Exploring the relationship between Shiva and Shakti in Non-Dual Tantra with Ben Williams

In this episode we explore the relationship between Shiva and Shakti in Non-Dual Tantra in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person perspectives. Non-Dual Tantra playfully mixes and harmonises these fundamental perspectives: 1st person (I am Shiva and Shakti), 2nd person (I worship Shiva and Shakti as deities) and 3rd person (Shiva and Shakti as described in the rich philosophy and theology of Non-Dual Tantra). Ben Williams is a scholar / practitioner of Indian religions and the history of Śaiva tantra. He has received extensive training in Indian philosophy, literature, and aesthetics in Sanskrit sources. Ben received a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Vermont, a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and completed his PhD in the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Hinduism at Naropa University, where he co-created a low-residency MA program in Yoga Studies. Ben also serves on the academic advisory council of the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute, which is dedicated to the preservation of scriptural and philosophical texts of classical India.   you can find Ben's patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/closereadings For more information about my work please visit www.bodyheartmindspirit.co.uk To hear more of my music please visit my soundcloud page https://soundcloud.com/ralphcree My YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUfQp5jM16pPB7QX2zmMYbQ My Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/bodyheartmindspirituk/ My Evolving Spiritual Practice Podcast can be found on all major podcast platforms P and C owned by Ralph Cree 2021

Om Podcasten

Spiritual practice, like everything else in life, is evolving. What does this mean? By ‘Spiritual Practice’ I mean any activity that expands your sense of identity, for example meditation, contemplative philosophy, prayer, yoga, martial arts, psychedelics, transpersonal psychotherapy, fasting, visualisation, lucid dreaming, conscious parenting, forgiveness and much more. By ‘Evolving’ I mean that everything develops and adapts over time. Most of the spiritual traditions that have spawned these transformational practices emerged hundreds and often thousands of years ago in the pre-modern era. Modernity (rationality and science) and post-modernity (cultural diversity and the information age) are hugely influential historical periods that have happened since then, and I believe that contemporary spiritual practice needs to integrate the insights of these two worldviews as well as the premodern in order to keep being relevant and adaptive in a changing world.