Contemplative traditions focused on Śiva and the Goddess developed during the medieval or post-Gupta period in Kashmir, although not limited to that region. In this short paper, Gavin Flood describes textual accounts of a kind of meditation in those traditions and secondly draws out an implicit understanding or model of expanded awareness that the texts present and its relevance to embodied philosophy.

The British Museum’s exhibition, Tantra: enlightenment to revolution explored how a radical South Asian philosophy has shaped lives and captures imaginations for more than a millennium. Here its curator, Imma Ramos, offers her insights into what she learnt from working on the show and its accompanying book.

Tantric methods of transformation are among the most powerful means of spiritual practice ever devised. Tantra has the ability to radically transform a practitioner, and even bring about enlightenment in one lifetime. But anything that has this much power to help has a correlative power to hurt. The promise is directly proportional to the peril. If you’re properly prepared, Tantric practices can light you up. If you’re not, they will burn you up.