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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent overview of Hindu Tantra
Review: David Frawley has done a fine exposition of Hindu Tantra. He not only knows the subject well, but he also can convey it in a readable and lucid manner. He clears away many of the misconceptions that have risen around Tantra since the New Age movement has appropriated it. Its not about "sex" as many purveyors would want you to believe. Most westerners think that the 'Left hand Tantra' is all there is. Wrong. It is a authentic and very real path of spritual realization that is very comprehensive in its practice.After Frawley dispels the misconceptions he proceeds to define aspects of Tantra and the various paths within it. Then the bulk of the book deals with the Ten Mahavidyas or wisdom goddesses. Now some of them are really hideous or nightmarish visually. Be forwarned! 5 of the goddesses comprise each an aspect of the divine as I understand it. The other 5 deal with personal transformation. He gives instructions on how to worship each one, along with mantras and yantras, with visualizations of each goddess. Later chapters deal with the chakras, pranas, tejas and ojas. Overall a fine introduction to Tantra. I have only a few quips. 1) It is not a instruction manual per se. Yes he lists the various mantras - however its nearly impossible to learn a mantra from a book. A audio CD would be a fine complement for the next edition. Get Harish 'Tools for Tantra' for the practice methods. 2) The Yantras and drawings of the goddess should be done in color. If you're interested in knowing more about real Tantra get this book. You won't be disapointed.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent guide to Tantra and Hinduism
Review: Tantra and Hinduism in general is often confused with Black-Magic and Sexuality, however this book provides an excellent and traditional view against such false propeganda. Tantra in it's true context is Spiritual and Right-Handed and Dash-Mahavidya or the worship of the Ten Mother-Goddesses is perhaps one of the best ways to understand the Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. The book provides meditations, yantras and mantras of the goddesses and excellent guides to understanding their relation with Nature and the Divine!
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time
Review: This book brought up every bad feeling I have toward books on occult topics. Specifically, books that claim to be on fairly specific topics, and then fail to provide any useful information on those topics. I realize that the tantric tradition is a largely oral one, and I will give Dr. Frawley credit for not falling into any of the tantra==sex traps, but other than that... innocent trees died so this book could be printed and I resent that as a person who likes trees. The introductory material, covering the basic concepts behind tantra were excellent. The closing material, which seemed to be meant as an introduction to yogic practice... sucked. Poor explanations, poor descriptions, poor, poor, poor. I realize that this material is largely things of which I was already aware, but that actually made it all the more apparent to me that the good doctor was doing a lousy job of explaining it. I mean, really, all I want is something ... *half* as good as what any practitioner I know could write. The middle material, the section covering the Dasa Mahavidyas (the Ten Wisdom Goddesses), was the worst though. I honestly feel like knowledge was sucked *out* of my brain reading it. It really felt like Dr. Frawley had gotten his hands on The Big Book Of Hindu Goddesses and just copied the text regarding these 10 goddesses without any attempt at making them relate to each other or to the tantric tradition. I literally knew as much going in as I did coming out (assuming that no knowledge was actually sucked out of my brain). So unless that's it, and I know everything there is to know about this tradition, which I *sincerely* doubt, what did this gain me? Not a damn thing. Also, I do recognize that it is entirely possible that Dr. Frawley was in the position of not being able to reveal knowledge he does possess, due to whatever reasons. In which case, either don't write the book, or say somewhere "I am forbidden to provide the following types of information" and I will be a ... less disgruntled camper.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: This book brought up every bad feeling I have toward books on occult topics. Specifically, books that claim to be on fairly specific topics, and then fail to provide any useful information on those topics. I realize that the tantric tradition is a largely oral one, and I will give Dr. Frawley credit for not falling into any of the tantra==sex traps, but other than that... innocent trees died so this book could be printed and I resent that as a person who likes trees. The introductory material, covering the basic concepts behind tantra were excellent. The closing material, which seemed to be meant as an introduction to yogic practice... sucked. Poor explanations, poor descriptions, poor, poor, poor. I realize that this material is largely things of which I was already aware, but that actually made it all the more apparent to me that the good doctor was doing a lousy job of explaining it. I mean, really, all I want is something ... *half* as good as what any practitioner I know could write. The middle material, the section covering the Dasa Mahavidyas (the Ten Wisdom Goddesses), was the worst though. I honestly feel like knowledge was sucked *out* of my brain reading it. It really felt like Dr. Frawley had gotten his hands on The Big Book Of Hindu Goddesses and just copied the text regarding these 10 goddesses without any attempt at making them relate to each other or to the tantric tradition. I literally knew as much going in as I did coming out (assuming that no knowledge was actually sucked out of my brain). So unless that's it, and I know everything there is to know about this tradition, which I *sincerely* doubt, what did this gain me? Not a damn thing. Also, I do recognize that it is entirely possible that Dr. Frawley was in the position of not being able to reveal knowledge he does possess, due to whatever reasons. In which case, either don't write the book, or say somewhere "I am forbidden to provide the following types of information" and I will be a ... less disgruntled camper.
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