..nice to get some Vivekananda in there thanks Rising Spirit..the remarkable Ramakrishna was, interestingly, really i think a Shakta, through his ritual devotion to 'Ma' as Kali, the supreme as form, however he also recognised the changeless formless Brahman, saying Shakti and Brahman are one, as i mentioned earlier..

and thanks zhoro..yet more good reading there..and technique..

and i've really been appreciating Ramana since you mentioned him in the thread, thanks..!

..speaking of Ramana, and Shaktas, and Advaita..i found a vedic version of what i was trying to convey in my previous post about comprehension and the nature of existence..

it is from the ancient sanskrit work, the Tripura Rahasya  which is considered a Shakta work, but also "Tripura Rahasya was considered by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi as one of the greatest works that expounded Advaita philosophy. He often quoted from it and regretted that it was not available in English." [foreword to the first English translation in 1938] ..an advaitan friend kindly sent it to me..

a long work, in it's final appendix it is a core old Advaita position with regards to interpretations of Buddhism..

(or, some ideas of  'neo-advaita' ('nobody's here' etc) misunderstood)

the opening of it:

(note: 'jagat' means 'the whole world' )

advaitan but shakta, Tripura Rahasya means "The Mystery Beyond the Trinity"..

it says:

ॐ