Rumi, Kashmir Shaivism, and Tantra

Abstract

It is a challenge to properly introduce Kashmir Shaivism and its main characteristics because Kashmir Shaivism, as a non-dualist, Tantric school, is less known in the West (especially among the Rumi readers) than advaita Vedanta and Buddhism. The primary characteristics of Kashmir Shaivism that find parallels with Rumi’s writings and practices include a powerful non-dualist worldview based on Śiva, impersonal and personal aspects of Śiva, a hymn to the “Sun-God,” and aspects of Tantra that resonate with Rumi’s teachings. These tantric practices include complete veneration of the guru; visualization of a (spiritually eroticized) female deity; transformation of all the dual phenomena into strong, non-dual imagery; chanting of mantras; making sacred gestures with the body; Tantric spiritual feasts known as ganachakra that utilize wine, music, dance, chant, and food; and finally, the rhymed Tantric poetry called doha. In this chapter, we will explore the parallels between Rumi and Kashmir Shaivism in terms of non-dualism, Tantric principles, and the venerated Śiva as an impersonal and personal principle/god.