Aghora, described in this volume as “super-tantra,” is a Path of Devotion to the Great Mother Goddess Kundalini, here manifesting with the Name and Image of the Goddess Tara. This Way is one of extraordinary extremes and intensities, even for tantra, and its aim is nothing less than to destroy the human limitations of the practitioner, so that he or she becomes a super human–in fact, a kind of deity.
Aghora II is the second volume of a trilogy describing and explicating this Way as practiced by the Aghori Vimalananda, and as recounted by his stu dent, the ayurvedic physician Robert Svoboda. The result is certainly one of the most unusual works to be encountered in the whole wonder-filled liter ature of world religions. It is also a work very much of this time, shredding and trampling on universal and almost-universal prohibitions. The Aghori sets out to overcome human limitations by shattering internally every restraint, no matter how ancient or powerful the taboo, and also by creating a body/mind that is able to contain emotional, sensory and other experi ences which would consume anyone not properly prepared.
The Aghori, as presented by Vimalananda, must literally and systemati cally create a body (and subtle bodies) with a nervous system and other sys tems able to explore levels of consciousness and to tolerate kinds and intensities of energies which would otherwise result in madness, terrible suffering, destruction of gross and subtle body/mind organs, and death. Crucial to avoiding those outcomes are access to the necessary esoteric
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teachings and trainings and, above all, to the Goddess.
As Vimalananda says again and again, in this present time the external forms of the spiritual disciplines are of much lesser importance than the inner work and, above all, the immediate and personal relationship to deity. It is possible to relate to the Great Mother Goddess in such a way that most of the requirements, temporal and material, of a spiritual discipline may be cast aside. However, what is dispensed with in the way of formalities must be compensated for by duration and intensity of both Practice and Devo tion. Much present-day ritual and ceremony can be understood as aids or even crutches of a kind for those who lack the courage, dedication and devotion to proceed in unmediated interaction with Deity.
In speaking of intensities involved in such practice, here reference is to something going well beyond, for example, the “dionysiac element” in reli gions as experienced in practice. Those intensities are almost always reserved for special occasions, limited in time, and experienced within the context of different kinds of protections. But the Aghori, or similar figure, must always be willing to do without human supports of any kind and to venture into the awe-ful worlds of the nonhuman supported only by activated latent potentials and by confident belief that the Mother Goddess will guide and protect. Such a practitioner must be willing to venture into anything or noth ing, knowing that in either case a successful experience will bring further isolation from the human and immersion in realities from which there can be no tuming back. We are indeed speaking here of a “cosmic thrill-seeker” at home in realms of either terror or rapture–an ultimate psychenaut who is also our most authentic contemporary saint.
Despite the uniqueness and emphasis on inner work there is in this book an enormous wealth of information of value to the student of Eastern spiri tual disciplines. Often even a sentence or two will shed more significant light on profound states of consciousness or very complex stages of medita tion than the reader is likely to find in whole volumes intended to illumine the same subjects. The book is of value to advanced practitioners of yoga and other paths of self-actualization while, at the same time, it should be fascinating reading for anyone interested in the farther reaches of human experiences and human potentials.
Let it be added that there is much in this volume, and more in its prede cessor, that will be startling and shocking to almost all. How much is to be taken as “objective truth,” and how much is to be taken as “subjective truth,” often is unclear. Vimalananda makes it plain that this distinction is for him not one of great importance–and, if he is going to make a judg
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FOREWORD
ment in the matter, then “subjective truth” is doubtless of greater value. Vimalananda also belongs in the tradition of spiritual teachers who deliber ately speak and behave in such a manner as to shock, and often dismay, the observer. Such Teachers are to be found in many Traditions—for our own time, the very saintly Fourth Way Master G. I. Gurdjieff is a wonderful exam ple.
There are other Paths or Ways which have strong similarities to Aghora— most notably, ones associated with Kundalini and the Great Mother God dess in some other religions and esoteric Traditions. I would particularly mention as examples the ancient and still-enduring esoteric Schools of the Goddess Sekhmet in Egypt, the Goddess Hera in Greece, the Goddess Kapo in Hawaii, the Goddess Kali in Indiam-there are also others. Each of these powerful and authentic mystery Traditions offers Paths of equal intensity, equally demanding of dedication and devotion to the Great Mother. Each uncompromisingly requires that the subtle and gross body/mind systems of the person become transmuted into vehicles or instruments having experi ential capacities which by any ordinary standards are “superhuman.” Only when this has been accomplished can there be that level of interaction with deity and other nonhuman beings which the higher Work requires.
Finally, I feel obliged to say that I do not know whether Vimalananda was an actual person. His name, and other names in the book, are said to be pseudonyms intended to prevent readers from being “distracted” by “exter nals.” We are told that Vimalananda died about ten years ago, so that there is no question of searching him out as many tried to do with another such mysterious character, the shaman Don Juan in the books of Carlos Cas tenada.
In personal conversation with the author, he states that Vimalananda was indeed an actual person and that the mystery surrounding his identity is mainly at the insistence of Vimalananda’s own family. Considering the shock content of various of the Teachings, that is quite understandable. Some may wish to pursue this matter further. Most will find it sufficient to benefit from the extraordinary contents of Aghora II and its predecessor.
As for myself, I take pleasure in writing this Foreword even in the absence of any verifiable certainties about the Aghori Vimalananda, and despite strong personal reservations concerning some of the practices described. What I do know from many years of first-hand experience is the immense power of the Way of Devotion to the Great Mother Goddess and how, as this book sets forth, such a Way differs from those which are more dependent on human teachings and such objectifications in the world as ceremonies and
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rituals. From my own experiential knowledge of the Fifth Way of the God dess Sekhmet, I recognize in what is here called “Aghora” another Path that has been provided as a real and powerful means of unveiling truth and effecting transformation.
Robert Masters, Ph.D. Co-Founder and Director of Research, The Foundation for Mind Research, Pomona, NY; author of The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience, Forbidden Sex ual Behavior and Morality, The Goddess Sekhmet and many other books.
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