Living Mantra: Mantra, Deity, and Visionary Experience Today

Description

Living Mantra is an anthropology of mantra-experience among Hindu-tantric practitioners. In ancient Indian doctrine and legends, mantras perceived by rishis (seers) invoke deities and have transformative powers. Adopting a methodology that combines scholarship and practice, Mani Rao discovers a continuing tradition of visionaries (rishis/seers) and revelations in south India’s Andhra-Telangana. Both deeply researched and replete with fascinating narratives, the book reformulates the poetics of mantra-practice as it probes practical questions. Can one know if a vision is real or imagined? Is vision visual? Are deity-visions mediated by culture? If mantras are effective, what is the role of devotion? Are mantras language? Living Mantra interrogates not only theoretical questions, but also those a practitioner would ask: how does one choose a deity, for example, or what might bind one to a guru? Rao breaks fresh ground in redirecting attention to the moments that precede systematization and canon-formation, showing how authoritative sources are formed. Front Matter ....Pages i-xix Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Introduction (Mani Rao)....Pages 3-12 A Mountain of Scholarship (Mani Rao)....Pages 13-26 Crossing Over (Mani Rao)....Pages 27-49 Are There Revelations Today? (Mani Rao)....Pages 51-63 Front Matter ....Pages 65-65 Body-Yantra: Sahasrakshi Meru Temple, Devipuram (Mani Rao)....Pages 67-112 Self-Made: Svayam Siddha Kali Pitham, Guntur (Mani Rao)....Pages 113-148 “I Am in Mantra, Mantra Is in Me”: Nachiketa Tapovan, Kodgal (Mani Rao)....Pages 149-180 Front Matter ....Pages 181-181 Understanding Mantra Again (Mani Rao)....Pages 183-207 Back Matter ....Pages 209-215