Archive
Writings by Ācārya Sthaneshwar Timalsina, PhD
The following is a comprehensive collection of the published writings of Ācārya Sthaneshwar Timalsina. The first three titles under Published Books are in print and available for purchase through the publisher. The rest of the items here contain direct links to the text and are free to read and download. Bibliographic information is included for research citations.
Vimarsha Foundation Publications
Amrtādistavah. San Diego: Vimarsha Foundation, 2021.
Samvarta Stava. San Diego: Vimarsha Foundation, 2021.
Published Books
Tantric Visual Culture: A Cognitive Approach. London: Routledge. 2015.
Language of Images: Visualization and Meaning in Tantras. New York: Peter Lang. 2015.
Consciousness in Indian Philosophy: The Advaita Doctrine of ‘Awareness Only.’ London: Routledge, 2008.
Seeing and Appearance: A History of the Advaita Doctrine of Dṛṣṭisṛṣṭi. Shaker Verlag, 2006.
Journal Articles
"Change: Thinking Through Sāṅkhya,” Religions 2022, 13:549.
“Language of Gestures: Mudrā, Mirror, and Meaning in Śākta Philosophy,” Religions. March 2021, 12:211.
“Rasāsvāda: A Comparative Approach to Emotion and the Self,” Journal of Indian Philosophy and Religion. 2021. Volume 26, 114-139.
“Aham, Subjectivity, and the Ego: Re-engaging Abhinavagupta,” Journal of Indian Philosophy. August 2020, 48:4, 767-789.
“Can Representation Be Transformative? Resemblance, Suggestion, and Metaphor in in Tantric Meditation,” Philosophy East and West. 2020. Volume 73, issue 1, Pages 193-216.
“Introduction to “Society of Tantric Studies Conference Proceedings,” Religions. 8:181, 1-11, 2020.
“Bhartṛhari and the Daoists on Paradoxical Statements,” Journal of Indian Philosophy and Religion. 23:4, 5-20. 2018.
Introduction to “Cognitive Science and the Study of Yoga Tantra,” Religions, 8:181, 1-11. 2017.
“Puruṣavāda: A Pre-Śaṅkara Monistic Philosophy as Critiqued by Mallavādin,” Journal of Indian Philosophy. 45:5, 939-959. 2017.
“Sriharsa on Knowledge and Justification,” Journal of Indian Philosophy, 45:2, 313-329. 2017.
“The Monistic Sakta Philosophy in the Guhyopanisad,” Zeitschrift für Indologie und Südasienstudien. 34:247-258. 2017.
“A Cognitive Approach to Tantric Language,” Religions, 7:12. 2016.
“Theatrics of Emotion: Self-deception and Self-Cultivation in Abhinavagupta’s Aesthetics,” Philosophy East and West. 66:1, 104-121. 2016.
“Gauḍapāda on Imagination,” Journal of Indian Philosophy. 41:6, 591-602. 2013.
“The Dialogical Manifestation of Reality in Āgamas,” Journal of Hindu Studies.(Oxford Journals) 7:1, 6-24. 2014.
“Indigenous Epistemology and Placing the Cultural Self in Crisis: New Hermeneutic Model for Cultural Studies,” SERAS: Southeast Regional Association for Asian Studies. 36: 6-29. 2014. This essay has been republished by the Journal of Indian Research. 2:4. 2014.
“Text as the Metaphoric Body: Incorporation of Tripurā in Saundaryalaharī,” Zeitschrift für Indologie und Südasienstudien. 31: 1-32. 2014.
“Imagining Reality: Image and Visualization in Classical Hinduism,” SERAS: Southeast Regional Association for Asian Studies. 50-69. 2013.
“Contemplating upon the Image of Bhairava: A Study of Kṣemarāja’s Bhairavānukaraṇastava,” Journal of Indian Research 1 Ghaziabad: Mewar. University Research Journal, 142-52. 2013. This paper has also appeared in Praznath (Special Issue on Kashmir). 35, 50-69. 2013.
“Holographic Bodies and Metaphoric Limbs in Hindu Myths,” Zeitschrift für Indologie und Südasienstudien. 2, 167-86. 2012.
“Embodiment and Self-realisation: The Interface between Śaṅkara’s Transcendentalism and Shamanic and Tantric Experiences,” Journal of Hindu Studies (Oxford Journals). 5:3, 1-15. 2012.
