Tantra: The Classical Path
Mantra, yantra and deity practice — the actual tradition.
Video · 56 lessons · Sanskrit primer · practice log
Taught by
Dr Kavita Sharma
Sanskritist · Initiated practitioner in the Śrīvidyā line
2 free previews
- The word, its history, and what happened to it in the West 31:20
- The textual landscape: agamas, tantras, and the schools 28:44
One payment. No subscription, no renewal, no upsell inside the course.
- Lessons
- 56
- Total length
- 17 h 25 m
- Level
- Adept
- Language
- English (Sanskrit with transliteration)
- Access
- Lifetime, all future revisions
- Certificate
- Yes, on assessment
Instant access on payment
14-day refund, no questions asked
Watch on any device, download the workbook
What this course is
Classical tantra is a rigorous, largely ascetic devotional system built on mantra, yantra and deity practice — and it is very nearly the opposite of what the word has come to mean in the English-speaking world. This course teaches the tradition as it is actually practised, with the Sanskrit given properly and the sources named.
What you will be able to do
- Understand what tantra is, historically and textually
- Pronounce and work mantra correctly, with the metre intact
- Construct and use a yantra
- Perform nyasa and basic puja with understanding
- Read the primary sources in transliteration
- Recognise, and avoid, the many appropriations of the word
The whole path
Curriculum
Every lesson, in order, with its running time. Free previews are marked.
4 modules · 16 lessons
- The word, its history, and what happened to it in the WestFree preview31:20Lesson 1
- The textual landscape: agamas, tantras, and the schoolsFree preview28:44Lesson 2
- Śaiva, Śākta and Vaiṣṇava streams26:12Lesson 3
- On neotantra — said plainly and without contempt24:35Lesson 4
- Sanskrit sounds: a working primer34:50Lesson 1
- Why pronunciation and metre matter27:18Lesson 2
- Bīja mantras and their structure30:02Lesson 3
- Japa: counting, timing and consistency25:44Lesson 4
- The geometry of a yantra and what it encodes32:15Lesson 1
- Drawing the Śrī Yantra, step by step41:30Lesson 2
- Nyasa: placing the deity in the body29:47Lesson 3
- Consecration and daily care23:19Lesson 4
- A simple daily puja33:40Lesson 1
- Initiation: what it is, and who can give it30:15Lesson 2
- Cultural respect without paralysis28:02Lesson 3
- Your assessed practice log14:10Lesson 4
Your teacher
Dr Kavita Sharma
Sanskritist · Initiated practitioner in the Śrīvidyā line
Kavita holds a doctorate in Sanskrit and an initiation in the Śrīvidyā tradition, and is unusual in having both. She teaches the texts as texts and the practice as practice, and is precise about which is which.
Before you enrol
Frequently asked
Almost entirely not. Sexual practice occupies a small and largely misunderstood corner of a handful of left-hand-path lineages. Module I explains at length how that corner came to represent the whole in Western imagination.
Some of it, yes, and Kavita is explicit about which practices require initiation and which do not. She does not pretend a video course can confer dīkṣā.
No. The primer in Module II gets you to correct pronunciation without grammar.
From students
Reviews
- 5.0 out of 5
Finally, a straight answer
Verified purchaseI had been embarrassed to ask what tantra actually was. Module I answers it properly, with sources, and without making you feel foolish.
Marion D. · 11 June 2026
- 5.0 out of 5
The Sanskrit primer
Verified purchaseThirty-five minutes and my pronunciation stopped being an embarrassment.
Kofi A. · 8 April 2026