An Indian Tantric Tradition and Its Modern Global Revival by Douglas; Osto

Author:Douglas; Osto [Osto, Douglas;]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2020-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

6 Consuming Nondual Śaivism

Having discussed some of the central figures and movements responsible for the contemporary revival of Nondual Śaiva Theosophy (NŚT), I now turn to the “consumers” of this revived tradition. Modern consumers of NŚT appear to constitute a particular social demographic not dissimilar to that of the practitioners of modern postural yoga (MPY).1 They tend to be urban, upper- to upper-middle class, white and female. The connections between NŚT and MPY are significant and therefore I shall address them in some detail here. Moreover, not coincidentally, the same demographic of MPY predominates among the clientele of what some scholars call “neo-Tantra” (Urban 2003, 2006). David Gordon White (2003, p. 219) compares the bourgeois bohemian (bobo) profile of this demographic to that of the Kashmiri elites such as Abhinavagupta, who practiced their own form of “High Tantra.” Likewise, contemporary NŚT teachers and gurus often present Nondual Śaivism as a “higher” (a more sophisticated, elite or authentic) form of Tantra or yoga. There are of course important differences between medieval NŚT and its modern manifestation. One is the emergence in the mid-twentieth century of New Age spiritualities (NAS) as an alternative to traditional religions (Roof 2009). People involved in these alternative spiritualities often describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.” New Age spiritualities do not possess any fixed beliefs or set of doctrinal orthodoxies; however, studies have shown that they often maintain a cluster of related beliefs and share a common ethos. For example, Paul Heelas points out that monism (“all things are one”) tends to be a central tenet of NAS, or what he calls “spiritualities of life” (Heelas 2008). In addition, Jeffrey Kripal (2007, pp. 18–20) argues that the “American religion of no religion,” is fundamentally tantric in its view of spirituality. Aspects of NAS such as their monistic and tantric orientations make them fertile ground for the growth of modern forms of NŚT. Thus as a form of “High Tantra” or advanced yogic philosophy, NŚT appears well positioned within the New Age milieu to promote itself as an elite form of alternative spirituality for New Age seekers. However, before NŚT could be recreated in its modern form, the tradition needed to be “dehinduized” and “whitened” for export to the contemporary global consumer.

I use the word “consumer” here to highlight another crucial aspect of the context in which the current revival is taking place – global neoliberalism and late consumer capitalism. An alternative term for those people who go to modern “providers” of NŚT – gurus, scholar-practitioners and organizations – in order to learn about and (more importantly) learn how to “do” (practice) “Kashmir Śaivism” could be “clients.” The model of “client (consumer) and provider (supplier)” is a pervasive one in the New Age spiritual marketplace, and much of the social and personal transactions of NŚT fall within this framework. Thus, for example, it is very common for a modern person interested in NŚT to pay a fee (sometimes nominal, sometimes significant) to attend a weekend-long workshop on

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