Language of the Gods, Part Three: Tantra and Chakras, with Debashish Banerji

Debashish Banerji, PhD, is former Dean of Academic Affairs at the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles as well as an adjunct faculty member at Pasadena City College and the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is also the former director of the East West Cultural Center in Los Angeles. He is author of Seven Quartets of Becoming: A Transformative Yoga Psychology Based on the Diaries of Sri Aurobindo and also The Alternate Nation of Abanindranath Tagore, a book about his great grandfather. He edited an anthology about his great uncle, Rabindranath Tagore in the Twenty-First Century.

Here he focuses on the more esoteric aspects of the Sanskrit tradition, particularly as embodied in Tantra. Whereas traditional Vedanta teachings emphasize the attainment of spiritual freedom by abandoning all desire, in Tantra the emphasis is placed on the fulfillment of all desires. Tantric traditions also elaborate in great detail the subtle bodies of the human being, include nodes of awareness called Chakras and pathways between these Chakras called Nadis. There are seven Chakras starting at the base of the spine and rising up to the “Thousand Petalled Lotus” above the top of the head. Each of these is associated with a different focus of consciousness. Each is also associated with a different Hindu goddess. Through Tantric meditation one achieves an awareness of the unique powers associated with each goddess.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He serves as dean of transformational psychology at the University of Philosophical Research. He teaches parapsychology for ministers in training with the Centers for Spiritual Living through the Holmes Institute. He has served as vice-president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, and is the recipient of its Pathfinder Award for outstanding contributions to the field of human consciousness. He is also past-president of the non-profit Intuition Network, an organization dedicated to creating a world in which all people are encouraged to cultivate and apply their inner, intuitive abilities.

(Recorded on December 19, 2015)

[amanitamuscaria]

I can't get enough of Debashish - thank you Jeffrey for this wonderful series.

[debashishbanerji]

At around 10:20, Jeffrey raised the subject of introspection as the means to arrive at the subtle anatomy of the nadis. He surmised that it might have been a taboo in India, "as in other cultures" to "cut open cadavers." I did not comment on this, but it is unlikely that there was any such taboo against dissection in India, given both the Tantric cults that performed rituals with dead bodies and the discipline of surgery which developed in the classical period in India (2nd c. BCE - 6th c. CE). What the attitudes to anatomical dissection were before this, is difficult to tell.
A word needs also to be said about the method of "introspection" and the representations of non-material realities. Introspection is a blanket word to cover for the gamut of subjective experiences such as daydream, fancy, fantasy, imagination, cogitation and making distinctions (vitarka, viveka), ideation, intuition, revelation, inspiration, ontological identification of various kinds). The conventions of yoga were commonly accepted conventions representing certain commonly held experiences. Thus the symbolism of serpent and lotuses could have been a received tradition or an invented tradition, but they became realities for a civilization. There may have been other ways to represent these things - e.g. the Chinese saw the dragon instead of the serpent. 
Tantra itself provides an alternative example, which shows its openness to a plural descriptology. In Tantra, the language carries a lot of nuance. Jeffrey asked me the meaning of chakra and I said "circle, " but it would have been better to say "wheel." A wheel is a technological symbol, not a natural one. In this symbology, we see another descriptive discourse, that of technologies of the self. Tantra is technology by which the coiled spring shoots up a channel with stationary wheels along its length. The energy rush of the spring would set into motion the stationary wheels and awaken the sleeping matrikas. (or rather, ishwara-shakti pairs) to control these wheels and organize the life of the centers in their control. The principle means of Tantra are given as yantras and mantras. The mantra is a technology of sound. The yantra is a Tantric geometric diagram for meditational contemplation; but it also literally means "instrument" or "machine." Thus through this descriptology, the technical is returned to the archetypal and the Divine, thereby reversing the colonization of interiority by techno-capitalism.

[adamkaplancs]

This is one of my favorite interviews, and I keep returning to it to refresh.

[joncastro]

Great info, this should have millions of views and likes

[rajeevkulshreshtha]

I tried studing chakra Debashish.. They can be closely related to neuron group in respective location. When such group is outside brain it is gaglion. The chakras are nothing but neuron group at the location. The neurons are cells that can comand and take decision and houses our conscious

[meganclose-dees]

These three discussions were so rich and such a joy to follow! I've long pondered the meanings of these Sanskrit words (concepts!) and am just thrilled to learn about them in such an easy and enjoyable way. The rapport the two of you share is palpable...and Dr. Banerji's voice is transporting! THANK YOU!!

[vickyisat]

This is one of the most informative talks I have ever heard on the topic.

[alexandercripple]

thank you for the very sophisticated conversation! The best chanel abou this topics so far. Around 8:02 a light been passes close to the dr. head.

[taleandclawrock]

Very interesting what is said about the Goddesses being the power coiled up in each chakra...i was immediately struck by the similarity of the discovery ( rediscovery?) in modern times with the mitochondria which are the energy 'batteries' of each cell, and which are inherited from the mother. And with some researchers ( i think Nassim Harramein is one) who have said that at an elnergy level, each cell is an effective torus field/vortex.

[mandala]

Wonderful...totally "rajasic" series presentation by both Jeffrey and Dr Banerji...so informative and beautifully conveyed...thanks so much!...and, Mr Mishlove, you are truly a host 'par excellance' for such spiritual discussions...(also especially 'rocking it' in interviews with your buddy Fred Alan Wolf)!! :)

[whitehawk]

Loved this series, thank you both! If at any future time, you could perhaps explore maladies that come up when kundalini hits blockages, and how to manage such occurrences, I'd be most appreciative! My awakened kundalini took me on a journey that was often difficult. If I had a teacher/guru to show me the way, I might have been spared some trouble and gained more wisdom / awareness.

[placebo]

Fascinating discussion. I think I've heard some elements of this talk in some theosophical discussions, in the past. I suppose that Theosophy has dealt with some concepts of Tantrism and Vedantism presented here, formulating its own synthesis.

[sidilicious]

Marvelous conversation. I learned a lot.

[prasannadas]

Thanks! Nicely put. The analogy made between the chakras and the
consciousness in the states of mental, vital and physical. The experience simultaneity is not there, therefore, the lower Maya for the exclusive concentration is in play.(experience..of simult.., abbove), Thanks again!

[SaveriusTianhui]

Wonderful and informative talk. Thank you.

[devidaughter]

In view of this conversation being about Tantra, why not call it "the language of the goddesses and gods?" As beautiful as they are, we have two men here in conversation, referring only to the works of other men, even though Tantra is all about balancing the feminine and masculine and honouring the sacred Goddess! To me this means not just in esoteric Tantric practices, but also bringing the balance of masculine and feminine into all that we do, in every moment, paying attention to who we include and exclude, who we pay tribute to and who we ignore, whose work we celebrate and whose work we dismiss. As two very intelligent, refined and thoughtful men who are clearly open to the concept of honouring the 'sacred feminine' in themselves and others, I expect a better translation into action.

[PV]

I must disagree with the claims that Indian tradition has never really questioned the existence of paranormal phenomena and God(s). Both materialism and atheism have been explored by Indian philosophical schools, most obviously by the Charvakas but by no means exclusively by them.