Virendra Qazi — The brightest beacon of Kashmir Shaivism
On September 5th 2023, I received my first opportunity to invite a scholar on Kashmir Shaivism, Mr. Virendra Qazi to my home for a brief lecture and a question-answer session, which I am converting into a podcast, more on that in a future post. In this post I share a little background context and recent events where Mr. Qazi has been spreading awareness on Kashmir Shaivism. Here is a little teaser of the podcast.
On the eve of Sri Krishna Janmashtami, September 5th 2023, Mr. and Mrs. Qazi visited the Panchmukhi Hanuman Temple in Dublin, CA, to offer their prayers. In the photos below you can see Mr. Qazi receivng Lord Hanuman’s blessings from the priest and Mr. & Mrs. Qazi receiving a thanks for their visit. Mrs. Hema Qazi completed a session of sacred chants Hanuman-Kavach.
A well known website iKashmir.net has hosted a section on Mr. Qazi for over a decade, and introduces him as follows — Due to the grace of God and love and admiration of people, Virendra Qazi is making original contribution in Indian Tantra Shastra. Kashmir Shaivism is very popular in US
and Europe with ongoing research at leading universities. He presents this philosophy in common man’s language and he is getting overwhelming response from all over the world. Last year (circa 2010) in August, Midland Broadcasting Corporation, Leister, UK, recorded his lecture on Kashmir Shaivism, which was shown all over UK. While explaining relevance of Kashmir Shaivism he always stresses that we should “live in the present” and “no problem of individual or society should be ignored.” This has helped him to develop a highly results-oriented approach in his work.
Introduction to Kashmir Shaivism
There are several introductory articles on this website, including topics like Kashmir Shaivism, Science and Kashmir Shaivism and Kashmir Shaivism and our times that will interest the readers who like to take an analytical approach to learning about Shaivism. On the other hand there are some articles like Shiv Sutras, Maya and Aesthetics in Kashmir Shaivism that are more abstract in nature.
He explains that in Kashmir Shaivism 1) Supremen Consciousness (Shiv), 2) Teacher (Guru), 3) Self (Purusha) are like three vertices of a triangle. Understaning this close connection helps in practicing Kashmir Shaivism everyday.
He explains the three human traits needed for the practice of Kashmir Shaivism are — 1) Love 2) Compassion and 3) Humility. If you observe these traits universally towards every living and non-living thing, you are practicing Kashmir Shaivism. There are no chants or nuanced rituals necessary for the practice — although advanced seekers tend to delve deeper into Shiv Sutra and Tantras. Kashmir Shaivism discipline has four features — 1) It is a Universal Spiritual Practice, everyone is welcome 2) It is focused on reaching oneness of soul with the supreme consciousness 3) It encourages Diversity of practices and 4) It is sustained by Divine Grace, that allows one to transcend the ideas of supreme consciousness also know as Paramsiva.
Mr. Qazi is settled in India, he lives in Delhi with his wife Mrs. Hema Qazi. They have lived in Delhi for over 30 years where Mr. Qazi practiced Kashmir Shaivism while pursuing his professional career and established the “Lalleshwari International Trust”, in New Delhi. When he is in the US, his base station is New Jersey where his daughter and her family are settled.
A Lotus In The Mud
The video recording of the event is available on YouTube. You can watch it below before reading on or add it to your Watch Later queue.
The event was also covered by another print media outlet called Preetnama — Khara Sach. See below.
In another private event — Mr. Qazi exchanged a private dialogue with Sri Sri Ravishakar (the founder of The Art of Living).
At the end of his visit to Pleasanton, CA, visit — Mr. Qazi expressed his joy in meeting so many seekers and sharing his experiences and knowledge with them. He promised to return to California soon, for a longer period so he can meet with more seekers of divine consciousness. We will be looking forward to his next visit.
Here are some other interesting links to watch.
[1] Kashmir Shaivism Lecture (part 1)— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEpnawt_rr0
[2] Kashmir Shaivism Lecture (part 2) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwdDZ31vh9Q
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Author of this article is also the Chief-Editor of the publication “Sofa Shaivism”. He is exploring the principles of Kashmir Shaivism under the guidance of Mr. Virendra Qazi.
