Like a tree universally spread : Sri Sabhapati Swami and Śivarājayoga / Keith Edward Cantú.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cantú, Keith E., 1988- author.

Series:

Oxford studies in Western esotericism.

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford studies in Western esotericism

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Yoga, Rāja.

Capāpati Cuvāmikaḷ.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (442 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2023.

Summary:

This text examines the life of a nineteenth- to early twentieth-century Tamil yogin named Sri Sabhapati Swami (Sri Sabhapati Svami or Capapati Cuvamika, ca. 1828-1923/4) and his unique English, Tamil, Hindi, and Bengali literature on a Sanskrit-based system of yogic meditation known as the 'Rajayoga for Siva' (Tamil: civarajayokam, Sanskrit: sivarajayoga), the full experience of which is compared to being like a 'tree universally spread.'

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: Like a Tree Universally Spread

From Hidden Roots to Outer Blossoms

A Treelike "Translocalization" of Yoga

The Chapters and Methodology of This Book

1. Hagiographies and Old Diary Leaves

Extant Sources for Sabhapati's Life

Sabhapati's Childhood

A Search for Spiritual Truth

A Visionary Experience in Velachery

A Southbound Quest

Lectures and a Himalayan Flight

A Splash on the Lahore Scene

Shrish Chandra Basu and the Theosophical "Founders"

John Campbell Oman and "Sadhuism"

A Vision of Agastya Once in Fifty Years

Sabhapati in Bombay

Agastya and the Konnur Meditation Hall

South Indians to the Fore

Om Prakash Swamigal

Konnur Ramalinga Swamigal

Sabhapati Swami's Death and Disappearance

2. A Vast Forest of Printed Words

Textual Stemmata of Sabhapati's Works

The Alpha Stemma

Three Original Editions of vry

cpsps as Alpha Stemma

Detailed Contents of the Alpha Stemma

Bengali and German Translations

William Estep's Esoteric Cosmic Yogi Science

The Beta and Gamma Stemmata

Contextualizing Sabhapati's Vernacular Works

cpsps as Beta and Gamma Stemmata

ctcspv and the Gamma Stemma

ryb and the Beta Stemma

Pamphlets for Konnur Meditation Hall

Sabhapati's Literature in Telugu

Sabhapati's Tamil Work mcvts

3. Seeds of a Cosmological Religion

Sabhapati's Two Gurus

Chidambara Swamigal and "Instructive Truth"

Shivajnana Bodha and the Tamil Siddhas

An Embodied Cosmos

Shiva as "Infinite Spirit"

A Cosmogonic Separation of "Faculties"

"Illustration by Examples"

The Tree Universally Spread

Emancipation and Transmigration

Household of the Body's Truth (dehatattva).

Connections with Tamil Śaiva Discourse

Views on Other Religions and Movements

Sabhapati and Buddhism

Sabhapati and Christianity

Sabhapati and Islam

Sabhapati and Zoroastrianism, or "Parsism"

Sabhapati and "Samajees"

Sabhapati and the "Theosophical Societies"

Sabhapati and Atheism

4. Breathing into Śivarājayoga

Three Branches of Yoga

Haṭha yoga or "Yoga of Force"

Haṭha Rājayoga or "Royal Yoga of Force"

Śivarājayoga or "Royal Yoga for Shiva"

Śivarājayoga: From Purification to Nonbeing

5. Singing Mantras and Visualizing Flowers

Lyrical Compositions and Musical Poems

Incantation of Tones and Mantras

Sabhapati's Visual Diagrams

Changing Visual Representations

Svarūpa and Yoga

6. Dissecting the Nature of Śivarājayoga

Spiritual and Physical Phenomena

The Pure Ethers

A Naturalistic Cosmology of Yoga

7. Magical Fruits of Occult Yoga

Sabhapati and Theosophy

Franz Hartmann and Sabhapati in German Translation

Sabhapati and Thelemic "Magick"

William Estep and "Super Mind Science"

Epilogue: Parts of a Universal Tree

Appendix 1. A Translation of t2 (in mcvts)

Excerpt of t2 (English Translation)

Excerpt of t2 (Original Tamil)

Appendix 2. Lexicon of Common Terms and Variants

Appendix 3. A Passage from vry1 on the "Pole" of Śivarājayoga

References

Index.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2023.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on September 4, 2023).

Other Format:

Print version: Cantú, Keith Edward Like a Tree Universally Spread

ISBN:

0-19-766550-0

0-19-766549-7

0-19-766548-9

OCLC:

1396124016