“Reconstructing the Tantric Body: Elements of the Symbolism of Body in the Monistic Kaula and Trika Tantric Traditions,” International Journal of Hindu Studies (Springer Journals). 16:1, 57-91. 2012.
“Body, Self, and Healing in Tantric Ritual Paradigm,” Journal of Hindu Studies (Oxford Journals). 5:1, 30-52. 2012.
“Materializing Space and Time in Tantric Images,” Zeitschrift für Indologie und Südasienstudien. 28: 145-82. 2011.
“Encountering the Other: Tantra in the Cross-cultural Context,” Journal of Hindu Studies (Oxford Journals). 4:3, 274-289. 2011.
“Songs of Transformation: Vernacular Josmanī Literature and the Yoga of Cosmic Awareness,” International Journal of Hindu Studies (Springer Journals). 14: 2-3, 201-28. 2010.
“The Brahman and the Word Principle (Śabda): Influence of the Philosophy of Bhartṛhari on Maṇḍana’s Brahmasiddhi,” Journal of Indian Philosophy (Springer Journals). 37, 189-206. 2009.
“Bhartṛhari and Maṇḍana on Avidyā,” Journal of Indian Philosophy (Springer Journals). 37: 367-82. 2009.
“Ritual, Reality, and Meaning: The Vedic Ritual of Cremating a Surrogate Body,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. 159:1, 45-69. 2009.
“Cosmic Awareness and Yogic Absorption in the Nāth Literature,” Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik. StII. 25: 137-68. 2008.
“Metaphors, Rasa, and Dhvani: Suggested Meaning in Tantric Esotericism,” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion. 19:1-2, 134-62. 2007.
“Terrifying Beauty: Interplay of Sanskritic and Vernacular Rituals of Siddhilakṣmī," International Journal of Hindu Studies (Springer Journals). 10, 59-73. 2006.
“Sakalāgamamantravidyāvatārakā pañcabrahmamantrā” [Interrelationship of the Vedic and Tantric Traditions: A Case Study of the Five Vedic Mantras in Tantric Literature] Maryādā. (Kathmandu: University Journal of Mahendra Sanskrit University). 26-37. 1998.
“Foundation of Dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭivāda,” Ritambhara. (Kathmandu: University Journal of Mahendra Sanskrit University). 2:3,114-120. 1997.
“Mahātripurasundarīcarcā,” (A Discourse on the Śākta Philosophy of Śrīvidyā), Vaidyaītha Kṣetra. 4:4, 23-50. 1996.
Book Chapters
"Cosmic Process, Philosophy, and Soteriology in the Works of Abhinavagupta," Oxford Handbook of Tantric Studies. Ed. Richard K. Payne and Glen A. Hayes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
"Attention, Memory, and the Imagination," Oxford Handbook of Tantric Studies. Ed. Richard K. Payne and Glen A. Hayes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
"The Phenomenology of Meditation: An Advaita Approach," Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Meditation. Ed. Rick Repetti. London: Routledge, 313-326, 2022.
“Vimarśa: The Concept of Reflexivity in the Philosophy of Utpala and Abhinavagupta,” Proceedings of International Sanskrit Conference, Sichuan University Press. Accepted for publication.
“Monistic Metaphysics,” The God-Realism Connection in Classical Indian and Contemporary Western Thought. (Ed.) Arindam Chakrabarti. New York: State University of New York Press. Accepted for publication.
“Savoring Rasa: Emotion, Judgment, and Phenomenal Content,” Emotions in Classical Indian Philosophy. Ed. Maria Heim, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad and Roy Tzohar, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021, pp. 255-276.
“Reconstructing Abhinavagupta’s Philosophy of Power,” Navin Doshi Felicitation Volume. South Asian Studies Association Publications, 2020.
“Reason, Dharma, and the Discovery of Faith: Insights from the Modes of Classical Hinduism,” Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religion. Ed., Jacobsen, Knut Axel, 2020.
“Abhinavagupta on Śānta Rasa: The Logic of Emotional Repose,” Handbook of Logical Thought in India. Ed. S. Sarukkai, Springer, 2020: 1-18.
“Dialogue and Culture: Reflections on the Parameters of Cultural Dialogue,” The Cambridge Handbook of Intercultural Training. Ed. Dan Landis and Dharm P. S. Bhawuk [4th Ed.], 2020, pages, 658-679.
