Mahanirvana Tantra: Tantra of the Great Liberation

This book might interest a scholar of such texts but for practical use it's way over the top. The rituals are extremely difficult complicated and many unnecessary items are required to do most of the rituals.

Avalon's ninety page introduction to this late, compiled Hindu tantra is a crash course in Indian Philosophy. If you've never been able to get your gunas sorted out, this will help. But he does sometimes go off on one and give you an endless string of definitions.Like the introduction, the tantra often goes off on one too. Being more interested in advaita - and practice without particular practice - I did often wonder why I was wading through its imprecations and commandments and visualisations and incantations. Like many rememberings - shared through generations - it is replete and chaotic. But its florid abundance is never less than entertaining and, periodically, a non-dual voice comes through.Arthur Avalon - the pen name of Sir John Woodruffe - was a major `orientalist' of the 19th century British empire in India. He manages to be surprised, enthusiastic, conquering and self-effacing all at the same time. The weighty and immediate tenor of his translation - with sacred awe as the words arise - shows him to have been a person of genuine commitment to the experiences described by ancient and mystic sages.