Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening

As with many I read this author's book Tantric Quest on the advice of Raven Smith and HeatherAsh Amara. That book is a charming history of the author's apprenticeship in Kashmiri Shaivism with the yogina Lalita Devi. I enjoyed it enough to see what else the author had written, and found this book listed on Amazon.com. What we have here is a manual of his training in that tradition, a "Third Path" between an ascetic quest for spiritual enlightenment and out and out hedonism. When I started reading it I flipped to the back for the naughty bits, with chapters on The Tantric Orgasm for Women and The Group Sexual Ritual. Then I laid it aside and didn't touch it again for a couple of years. Later, being stuck for something interesting to read I picked it up again, having forgotten that I hadn't read the whole thing. Surprise! The front of the book is packed with wonderful "micro-practices" that any spiritual seeker can incorporate into their day to good effect. My favorites are quieting the internal dialogue during the day, just by focusing on the breath for long enough to still the jibber-jabber. As he says, if you can do that even for ten or twenty seconds it's a wonderful little relief in the middle of the day. Another that I liked was to think that the food you eat wants you to eat it, the drink you drink wants you to drink it. This little thought completely changes the experience of living.This is a marvelous book, and this review has not done justice to it. It not only bears reading, it bears rereading, perhaps several times.

So i was looking for a way to spice it up in the bedroom and i got this tantric book because of the recommendation of another reader. I was hoping at least for some descriptions of things my husband and i could do together. This book was awesome and opened up my eyes to a totally new way of being, but as for bedroom stuff, its not that. If you practiced for a long time you might get to bedroom helpfulness but at that point you wouldn't need it. Don't buy this as a quick bedroom pick-me-up but DO buy it for the amazing change in world view you will have when you're done. My eyes were opened to a way to experience pleasure in every day (even mundane) life not just at the moment of orgasm. For that it is five stars.

According to almost all the great world religions including Buddhism, desire is an enemy blocking the path to enlightenment. Contrary to this, Daniel Odier maintains that desire is the only true path to liberation. According to Odier, the primary requirement for a spiritual seeker to fully awaken is simple, direct, personal experience. He refers to his disciplined approach as "micropractices" involving the conscious withdrawal from habitual activities for just a few seconds several times a day. There is no goal in this practice, no seeking to get somewhere or accomplish something, but rather the purpose is simply to be fully aware, fully awake, and fully present to your own divinity in the now moment. Odier describes his Tantric path as "nothing spectacular...lack[ing] in the exotic, the magickal, the extraordinary....there was no ritual other than to breathe, walk, bathe... to look at the earth, the lichens, the trees, the leaves, common objects; to enter deeply into contact with life, reality." He suggests that the "luminosity of existence" pervades everything including you. Odier received direct personal Tantric initiation from a Kashmiri Shaivite yogini, Lalita Devi, in the Tantric lineage of the Tibetan master Kalu Rinpoche which dates back several thousand years.

It is a very nice book to know about real tantric practices and prepositions. The author is the Master who artistically leads you to know better yourself as totality of the Universe. I suppose this book will help a lot of people to live better and beautiful life.

I read the book bit by bit. It was extremenly valuable content for my personal practice of tantra in everday life. Will definitelly read it again to gain more insight and check where I am with my practice.

Experience through words. Joy and love are symptoms of reading this book. Art of writing, communication and knowledge. I full gratitude for encountering this writer and his words

Very good reading. Useful information.

This book didn't hold my attention. Quotes from tantric texts were interesting but the book itself was pretty repetitive and seemed like a scam.

This is another of those books that I'll go back to re-read as time goes by. It's a great insight into the workings of Tantra, human relationship to Desire, and it's especially very practical. Some of the concepts really stood out to me, such as this one:"Next time you drink a glass of water, imagine that the water desires you." - fascinating stuff that I'd never heard before. Much of the content of this book describes itself as a pathway towards bliss.This book, like many of its kind, is a great guidance for the spiritual seeker, but the work and discipline always falls back on you.

This book is absolutely life changing!

Best guidance I ever received was to read this text. Despite it being a translation, the message is deeply moving and liberating

Written well and easy to understand

If you’re interested in Tantra this is a wonderful introduction to the philosophy