There are 92 Agamas — each with its own unique form of yoga practice — and the world knows almost none of them. The third and final part of the Agama Lineages series focuses on the most pressing civilisational question: how do we revitalise traditions that are being both commercialised into irrelevance and stereotyped into obscurity?
The speaker directly challenges the media association of tantra with “aghori practices” and black magic, pointing out that most of what is popularly called tantra today cannot be found anywhere in actual tantric texts. This misrepresentation is not accidental — it serves those who want to discredit the source so they can appropriate the knowledge and become its “founders.”
The talk frames this as a civilisational emergency and a civilisational opportunity in the same breath: if even a fraction of the 92 Agamas’ unique yoga traditions were properly documented, attributed, and offered to the global spiritual marketplace with integrity, India’s contribution to humanity’s inner life would be incalculable. The work begins with protecting the Guru-Shishya chain.
About the Speakers:
Ācārya Dr Sthaneshwar Timalsina from Nepal is the founder of the Vimarsha Foundation. Trained with sarvādhikāra-sarvasāmrājya dīkṣā, He has also received academic and philological training from Sampurnananda Sanskrit University in Varanasi, as well as Martin Luther University in Germany, where he acquired his PhD. Dr Timalsina taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently the Endowed Chair of Indic Studies at Stony Brook University, New York, in the Department of Asian & Asian American Studies.
Vidushi Sivasri Skandaprasad is an Indian musician and dancer, known for her contributions to Carnatic music, Bharatanatyam, and the visual arts. She is the founder of Ahuti, an organisation dedicated to promoting spiritual growth, artistic excellence, and social transformation through the teachings of Sanatana Dharma.
Dr Abhinav Tiwari is a professor of philosophy at GLA University Mathura. He is an aesthetician and scholar on Indian philosophy and culture.
