Hi Tom,

You are right - the abuse came later.
When I first read the books, I was rather skeptical about the existance
of "Vimalananda". (Somewhere at the end of the first book, it was
implied that Robert Svoboda brought Vilamananda, perhaps to the US, to
meet with other people. I would be really interested to know if anybody
ever met him.)

Anyway, Dr. Vasanth Lad, whom I have great confidence in, confirmed that
Vimalanada did exist. Since then I have also had an opportunity to talk
to Dr. Robert Svoboda, and have a lot of respect for him as well.

At any rate, I would still take what Vimalanada is reported to have said
with a hefty bag of salt:

   - Vimalananda himself says that when picking a pseudonym to hide
     his true identity, he considered "bandal ka maharaj". (King of
     liars.)

   - Robert Svoboda himself questions the veracity of many of
     Vimalanda's statements. For example, somewhere at the beginning
     of the second book, he says something to the effect that "all he
     says is probably true in his own view of reality". (Or something
     to that effect. Sorry I don't have the books handy.)

Anyway, the mono-diets you describe, seem to be popular in the hatha
yogic community, but only in the beginning stages. For example, As a
student you might drink only milk for a few days. Then shift to a
one-pot meal like kichdi (fortified with either yogurt or ghee, based on
your dosha, etc..) It seems rather rare, IMO, to find prolonged uses of
mono-meals in the tantrik (vama and dakshina marg), because this kind of
eating is equated with tapasya. A tantrik takes great pains to preserve
his/her body, hence does not do tapasya where the body is weakened,
unlike in vedantic schools. Even vama marg, atleast the ones that I'm
familiar with. (That's why I'm rather puzzled by Vimalanada, since he
doesn't fit into my view of the vama molds.)

Thanks for your insights,

Roy

Regarding my recent post in which I mention Vimalananda, a Tantric adept,
as an example of a mono-eater, Roy comments:

Roy:
>Only problem: Vimalananda's health appeared to be quite poor during most of
>his life. The chain smoking certainly didn't help either.
>Physical health wasn't his priority anyway:
>Vimalananda's brand of Tantra, "Agora", preached that physical health and
>spiritual health were mutually incompatible, and that to fortify the latter, one had
>to sacrifice the three "obstacles": sleep, food and sex.
>(Agora is unlike mainstream Tantra, which goes to great extents to
>cultivate a healthy body:ex: Hatha Yoga being one of the creations of Tantrik yoga.)

Tom:
What you say is true. I was speaking of Vimalananda's experience as a mono-
eater, which was when he was very young. That was before he became an Aghori,
before he smoked, drank, and used marijuana. Aghora is part of the left-hand
path of Tantra, and includes as possible tools for spiritual development,
things like use of drugs (liquor, marijuana, opium), self-mutilation,
and sadhana - ritual worship of God - that requires that you can borrow a
fresh human corpse. (The rituals requiring corpses are done in smashans:
burning grounds where bodies are cremated). In contrast, the right hand path of Tantra
is very conservative, and uses meditation and mantra as tools for spiritual
development.

Even if one is not interested in becoming an Aghori, the books by
Robert Svoboda on the subject are fascinating - highly recommended! (Warning:
said books are not for the easily offended, or if you can be "weirded-out" easily.)

Tom Billings
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