The World as Power

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Sir John Woodroffe, also recognized by the pseudonym Arthur Avalon, was a British Orientalist whose extensive and intricate body of published works on the Tantras and various Hindu traditions played a pivotal role in sparking widespread interest in Hindu philosophy and yoga.

In addition to serving as the Advocate-General of Bengal and holding the position of Legal Member in the Government of India, Woodroffe dedicated himself to the study of Sanskrit and Hindu philosophy. His particular fascination with Hindu Tantra led him to translate around twenty original Sanskrit texts. Writing under the pen name Arthur Avalon, he not only published but also delivered prolific lectures on Indian philosophy, encompassing a broad spectrum of Yoga and Tantra subjects.

Woodroffe's works have gained global popularity, resonating not only with academics and scholars but also with a general audience around the world.

His other works also available from us include "The Serpent Power', 'The Garland of Letters', 'The World as Power', 'The Great Liberation: Mahanirvana Tantra', 'Hymns to the Goddess and Hymn to Kali', 'Principles of Tantra', 'Introduction to Tantra Sastra', 'Sakti and Sakta', 'Is India Civilized: Essays on Indian Culture', and 'Isha Upanishad, Bharata Shakti & The Seed of Race'.

There is a Supreme Reality which is Eternal and Indefinable. It is an Absolute, inconceivable and ineffable-the Brahman. Unknowable in its utterness, this Reality presents itself to us in three supreme terms of its Truth: an absolute Existence, Sat, an absolute Consciousness, Cit, and an absolute Bliss, Ananda. This is the poise of Brahman turned towards self-revelation.

It perceives itself as an infinite Existence; not a mere existence but a Being with a full awareness of all that It is, an infinite Consciousness. This Consciousness inherent in the supreme Being is no static awareness it is instinct with a Power, a Force dynamic with all the content of the Consciousness.

The present book' is the first of a series which I hope to be able to complete, explaining succinctly some general philosophical principles of the Doctrine of Sakti or Power from the Sakta Vedanta standpoint. A correspondent once asked me what was that? The answer is, that it is that Doctrine which is to be found, expressly or implicitly, in the Tantras of the Agama-Sastra of the Advaita Sakta and Saiva communities of worshippers. The two have points in common in (amongst others) their Doctrine of Sakti and its evolution as the 36 Tattvas and so forth. Thus the latter are explained in both the Gandharva- Tantra, the Kashmirian Tattva-Sandoha, and other works. In the Pratah- Krrya as set out in the Mahanirvana-Tantra (V. 39) salutation is made to Atma-tattva, Vidya-tattva, and Siva-tattva, these being the three-fold divisions of the 36 Tattvas.