History

What has come to be Trika Institute began in 1997, when Dharmanidhi Sarasvati, after 10 years of study, was given the mandate by his Gurus to form a new sect of Kasmiri Shaivite Tantra for westerners, and to teach the classical Tantra and Yoga of India. Dharmanidhi started the Wisdom Fire Inner-Work School as a way to bring the practice and the theory behind the practices of non-dual Kasmiri Shaivite Tantra to students. As he took on more students, he applied for and received nonprofit status for the organization, operating under the name Tantric College of America.

In 2005, an elaborate and important ceremony was performed by the Acaryas of the Australian Council of Hindu Clergy, with whom Dharmanidhi was trained, to install a Nataraj statue and consecrate our site as a temple, or mandir.

In the past three years, the kula, or community of practitioners, has grown, stabilized, and matured. There are over 50 initiated members of our kula, and many more non-initiate practitioners.

See the Jñanagni Kula section of this site for more information about the communitiy of practioners.