651. Shambhavi Sarasvati

Posted on June 23, 2022 by Rick Archer

Shambhavi is the spiritual director of Jaya Kula, a nonprofit organization offering opportunities to learn and practice in the traditions of Trika Shaivism and the Dzogchen. She has also studied meditation with teachers in the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions. Her root Guru is Anandamayi Ma.

Shambhavi emphasizes direct encounters with the wisdom of the heart through the more explicitly devotional teachings and practices of Trika Shaivism and Dzogchen. In addition to offering teachings in spiritual practice and view, Shambhavi is a trained jyotishi and diviner. At one time, Shambhavi taught at Northwestern University. She left academia in 2004 in order to devote herself to practice, writing, and teaching in her spiritual traditions.

Websites:

Books (Author page on Amazon)

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded June 20, 2022

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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568. Paul Muller-Ortega, 2nd Interview

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Rick Archer

Paul Muller-Ortega, Ph.D., the founder of Blue Throat Yoga, is an internationally recognized meditation teacher, and one of the world’s most highly respected academic scholars in the field of Indian Religion and Hindu Tantra.

Paul is passionate and devoted to teaching students how to access their truest Self, and to offer the knowledge base to understand and support that experience. He has led hundreds of meditation retreats, offered a vast array of study courses, translated and provided commentary on many of the most inspired sacred texts of the Śaiva-Śākta tradition, and has personally trained over 40 Ācāryas as Authorized Teachers of Neelakantha Meditation.

Paul is uniquely qualified to offer these potent teachings, drawing upon the synergy of his long career as an academic scholar, his particular capacity to translate complex ideas and concepts into easily accessible and comprehensible understanding, and a personal history of deep meditation and extensive practice in the Śaiva-Śākta Tantra tradition.

Paul Muller-Ortega is the author of the highly acclaimed book, The Triadic Heart of Siva: Kaula Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the Non-Dual Shaivism of Kashmir (Suny Series, Shaiva Traditions of Kashmir), in which he examines the “Heart” as the mystical core of Consciousness. He is also one of the co-authors of “Meditation Revolution”, as well as numerous scholarly articles on aspects of Tantric Studies.

Website: bluethroatyoga.com

Another book:

The Philosophy of Sadhana (SUNY Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview.

First BatGap interview with Paul.

Interview recorded September 12, 2020

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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554. Sally Kempton – 2nd Interview

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Rick Archer

Sally Kempton is a deeply practiced teacher of meditation and spiritual philosophy, and the author of the books Meditation for the Love of It and Awakening Shakti: as well as the audio course Doorways to the Infinite, recently put out by Sounds True. A former swami in the Saraswati order of India, she has been practicing and teaching devotional contemplative tantra for more than 40 years. Her teaching is powerfully sourced in the eastern meditative traditions of yoga and Kashmir Shaivism, yet highly contemporary in her focus on evolutionary practice. She offers a powerful transmission of meditative experience.

Books:

Website: sallykempton.com

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

This interview was recorded May 15, 2020, as part of an online conference offered by the Science and Nonduality Conference, held May 17-23, entitled Wisdom in Times of Crisis. The conference has finished, but you may sign up to access all of its content.

Transcript of this interview.

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download