How did Sri Aurobindo Ghose understand Tantra? Is the category of Tantra helpful in understanding Aurobindo's spirituality? How Tantric is his spirituality? In responding to these questions, this paper explores various threads in Aurobindo's spirituality: his conceptions of the Goddess and the Śakti-Īśvara Godhead; his integration of features of Śāktism and Śākta Tantra with his early revolutionary politics; his understanding of the cakra system and the embodied nature of his spiritual ideal; his stress on devotional surrender to the divine Mother; and his views of sexuality. Although Aurobindo's mature spirituality is clearly toned down and marked off from more antinomian forms of Tantra, the paper argues that it was shaped in significant ways by his understanding of Tantra.
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