Sanskrit ATK | Vivek Nath

संस्कृत

Vāgyoga Sanskrit
The Yoga of Sanskrit

An introduction to Sanskrit
and to the Spirituality of Kashmiri Śaivism

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the spirituality of Sanskrit and Kashmiri Śaivism. As the sacred language underlying all dharmic traditions, Sanskrit mantra is a powerful means of transforming speech, breath, and thereby consciousness.

Vāgyoga, “The yoga of speech”, is the practice of conscious sound and tantric grammar. It teaches pronunciation, the theory of sound combination, recitation, and presents the spirituality of Sanskrit as an exploration into the spiritual energy of mantra and the Self.

The sound of Sanskrit found some of its highest expression in the philosophy of Kashmiri Śaivism, particularly in the Trika teachings of Abhinavagupta. This course will therefore explore sound and consciousness, covering important aspects of both the internal and external practice of mantra. The spiritual articulation of mantra opens and refines cognition, as intended in Śiva philosophy, whose sound metaphysics is a powerful explanatory tool.

Mantra has long been the foremost means of awakening and cognising kuṇḍalinī, and the Mantraśikṣā book series is dedicated to this process. Our course will use the first book of this series, Vāgyoga Sanskrit, and will also draw on the second volume, Sūrya, to support our practice.

The classes will be recorded and made available for streaming on a dedicated website, together with PDFs and MP3s for download. To support both study and practice, the purchase of the books is recommended. Please find the links below: → Mantraśikṣā Vāgyoga Sanskrit; → Mantraśikṣā Sūrya