Authobiographical novel about a spiritual quest and female initiatrix

books:

	• Tantric Quest: An Encounter with Absolute Love Daniel Odier Inner Traditions, 1997 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great on Every Level

This book is a great read. It works as a story, as instruction, and as literature. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Authobiographical novel about a spiritual quest and female initiatrix

The full title is Tantric Quest: Encounter with Absolute Love.
Daniel Odier, the author, met a woman who intitiated him in the secrets of tantra and sacred feminine, and what is more important, she was belonging to the unbroken lineage of spiritual masters.How this happened? (Authentic initiatrixes are difficult to find). Odier went on spiritual quest during the sixties. He was fortunate enough to encounter in some remote rural area a woman who was a highly realized spiritual teacher, and after series of demanding trails, she initiated him in the practice of tantra (very much like Zen masters do, but without Koan questions, or Mahamudra and Dzogchen masters, but of course, initiations vary, I am talking her about general pattern).Odier lived with her, was empowered by her,and his quest was an unusual, spiritual journey,which deepened his insights and cleared neurotic patterns in his mind. And yes, there is also a sacred sex initiation described, but this is not neo-tantra.

There is recent years a lot of talk about sacred feminine. Many of those discussions are based on speculations, modern myths emerging from mixing facts and rumors.(Sacred feminine went pop-culture after the DA Vinci Code created such a stir).But what about something solid and alive? Here you can read about personal experiences of a man who was instructed by a woman from the tradition revering sacred feminine.(Hindu tantra). And the book is well written,as Daniel Odier had a career as a novelist before his journey. (For ex. he wrote the novel Diva, on which the movie of the same title was based). He is conducting workshops, and teaching theories of tantrism at American universities.He continues to write books.His background is very solid, and he does not sensationalize the subject.I very recommend this book to anyone who is interested in first person relation about initiatory experiences,and what it means being empowered by a woman of high spiritual standards.This book appears honest and authentic as the first hand relation.

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Deeper into life

It says a lot about the personal qualities of Daniel Odier that he was accepted by a skilful teacher from a true tradition of Tantra, and was also able to pursue the teaching, over years of practice, to its realization.

Mystical sex is certainly a part of this book -- Odier makes no secret of this interest as he begins his quest -- but as his learning continues, he and his search grow beyond it. The story is both fascinating and inspiring. When finally he is given his sexual initiation, he has abandoned the sexual quest, so that what he actually receives is an initiation into absolute love. Paradoxically, it is only at this point that he can truly enter the sexual experience -- and truly enter, as well, every other experience of human life.

Although some may wonder if it all really happened, the story rings true because it continually relates the struggle to overcome the ego. The absolute love of Odier's teacher allows her to place her willing but unsuspecting student, time after time, in exactly the situation which will push his ego to its limits. He must give up grabby goals, self-preservation and mental chatter each time. His ultimate reward is the awareness of this love: the great goal of the mystic, a union with all that exists. There are parallels with Buddhist meditation teachings, and the story also recalls certain words of the Bible, for example that perfect love casts out fear, or that we must lose the world in order to gain the Kingdom.

Through it all, the key is perfect awareness of the present moment, inner and outer. There is certainly sex in the book, including a wonderful (and discreet) description of a Tantric sex act which demystifies the subject for Westerners who have only had the works of non-initiates to read up to now. (Western students of tantra-sex who have attended workshops will recall learning to become more fully present to themselves and their partners.) Daniel Odier's story offers this and far more, not only sex but also the constant partners of sex: life, death and above all love.

I read the original French version, but the English translation is also very clear.

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A Gift of Liberation From a Master

That is what the essance of Tantra is. Daniel Odier writes about his search to find a Master to recieve this ancient and secretive teaching from. On the verge of giving up he retreats to a small village in India where, almost seemingly by accident, he finds a great Yogini Tantric Master, Devi, in the forest. She agrees to take him on as a student and so begins Daniel's immersion into a whole new way of experiencing the world.

The transmission of Tantric tradition is very personal. Devi puts Daniel through a variety of tests to strengthen the bond and trust between them. She warns him at the outset of this journey that doubts about himself, anger and even hatred of her could manifest during their work together. As Daniel progresses, and the master/student bond is solidified, Devi's teachings become more deep and subtle. The final part of his time spent with Devi involves his initiation into the Tantric ritual sex, the joining of Shiva and Shakti, causing the rising of the Kundalini(a sacred spiritual force that purifies the body for deeper spiritual attainment).

Daniel not only shares his experience of Devi and what she taught him, but tells how he came back to the 'real world' to use what he learned. Not always an easy task.

A fairly good book, a beautiful story of the student/master relationship, and it's not too wordy either. A basic knowlege of Hinduism is a real plus when reading this.

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one man's spiritual Tantric quest

In this story of his personal spiritual quest to find a Tantric master, Odier, a young man, wanders through India where an unusual, sometimes disastrous, sequence of events leads him deep in the forest to yogini Lalita Devi. Over a period of months, Odier undergoes a series of trials, tests, and rituals of purification that culminate in a sacred sex initiation in which he experiences the awakening of the kundalini, and the joining of the divine forces of Shiva and Shakti.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

The author reveals his passionate experiences with a female Tantric master who taught him the suppressed practices of her ancient order.

In 1968 Daniel Odier left Europe for the Himalayas, searching for a master who could help him go where texts and intellectual searching could no longer take him. He wanted everything: the wisdom and spirituality gained from the life of an ascetic and the beauty, love, and sensuality of a life of passion. He found both in Shivaic Tantrism, the secret spiritual path that seeks to transcend ego and rediscover the divine by embracing the passions. In an isolated Himalayan forest Odier met Devi, a great yogini who would take him on a mystical journey like none he had ever imagined. At times taking him beyond the limits of sexual experience, at times threatening him with destruction, she taught him what it is to truly be alive and to know the divine nature of absolute love.

This is the personal memoir of one of France's most honored writers.

Tantrism is the only ancient philosophy to survive all historical upheavals, invasions, and influences to reach us intact by uninterrupted transmission from master to disciple, and the only one to retain the image of the Great Goddess as the ultimate source of power.

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