Sthaneshwar Timalsina

Nirmal K. and Augustina Mattoo Endowed Chair in Classical Indic Humanities

Life:

After completing his master’s degree from Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Sthaneshwar Timalsina opened the Department of Tantric Studies in Nepal and taught there for several years before joining Martin Luther University in Halle, Germany for his Ph.D. studies. Dr. Timalsina completed his Ph.D. in 2005, with a focus on Advaita philosophy. While working on his dissertation, Dr. Timalsina taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Timalsina specializes in the areas of Hindu Studies and comparative philosophies and religions. Since 2005, he has been teaching in both the Department for the Study of Religions and  the Department of Philosophy at San Diego State University.

Works:

In his writings and thought, Dr. Timalsina weaves his classical training with his philological training in his own unique style of comparative and analytical studies. Dr. Timalsina published his dissertation in 2006 under the title, Seeing and Appearance: A History of the Advaita Doctrine of Dṛṣṭisṛṣṭi. In 2009, he extended his research into the area of consciousness studies, resulting in the book, Consciousness in Indian Philosophy, published by Routledge. Dr. Timalsina then shifted his attention to Tantric studies and published two books, Language of Images: Meaning and Visualization in Tantras (Peter Lang, 2015) and Tantric Visual Culture: A Cognitive Approach (Routledge, 2015). In addition to these books, Dr. Timalsina has published more than 80 articles in the areas of Hindu philosophy, Tantric studies, Yoga studies and comparative philosophy. He writes in both Sanskrit and English, his Sanskrit works reflecting classical mystic philosophers such as Abhinavagupta. His work, Tantra Gahvara, draws upon the esoteric tradition of Tripura and synthesizes Shakta philosophy, whereas the short treatises Saṃvarttastava and Cāmuṇḍāśatakam capture essential Kaula and Krama Tantricism.

In order to disseminate philosophical knowledge distilled from various Hindu schools of thought, Timalsina launched the Vimarsha Foundation in 2019 and since then, has continued to offer regular, full courses through this forum. Dr. Timalsina envisions Vimarsha as a global school (Gurukula) for learning classical Sanskrit-based philosophical systems and mystical traditions.