Though many practitioners of yoga and meditation are f e familiar with the Shri a sacred diagram, few fully understand the depth of meaning in this representation of the cosmos. The Yoginihrdaya, a Hindu tantric text dating back to the tenth or eleventh century CE, discloses to initiates the secret of the Heart of the Yogini, or the supreme Reality: the divine plane where the Goddess (Tripurasundari, or Consciousness itself) manifests her power and glory, through her yantra, mantra, and worship. André Padoux, with Roger-Orphé Jeanty, offers the first English translation of this seminal text. Padoux demonstrates that the Yoginihrdaya is not a philosophical treatise aimed at expounding particular meta- physical tenets. Rather it aims to show a way towards liberation, or, more precisely, to a tantric form of liberation in this life-jivanmukti, which grants both liberation from the fetters of the world and domination over it.
THIS BOOK ORIGINATES in a French translation of the Yoginthrdaya from Sanskrit by André Padoux, published in 1994 in Paris by the Collège de France. It was printed by Editions de Boccard as an annotated translation with transliterated Sanskrit of the three chapters of the Yoginthrdaya and of its commentary by Amytänanda, meant for an academic readership.
Pursuant to his interest in the Śrī Vidyā tradition, this book was read by Roger-Orphé Jeanty, living in the United States. Assuming that the Yoginīhrdaya would be of considerable interest to a larger English-speaking readership, he proceeded in 2003 to translate its three chapters into English, working with his colleague Sarah Caldwell, using Padoux's French translation and a Sanskrit devanagari edition. This was published infor- mally in English with the original Sanskrit both in the Indian devanagari script and in transliteration. It was designed for use by readers interested in or practicing within contemporary Śrī Vidya communities.
IN SPITE OF its modest size, the Yoginthrdaya (abbreviated as YH hereafter), whose title may be translated as "The Heart of the Yogini," rates among the principal works of Tantric Hinduism. For the lay reader who is not a scholar, this text may be surprising or disconcerting because of its language, its obscu- rities, and its challenging concepts. We have made every effort in our com- ments and annotations to clarify these difficulties in the text and have used extensively the commentary by Amītānanda called the Dipika ("The Lamp"). Some help to the reader would first consist in placing the YH in its context, which is Tantric Hinduism, the world of Hindu Tantra. This, naturally, cannot be done satisfactorily within the limits of this introduc- tion. A few points, however, may be made to situate the YH in the historical development of Indian Hindu culture and, in that culture, within the Tantric phenomenon.
Abhinavagupta (38)
Buddhist (71)
Chakra (41)
Goddess (131)
History (33)
Kundalini (137)
Mantra (66)
Original Tantric Texts (15)
Philosophy (113)
Shaivism (70)
Yantra (43)
हिन्दी (88)
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