“Meditation and Imagination,” The Cambridge Handbook of Imagination, Abraham, Anna (Ed.). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. 783-795, 2020.
“Embodied Experience in the Mahārthamañjarī of Maheśvarānanda,” Transformational Embodiment in Asian Religions: Subtle Bodies, Spatial Bodies. Eds., Pati, George and Katherine Zubko New York: Routledge, 128-144. 2020.
“Relativism in Indian Traditions: Examining the Viewpoints,” Routledge Handbook to the Philosophy of Relativism, Ed., Kusch, Martin. New York: Routledge, 11-19. 2019.
“Semantics of Nothingness: Bhartṛhari’s Philosophy of Negation,” in Nothingness in Asian Philosophy. (Eds.) Liu, JeeLoo and Douglas Burger. New York: Routledge. 25-43. 2014.
“Self, Causation, and Agency in the Advaita of Śaṅkara,” Free Will, Agency and Selfhood in Indian Philosophy. (Eds.) Dasti, Matthew R. and Edwin F. Bryant. New York: Oxford University Press, 186-209. 2014.
“The Concept of Ābhāsa in the Yogavāsiṣṭha,” In Mind, Morals, and Make-believe in the Moksopaya (Yogavasistha). (Eds.) Chapple, Christopher Key and Arindam Chakrabarti. Albany: State University of New York Press, 53-78. 2014.
“Vasiṣṭha and Borges: In Quest of Enlightenment,” in Mind, Morals, and Make-believe in the Moksopaya (Yogavasistha). (Eds.) Chapple, Christopher Key and Arindam Chakrabarti. Albany: State University of New York Press, 119-140. 2014.
“Linguistic and Cosmic Powers: The Concept of Śakti in the Philosophies of Bhartṛhari and Abhinavagupta,” in Classical and Contemporary Issues in Indian Studies: Essays in Honour of Trichur S. Rukmani. (Eds.) Duquette, Jonathan and Pratap Kumar, Delhi: D. K. Printworld, 211-32. 2013.
“The Yoga System of the Josmanīs,” in Yoga in Practice. (Ed.) White, David Gordon. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 309-324. 2012.
“Liberation and Immortality: Bhuśuṇḍa’s Yoga of Prāṇa in the Yogavāsiṣṭha,” in Yoga Powers: Extraordinary Capacities Attained Through Meditation and Concentration. (Ed.) Jacobsen, Knut Axel. Leiden: Brill, 303-326. 2012.
“The Body of the Goddess: Eco-awareness and Embodiment in Hindu Myth and Romance,” in Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess: Goddess Traditions of Asia. (Eds.) Simkhada, Deepak and Phyllis Hermann. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholar’s Publishing, 273-289. 2008.
“Meditating Mantras: Meaning and Visualization in Tantric Literature,” in Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerard James Larson. Ed. Jacobsen, Knut Axel. Leiden: Brill, 213-236. 2005.
“Time and Space in Tantric Art,” in Nepal: Old Images, New Insights. (Ed.) Pal, Pratyapaditya. Bombay: Marg Publications, 20-35. 2004.
Short Essays
“Mantra: Sound of the Infinite,” Sutra Journal: A Free Online Magazine with a Dharmic Focus. 1:1. 2015.
“Tantra and the West,” Sutra Journal: A Free Online Magazine with a Dharmic Focus. 1:2, 2015.
“Bhairavādvaitavāda [Bhairava Nondualism],” Parimārjana 5:7, 12-16. 1998.
“Pūjā-rahasya[The Secret of Rituals],” Part 2. Paśupati Kṣetra. 3:7, 19-22. 1996.
“Pūjā-rahasya [The Secret of Rituals],” Part 1. Paśupati Kṣetra 2:6, 8-13. 1995.
“Ātma-pūjā [The Ritualized Offering to the Self],” Paśupati Kṣetra 2:1, 21-25. 1995.
“Krama-vimarśa: [Reflections on the Theory of Gradual Awareness],” Arunodaya. 26:1-2, 1-18. 1990.
Encyclopedia Articles
“Visualization in Hindu Practice,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. 2017.
“Mantra,” Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Vol. 2). Ed. Jacobsen, Knut Axel. Leiden: Brill, 2010.
“Śakti,” Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Vol. 2). Ed. Jacobsen, Knut Axel. Leiden: Brill, 2010.