Temples In India-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKAthe nagari script. The French Institute ofIndology in Pondicherry are now publishinga series of Agamas in the nagari script.They have so far published parts of theMatanga, Ajita, Raurava and Mrigendra.They have been able to secure 23 out ofthe 28 principal Agamas.The Saivagamas had been a closed bookfor all the Western scholars because ofthis handicap in script. Even within India,no great scholar had attempted to studythis script and expound the thoughtscontained in them. Nor had any systematicattempt been made to bring out editionsof the texts in the nagari script. Many ofthe Agamas, it is feared, had perished,due to this neglect.The Agamas have the greatest currencyin the Tamil country. The great ProfessorS. N. Das Gupta has stated that not asingle manuscript of importance is availablein Benares, considered the greatest seatof Sanskrit culture. It therefore goeswithout saying that the Saivagamas havebeen a rare and special preserve of theSivacharyas in Tamilnad.The only writer of repute on philosophywho had studied the Agamas with greatpains was the late Professor SurendranathDas Gupta, who has devoted a whole volumeto Saivism, volume V -of his History ofIndian Philosophy, which was publishedposthumously, by his wife through theCambridge University Press. Here he hasdealt with the thoughts contained in theMatanga, Paushkara and Vatula. TheSaivagamas are yet a field, for philosophicalexploration for ardent and sympatheticscholars.TEMPLE INDIATantrism inKerala TemplesSRIKANTModern scientific investigations,especially in the field ofparapsychology, seems to be slowly findingout that behind the material phenomenathere are subtle psychic and spiritualforces. This basic spiritual field has its ownsubtle laws which an explorer of thematerial world is not normally aware of.This subtle field can be explored by spiritualinvestigations and the serious investigatorthe seer-often develops the know-how toapply its subtle laws to createcircumstances for the ethical and spiritualevolution of man. This method of practicalapplication of the laws and powers of thehigher levels of Supernature forms thescience of Tantra.Kerala has ever been a field of variousexperiments. People dwelling in this landof surpassing panoramic beauty have beenadventurous explorers and seekers whoperfected many sciences and arts. Theastounding feats of the martial art,kalarippayattu has to be seen to bebelieved, as well as the subtle nuances ofthe classical dance-drama kathakali. It isno wonder that this region gave birth togreat masters in the psychic and spiritualfields. This land where Sri Sankaracharyawas born had nurtured many saints andSiddhas. In every field masters existed whoperfected their fields of pursuits-medicalsciences, physical feats, arts, occultsciences, etc. That is why Kerala has theunique distinction of producing some of the40