Bettina Baumer has written a marvelous book about the Netra Tantra, the first published on this interesting text. This is an important publication in the field of tantric studies/yoga because it is not simply a philological study (important as that is) but also a ‘higher order’/ conceptual study too. The book gives an overview of the text, its teachings about the third eye of Siva and its mantra, along with the various practices of meditation and ritual that the text presents. Through focusing on the subtle and supreme meditations, the author shows how the text addresses different levels of attainment and aspiration. There are excellent translations of the first, seventh and eighth chapters along with the Sanskrit text itself, there is an appendix, placing the Netra in the context of comparative mysticism and the wonderful coloured illustrations are a visual essay in themselves.

Professor Gavin Flood FBA
Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion, Oxford University