Ep 07 ~ Near Enemies of The Truth (and more) ~ Interview by Adam Keen 

Wonderful!! It is beginning to help me too. ❤

I wouldn't go that far -- some versions of Zen, Mahāmudrā, or Dzogchen emphasize communion with reality just as much as nondual Shaiva Tantra does. It really just depends on who's teaching. One can highlight one or another of the many aspects of these traditions in one's pedagogical approach.

No.

the Gītārtha-saṅgraha of Abhinavagupta has been translated by Boris Marjanovic, but the translation is not really satisfactory.

"The mind is effortlessly held stead only when pleasure is experienced" ~ We don't find that teaching in Patañjali's Yoga-sūtras at all, or in Vedic texts, but we do find it in a Tantrik text (see the link below). In fact what you wrote towards the end there is almost a paraphrase of exactly what this Tantrik text says. Your teachers have misinformed you as to the true sources of what you have learned. hareesh.org/blog/2018/3/9/the-blossoming-of-your-awareness

I did read the link you provided. But one thing I should clear up. I had no teacher. As a matter of fact, I knew nothing of the Vedas or even knew what the word yogi meant. I had never read the story of the Buddha but have only heard of a religion called Buddhism. I went alone on my own looking for God. Not knowing if a real God existed but only knowing is that is what I was told in Sunday school church. Back to the subject at hand. It’s one thing for Tantrik text to easily say but it is quite another thing in Tantra’s real life practices. Cultivating the stillness in between thoughts or in between sense perception is not stilling the mind. The chattering mind does not come under your control in that way. And no amount of effort or will can stop a chattering mind. Can a person will himself into being happy or experience joy? Of course not. But it is only when the mind’s attention is directed toward pleasure that it gain steadfastness. Steadfastness and the Absolute are integrally linked thoughout the Gita. And all the talk of making the mind “one pointed” is about the self directing tendency of the mind to effortlessly turn and become fixated on a pleasurable experience. The reason why people find Patanjali practice so arduous is because they are wrongfully using their own efforts and will to still the mind. That exhausting practice will never work because boredom sets in and the mind will revolt. In Veda, Patanjali and Buddha, perception is directed inwardly away from the senses. Transcending into the subconscious is indeed very enjoyable. That is what holds the mind effortlessly steady. If our minds have the ability to effortlessly turn our attention towards pleasure then why isn’t it turning inwardly, on its own? What is the mechanism to get the mind’s self-directing tendency to effortlessly turn inwardly toward the Absolute? The Absolute being non-material and complete within itself means Tantra practices will forever remain bound and shackled to the material corporeal world because reality is experienced though the senses. Don’t get me wrong, there is real joy, pleasure and bliss to be experienced in the sensory material world but it is fleeting.

What I’m understanding, the goal of Tantra is not to become perfect by being in union with the divine Self(Atman) because you already are an embody divinity and just need to realize it. No, No, No and again No! You are not a God or a demigod, no matter how hard you want to convince yourself. You and I are humans. Atman alone is divine. Atman alone is perfect. Atman alone is stainless. The originators of Tantra could not figure out how to still the mind or how to turn towards divinity, so they came up with a simpler method to still the mind, self reflection, ritual worship and call that the truer, more complete understanding of yoga.

@@richardhernandez6937 Atman literally means 'self'. As in, YOUR true Self. I won't be replying anymore because you are too profoundly confused, my friend. Please, get yourself a teacher.