AGHORA: At the Left Hand of God This trilogy forms a portion of the story
of the Aghori Vimalananda. An aghori is a
practitioner of Aghora, the spiritual discipline
that takes Tantra to its farthest limits.
For Vimalananda Aghora was a wholly internal
process that eliminates all commonly-accepted
restricitions to the human faculties of perception.
He defined an Aghori in this way: "An
Aghori is beyond the bounds of the earthly
shackles; nay, something above the elements
which shape the universe, and you. He takes
a sort of intoxicant and thus gets intoxicated
in Supreme Love which emanates from the innermost
recesses of his heart. Shall I call it interiority?
It is that part which is beyond awareness.
He gives off the best part of love. Why part?
Part of the Supreme, Universal Love, where
one experiences, with the help of perception,
All-in-One/One-in-All. When you, the finite,
merge into infinity what dost thou not know?
During this stage he merges with his own
deity so that he becomes Him -- capital H.
That is why he is said to have gone from
darkness to divine enlightenment. This is
an Aghori."
Aghora: At the Left Hand of God is the first
book in the Aghora trilogy. Written almost
entirely in Vimalananda's own words, it presents
events from his life, tenets of his philosophy,
and highlights from his spiritual practices.
Designed partly to shock and partly to comfort,
but wholly as an offering to his Beloved,
Aghora is as clear a picture as possible
of a man who was a riddle wrapped up in an
enigma. Vimalananda insisted that this book
be published only after his demise, that
he might be spared pursuit by those whose
curiosity might be inflamed by some of the
sensational events described within. He believed
in devoting his all to the pursuit of the
direct perception of Reality, and advised
others to be similarly dedicated to attaining
personal experience of God. To readers he
offered this warning: "Don't take anything
I say as gospel truth. I am human, I make
mistakes. Test on yourselves what I've told
you. Try it out, experience it, and then
you will know whether or not I'm telling
you the truth."
"Required reading for anyone interested
in knowing and experiencing Tantra."
- Nik Douglas
"Often even a sentence or two will shed
more significant light on profound states
of consciousness or very complex stages of
meditation than the reader is likely to find
in whole volumes intended to illumine the
same subjects."
Robert Masters, Ph.D.
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