Customer Reviews

AGHORA II: Kundalini (Aghora) (Vol II)

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We meet again Vimalananda, the Skotch-guzzling, chain-smoking, horse-racing, corpse-sitting tantrika of "Aghora: At The Left Hand of God" fame. Anyone remotely interested in tantra, yoga or Indian philosophy should read this book, if only for the marvelous allegorical interpretations of the Vedas and Vedangas that you may not find elsewhere. For example, Indra is the Lord of the Senses (Indrayi); and the esoteric Ramayana is a story of Hanuman/Prana's crossing the sea/chakras to the muladhara/Lanka where Sita/Kundalini lies captive, hostage to sense-deluded Ravana. Some stories are best taken with a pinch of salt--a pinch to make sure you're awake; salt to learn the alchemical lessons: for example, turning the sadhu's sandals to ash by mere touch (holy smoke!) or judging the jnana of a saint by the size of his feces (BS!). There is some question whether Vimalananda "really" existed or is only "imaginary" but, to me Vimalananda is as real and influential as Thrice-blessed Hermes, Hamlet, or don Juan de Mateo. Plus, the good doctor teaches how to raise shakti from Svadishthana to Anahata.

This is a beautiful book. It is not a Tantrick manual nor a book attempting to make you 'realize'. It is simply inspiring...It takes you into the heart of a tantrick..his reasonings for his emotions...His love for the goddess. This book will change your life if you understand it properly...It reminds you of a love you once lost yourself

I picked up Aghora II one fine day because the picture on top of the book seemed interesting. It lay on my bookshelf for a few months when one day in the absence of anything better to do I started reading it. I had no inkling that my life was about to be transformed.

Before that I was another one of those "English-medium" taught disconnected Indian who had a passing idea of India's culture and traditions. Although I had heard all the rhetoric about the greatness of Indian culture, religion etc. etc. nothing had provided me an in depth vision of it at all. I took 2 years to read the three parts of Aghora. I read nothing else. I did not need to. Even now when I go back to them sometimes, I read something which prevents me from reading anything for weeks, such is the depth that has been addressed.

It won't be an overstatement if I would say that these books have changed my insight completely towards everything known or unknown.

I highly recommend this book for individuals interested in the esoteric significance of various Hindu/Indian rituals, including the inner ritual/sacrifice that takes place during a Kundalini awakening. In the book, the author relates his firsthand conversations with his guru Vimalananda, who is truly one of the most fascinating personages to ever be depicted in any medium. Some of the episodes are incredible - to the point where the reader must either conclude that the account is fictional or must completely redefine her subjective notion of what constitutes reality. It is hoped the author's assurances that Vimalananda did, in fact, exist will lead the reader to choose the latter, a conclusion which has far-reaching implications in providing one with a new perspective on life

Once again Dr. Svoboda has brought Vimalananda to life within these pages. A must read for practioners of Yoga, not to mention the chapter on Music ,for those of us who love singing to God. In these pages Vimalanda continues to assist me in my own sadhana,by helping me to learn to develop my own identity with God. You don't have to be spiritually adept to benefit from Vimalananda's wisdom. I used to think that cleaning the house or grocery shopping was a boring and meaningless drudgery , that comes along with being a housewife. Now I find these to be beneficial tasks because of Vimalananda's 5 words"MAKE EVERYTHING INTO A SADHANA"'

This is an excellent book on Tantra. If you are a spiritual seeker or simply wondering about spiritualism or confused about religion and spiritualism or for any kind of spiritual questions in your mind this is book for you. Aghori Vimalanda, who had experienced the Ultimate, kept a low profile happened (or pre-destined) to come in contact with author who lived in India at that time. This was live narration of his encounters with ultimate spiritual energy or kundalini maa and author did an excellent job in compiling his recitation of his cosmic experience into words, of-course, as much as could be possible. Unlike many other books this is not a mere theoretical, vague and ignorant explanation of old scriptures because she (kundalini) is a "subjective reality" thus can not be imagined or understood by "objective" confined mind but can only be falsely interpreted and made poisonous. If you are wondering about some God men, who they are? How they can make some people pursue, how they start claiming themselves knower of all and thus God men - read this book before taking your next step.

Jai Ma!

This is a great book and provides "some" incite in to the Aghora Kapalika tradition but please don't mistake it for a "Aghora bible".

Those truly interested in a valid tradition based on Kaula Tantra[Ie Aghora/Kapalika/Varmamarga etc] please feel free to visit [...]

Virabhadra

I picked this book to get a better understanding of the symbolism behind Tantra. Initially I was disappointed to see a narrative style of the author's interactions with Vimalananda, but as I read further, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of information packed into this easy to read, narrative style. This book covers a lot of the symbolism and we can expect that a book of this size cannot cover all of it. The esoteric meaning of Ganesha, Krishna and Gopis, Krishna and Shiva and the chapter on esoteric Ramayana are all a delight, but the last chapter on Gurus and Disciples was a bit distasteful in my opinion.

Robert Svoboda provides an approachable and in context discourse on Kundalini. A great read, it also enhances and builds on my understanding of the topic.

The entire "Aghora" series is the most informative, brilliant, enlightening and entertaining collection of writing on subject matter of this sort. While other works seek to scientifically understand, divulge and explain the meaning and methodology of Kundalini, Siddhis, et al., "Aghora" simply allows the Divine to do the talking. Upon completion of each book, one is left with total knowledge of just a tiny piece of the Divine's Reality.

Vimalananda, I believe, is what makes these books special. Without his energy, his direct experience and knowledge of the Divine, there would be no story to tell; he is the channel by which truth is transmitted or relayed to the willing and open consciousness.

My only dissatisfaction (if you can call it that) is the fact that only 3 books exist in the series. There is nothing I'd like more than continuous outpourings of Aghora, Tantra and Kundalini teachings- in the style of Vimalananda/Svoboda, of course ;)