A main objective of this study is to assess the opinions of 50 behavioral health patients on selective control over their behavioral and physical health information. We explored patients' preferences regarding current consent models, what health information should be shared for care and research and whether these preferences vary based on the sensitivity of health information and/or the type of provider involved. The other objective of this study was to solicit opinions of 8 behavioral health providers on patient-driven granular control (...) of health information and potential impact on care.Electronic surveys were implemented at an outpatient Behavioral Health facility that provides care for behavioral health patients with non-serious mental illnesses. The Patient Survey included questions regarding patients' demographics and about their concerns and preferences for data sharing for care and research. The Provider Survey included questions about their view on the current consent process and perceptions on barriers and facilitators to implement patient-controlled granular consent models.This novel study provides valuable preliminary data that can help guide future studies to better understand privacy choices of this underrepresented patient group. (shrink)

The paper considers the differences between the various Tantric traditions of Kerala and presents observations that emerged from my field research on the so-called Śākta Tantra of Kerala. This tradition incorporates the ritualistic practices of Kashmirian Śaivism or, more precisely, it integrates Krama-Trika ritualism with the folk mythology of Kerala and Śrīvidyā theology. This study presents the hypothesis that the Śākta tradition of Kerala could have been influenced directly by proponents of Kashmirian Śaivism and indirectly by Śrīvidyā. The Tantric texts (...) of Kerala reveal that Śrīvidyā infiltrated many ritualistic traditions and was held in high esteem by practitioners and devotees. It was a claim of some Tantric practitioners of Kerala that authoritative Tantric treatises such as Śeṣasamuccaya and Mātṛsadbhāva may have been composed by Brahmins, who intended to incorporate the well-established and probably influential and socially attractive Śākteya cults into their own realm. Therefore, the paper attempts to show that Śrīvidyā is a link that unites Tantric traditions of modern Kerala. (shrink)

Tripura Upanishad is a minor Shakta or Tantra Upanishad explaining the structure of and meditation on Sri Chakra or Sri Yantra—a diagrammatic representation of the universe through nine interlocking triangles coming out of a central point. To date, there are two English translations of this Upanishad. The first and the earliest, by A G Krishna Warrier done in 1967, is a verse translation and because of the obvious constraints of such translation, fails to explain the intricacies and implied meanings of (...) this cryptic Upanishad. The second translation done many years later, is by Douglas Renfrew Brooks, who has also beautifully translated the commentary on this Upanishad by Bhaskararaya in the book 'The Secret of the Three Cities' published by the University of Chicago Press in 1990. While maintaining a high level of accuracy and bringing out the intricate nuances of this Upanishad, the emphasis of Brooks' translation seems to be more on the geometrical aspects of the Sri Chakra. The present translation emphasises the practice aspect of this Upanishad as derived from Bhaskararaya's commentary. (shrink)

This book is one of the first wide-ranging academic surveys of the major types and categories of Hindu contemplative praxis. It explores diverse spiritual and religious practices within the Hindu traditions and Indic hermeneutical perspectives to understand the intricate culture of meditative communion and contemplation, devotion, spiritual formation, prayer, ritual, and worship. The volume extends and expands the conceptual reach of the fields of Contemplative Studies and Hindu Studies. The chapters in the volume cover themes in Hindu contemplative experience from (...) various texts and traditions including classical Sāṃkhya and Patañjali Yoga, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the role of Sādhana in Advaita Vedānta, Śrīvidyā and the Śrīcakra, the body in Tantra, the semiotics and illocution of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sādhana, mantra in Mīmāṃsā, Vaiṣṇava liturgy, as well as cross-cultural reflections and interreligious comparative contemplative praxis. The volume presents indigenous vocabulary and frameworks to examine categories and concerns particular to the Hindu contemplative traditions. It traces patterns that cut across Hindu traditions and systems and discusses contrasting methods of different theological/philosophical schools evincing a strong plurality in Hindu religious thought and practice. The volume provides intra-religious comparisons that reveal internal complexity, nuances, and a variety of contemplative states and transformative practices that exist under the rubric of Hindu practices of interiority and reflection. With key insights on forms and functions of the contemplative experience along with their theologies and philosophies, the volume suggests new hermeneutical directions that will advance the field of contemplative studies. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of religious and theological studies, contemplative studies, Hindu studies, consciousness studies, yoga studies, Indian philosophy and religion, sociology of religion, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and South Asian studies, as well as general readers interested in the topic. (shrink)