shakti, and the disciplines of purashcharana and mantra.
The Kaulavali is also notable for its elevated ethical vision. It condemns violence, slander, and wrongdoing, and enjoins upon the Kaula a profound reverence toward all women, who are to be looked upon as living manifestations of the Great Mother. The true Kaula, it teaches, should never speak ill of any being or of the scriptures and teachings of other faiths — conducting himself with the inward realization of Shakti while harmonizing outwardly with all.
For the scholar of Sanskrit tantric literature, the serious student of the Kaula and Shakta traditions, and the admirer of Arthur Avalon's monumental work, the Kaulavali-Nirnaya is an essential and richly detailed scripture — presented here in its Sanskrit text with Avalon's English introduction in a single volume.
Ebook Details
- Format: PDF (digital download)
- Language: Sanskrit text with an English introduction
- Text: Kaulāvalī-Nirṇaya (compendium of the Kaula tradition)
- Author: Jnanananda Paramahamsa; edited with English introduction by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe)
- Original Publication: Tantrik Texts Series Vol. XIV, Agamanusandhana Samiti / Sanskrit Press Depository, Calcutta
- Content: The complete Sanskrit text with scholarly English introduction, faithfully reproduced from the classic edition
- Ideal For: Scholars of Sanskrit tantric literature, students and practitioners of the Kaula and Shakta traditions, readers of Arthur Avalon / John Woodroffe, and collectors of the classic Tantrik Texts series
Why You'll Love It
A foundational Kaula compendium in a single download — the Sanskrit Kaulavali-Nirnaya of Jnanananda Paramahamsa with Arthur Avalon's English introduction, a comprehensive and practical manual of Kaula sadhana gathering the authority of earlier scriptures, for the serious student and scholar of the tradition.
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