The DOI matches its Crossref record; the references it cites are not checked yet.
The Heart of the Secret: A Personal and Scholarly Encounter with Shakta Tantrism in Siddha Yoga
Abstract
This article suggests two apparently contradictory theses: namely that Swami Muktananda (1908–1982) was an enlightened teacher and practitioner of an esoteric form of Tantric sexual yoga, and that he also engaged in actions that were not ethical, legal, or liberatory with many disciples. These two theses are brought into creative tension through a developing Tantric hermeneutic. In discussing secrecy and power, the article addresses critical cultural, feminist, and psychological issues about sexual abuse and the importation of Asian religious traditions into contemporary American society, and argues that what has happened in the recent history of Siddha Yoga arises directly out of Tantra's long history of dissimulation and secrecy. I suggest that a hybrid scholarly sensibility might emerge out of the secret heart of the Tantric teachings, itself offering a way forward in the study of such traditions.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“In 1960s India, Muktananda selected from the teachings of his guru, Nityananda (d. 1961), and philosophical and practical traditions that pre-dated him, especially yoga, Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism, in his construction of a unique persona and set of tantric spiritual wares, which he enveloped under the brand name, Siddha Yoga (e.g., Caldwell 2001, Williamson 2005, Jain forthcoming).”
From Branding yoga: The cases of Iyengar Yoga, Siddha Yoga and Anusara Yoga (2012) · cites this paper as Caldwell 2001
In the citing paper
“In the last year of Muktananda's life, however, there were major gaffes in the guru's brand image management when he transgressed the normative ethical standards that Siddha Yoga embraced by engaging in sexual rituals involving young women and girls (see Caldwell 2001, Jain forthcoming).”
From Branding yoga: The cases of Iyengar Yoga, Siddha Yoga and Anusara Yoga (2012) · cites this paper as Caldwell 2001
Citations
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 5 · Cited by 21
Research works printed but not linked: 15
- Rodarmor William, 1983, CoEvolution Quarterly (Winter, 104
- Harris Lis, 1994, New Yorker (14, 99
- Yande Pratap, 1982, Siddha Path (October, 10
- White David, 1999, Elliot R. Wolfson (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 264
- Kripal Jeffrey J., Religious Studies Review, 25, 237
- Dyczkowski Mark S. G., 1980, See Swami Muktananda, Kundalini Stavah (Ganeshpuri, India: SYDA Foundation, 6
- Kottary Sailesh, 1986, Illustrated Weekly of India (19, 6
- Kottary Sailesh, 1986, Illustrated Weekly of India (16, 6
- Thursby Gene, 1991, Timothy Miller (Albany: State University of New York Press, 165
- Malti, 1982, Siddha Path (February, 12
- Durgananda Swami, 1983, Siddha Path (Dec.-Jan., 9
- Tricycle, 6, 38
- Butler Katy, 1990, Common Boundary (May/, 18
- Kripal See Jeffrey J., 2001, G. William Barnard and Jeffrey J. Kripal (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 15
- White David, History of Religions, 38, 172, 10.1086/463532 · DOI
Metadata
- Authors
- Caldwell, S.
- Corresponding author
- Caldwell, Sarah
- Venue
- Nova Religio
- Publisher
- Project MUSE
- Published
- 2001-10-01
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 9-51
- ISSN
- 1092-6690 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-8480
- OpenAlex
- W1974312509
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2022: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nova Religio The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Keywords
- Siddha Yoga, secrecy, power, sexual abuse, feminist criticism, American religious history, guru-disciple relationship, esotericism
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
