Pilgrims to Openness: Direct Realization Tantra in Everyday Life

In nearly 70 heart- and mind-opening teachings, Pilgrims to Openness lays bare the compelling view of Kashmir Shaivism (Trika Shaivism, direct realization Tantra) and offers the reader powerful guidance for embodying greater freedom and fulfillment in human life. Shambhavi Sarasvati is a gifted teacher who has been deeply engaged in practice and study for more than thirty-five years. With compassion, wry humor, and insight, she leads the reader to understand precisely how our everyday lives can function as spiritual practice-eating, sleeping, moving, working, and relating to other people. "We don't have to concoct, contrive or conceptualize a 'spiritual' life. The life-process is the process of awakening, and it is already underway." Pilgrims to Openness invites you to enter into a transformative conversation with wisdom, world, and Self.

Shambhavi begins by presenting a fresh view of Kashmir Shaivism that is true to this ancient tradition, but speaks powerfully to the lives of contemporary people. At the heart of Kashmir Shaivism is uncontrived naturalness: the profound relaxation of body, energy, self-concept, and mind. Such relaxation leads inevitably to a life filled with spontaneity and wonder. Pilgrims to Openness is alive with personal anecdotes and encounters. Along the way, no subject is off limits, from difficult emotions, such as loneliness, to love relationships, death, kundalini, chakras, boredom, and how to wake up in the morning and for all time. The final pages offer detailed instructions for three key practices aimed at beginners and more seasoned practitioners alike.

Pilgrims to Openness is the winner of a 2010 national IPPY award in the category of best new books about religion from independent publishers.