About
Our circle brings together people in Madrid interested in a family of traditions from the Indian subcontinent. Between the ninth and twelfth centuries, authors such as Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta built within them one of the most sophisticated philosophical systems concerning consciousness, perception and language. We approach this legacy along two paths that the tradition itself regards as inseparable, study and practice. We collectively study its classical texts (śāstra), attentive to their cultural context and faithful to the channels of transmission the tradition establishes (paramparā). And we cultivate sādhana, the sustained practice that these same texts propose.
Collaboration
Our circle collaborates with Vimarsha Foundation and takes the Sarvāmnāya tradition as its reference. Its name means “of all transmissions”, because it brings together in a single system the Trika (misleadingly called “Kashmir Shaivism”) and other Śaiva-Śākta currents. We bring its materials into Spanish and accompany them with explanations, cultural context and practice sessions.
Vimarsha Foundation was founded in 2019 by Ācārya Sthaneshwar Timalsina, who holds the Endowed Chair in Classical Indic Humanities at Stony Brook University (New York) and was previously a professor at San Diego State University. He earned his PhD at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (Germany, 2005) with a dissertation on the history of Advaita Vedānta, the subject of his first book, Seeing and Appearance (2006), devoted to the doctrine of dṛṣṭisṛṣṭi. He is the author of four monographs, among them Consciousness in Indian Philosophy (2008) and Tantric Visual Culture (2015), and of more than sixty articles and book chapters.
To this academic career he joins an exceptional traditional training. Born in Dhading (Nepal), he was raised in the Vedic gurukula run by his father, paṇḍit Tanka Prasad Timalsina. From him he learned from childhood the Vedas, especially his family’s Śukla Yajurveda, and Sanskrit grammar. His father was also his first Tantric teacher and passed on to him practices of Kālī that preserve traces of the ancient Kashmiri Krama tradition. At sixteen he began his training with teachers of different traditions in Nepal and Varanasi. Over fourteen years, Svāmī Premchetan Brahmacārī transmitted to him the complete structure of Sarvāmnāya tantra and its four streams, Trika, Kālīkrama, Śrīvidyā and Kubjikā. With Rāmaji Mālavīya he studied the commentarial literature of the Trika, especially the works of Abhinavagupta, and in Varanasi he learned from disciples of Gopīnāth Kavirāj, a central figure in the twentieth-century renaissance of Tantric studies. In 1996 he received from Śaṅkara Caitanya Bhāratī his consecration as ācārya (ācārya abhiṣeka) and was recognised as Śaivācārya of the Nepali Sarvāmnāya order. He also earned the academic title of Ācārya at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi. He is today the holder of these transmissions, whose genealogy is documented by Vimarsha Foundation, conceived as a global gurukula for the study of the classical philosophical systems of India.
Coordination
Diego González Rodríguez holds a PhD from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and is a professor at Universidad Camilo José Cela (Madrid). He collaborates with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and has been a visiting researcher at the University of Toronto, Tallinn University of Technology and the University of North Carolina.
His current research focuses on the study of cognition and complex systems, in dialogue with Indian philosophy. His work on Śaiva-Śākta phenomenology and non-dualism has been published in international journals.
“In the philosophies of India, knowledge is transmitted not only through university chairs and bibliographic references, but also through a living lineage (sampradāya) and a sustained practice (sādhana). For this reason, our circle was born as a small community of practice in Spanish, building a bridge between the Sarvāmnāya tradition and our own cultural context. As an academic, I study cognition from an ethno-phenomenological approach, which engages with Indian traditions also through their practice. However, I coordinate this circle from the place of the disciple, as someone who keeps learning from his teacher, Ācāryaji Sthaneshwar Timalsina, and who gathers with others to continue that study in community.”
Activities
- Study (svādhyāya)
- Reading and commentary of classical texts (śāstra) of the Śaiva tradition, such as those of the Trika (Abhinavagupta, Kṣemarāja), or the Śākta tradition, such as the Devī Atharvaśīrṣa or the Devī Māhātmya.
- Practice (sādhana)
- Preliminary training in the Sarvāmnāya tradition. An introduction to phenomenological and contemplative methods (bhāvanā, nyāsa, prāṇāyāma, dhyāna…).
Join
Our circle is open to those who wish to commit to a regular sādhana linked to the Sarvāmnāya tradition, with continuity and joined to study in community. For those who wish, it is also the preparation the tradition requires before receiving initiation (dīkṣā) from Ācāryaji Sthaneshwar Timalsina.
Participation is free of charge. We start in February 2027 and meet every two weeks for one-hour sessions, in Madrid and with the option of joining online.
To take part, write to us explaining your motivation.