Living mantra: mantra, deity, and visionary experience today

'Living Mantra' is an anthropology of mantra-experience among Hindu-tantric practitioners.

In ancient Indian doctrine and legends, mantras perceived by rishis (seers) invoke deities and have transformative powers.

Adopting a methodology that combines scholarship and practice, Mani Rao discovers a continuing tradition of visionaries (rishis/seers) and revelations in south India's Andhra-Telangana.

Both deeply researched and replete with fascinating narratives, the book reformulates the poetics of mantra-practice as it probes practical questions.

Can one know if a vision is real or imagined? Is vision visual? Are deity-visions mediated by culture? If mantras are effective, what is the role of devotion?

Are mantras language? 'Living Mantra' interrogates not only theoretical questions, but also those a practitioner would ask: how does one choose a deity, for example, or what might bind one to a guru?