The Serpent Power: Being The Ṣat-Cakra-Nirūpaṇa And Pādukā-Pañcaka
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 12th ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Yellowed
At the crossroads of ancient Eastern mysticism and rigorous Western scholarship, The Serpent Power stands as the definitive English translation and commentary on two foundational Sanskrit texts of Laya-Yoga — the Ṣat-Cakra-Nirūpaṇa (Description of the Six Centres) and the Pādukā-Pañcaka (Fivefold Footstool). Sir John Woodroffe presents a meticulous and authoritative rendering of these sacred works, illuminating the esoteric Hindu doctrine of Kuṇḍalinī-Śakti — the coiled serpent energy believed to reside at the base of the human spine — and the intricate system of chakras through which it ascends toward cosmic consciousness. Woodroffe, a High Court judge in British India and one of the most serious Western interpreters of Tāntric philosophy, brings both legal precision and profound spiritual empathy to his exhaustive introduction and commentary, dismantling colonial-era misconceptions and arguing for the intellectual coherence of the Tantric tradition on its own terms. This landmark work remains an indispensable reference for students of comparative religion, Yoga philosophy, and the history of esoteric thought, and its central question — what transformative power lies dormant within the human body — continues to resonate across disciplines. Those who open its pages will find not a relic of the past, but a living map of inner geography waiting to be traversed.
Author: Sir John Woodroffe
Format: Hardback
Published: 1981, Ganesh & Co., Madras
Genre: Religion
Edition: 12th ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Yellowed
At the crossroads of ancient Eastern mysticism and rigorous Western scholarship, The Serpent Power stands as the definitive English translation and commentary on two foundational Sanskrit texts of Laya-Yoga — the Ṣat-Cakra-Nirūpaṇa (Description of the Six Centres) and the Pādukā-Pañcaka (Fivefold Footstool). Sir John Woodroffe presents a meticulous and authoritative rendering of these sacred works, illuminating the esoteric Hindu doctrine of Kuṇḍalinī-Śakti — the coiled serpent energy believed to reside at the base of the human spine — and the intricate system of chakras through which it ascends toward cosmic consciousness. Woodroffe, a High Court judge in British India and one of the most serious Western interpreters of Tāntric philosophy, brings both legal precision and profound spiritual empathy to his exhaustive introduction and commentary, dismantling colonial-era misconceptions and arguing for the intellectual coherence of the Tantric tradition on its own terms. This landmark work remains an indispensable reference for students of comparative religion, Yoga philosophy, and the history of esoteric thought, and its central question — what transformative power lies dormant within the human body — continues to resonate across disciplines. Those who open its pages will find not a relic of the past, but a living map of inner geography waiting to be traversed.