Bhagavan Shanmukha traditonally educated Tantric Acharya (Lama, Teacher):

Acharya Bhagavan Shanmukha Anantha Natha is a traditionally educated, initiated Shaiva Agama teacher with over thirty years of teaching experience.

Traditional learning not only entails the study of the Shaiva Agamas, but also the Vedas and all its various interpretations as Agama, Tantra, Yoga [asanas, pranyama, dhyana], etc. The Veda forms the basic rubrics from which one can read an Agamic or Siddhantic perspective or even a Tantric or Yogic interpretation.

The topics of study were never at any point in history limited to just one fragment as Orientology maintains. In traditional learning it is understood that the whole science originates directly from the Veda. It is Orientology and New Age which have made us believe that the Indic studies are separate systems: Trika, Shaiva Sidhanta, Pancharatra, Kashmiri or Uttara Shaivism, etc. In other words, there was not any time in the history of India a valid Shaiva tradition which was learned as an isolated system [i.e.Trika etc.]. The whole science was the composite study of the Veda.

It is in colonial times with the collapse of the Vedic Tradition that there appear to be teachings limited to particular systems. This is because the practitioners of those sciences had to make do with what was at hand.

From a very young age, Bhagavan Shanmukha learned the spiritual science from his grandparents who were devout practitioners. His grandfather especially was involved in the study of Shaiva Tantras. As a couple, Bhagavan Shanmukha's grandparents lived every moment of their life as right-hand [Dakshina Marga] Tantrics. They never missed even a day of consecrating the Divinities in their personal shrine. This shrine itself was almost a temple. It is there that Bhagavan Shanmukha learned from his grandfather. Every morning started with a sojourn to that shrine, then a visit to his grandparents' vast cowshed. Growing up in this backdrop, it is easy to see why learning Tantra from him is such a rich experience.

Bhagavan Shanmukha's grandparents taught him the Vedic sciences i.e. the Agamas, Tantras, etc. from very young. As an adult, he learnt the Vama Marga or the left-hand Tantra from a traditional Shaiva GuruMayi from Northeastern India initiated under the name Shri Ma ChandraMati ShivaDasini Sharma.

In the early sixties and seventies, Tantra was seen as sorcery even by Indians. India had been colonized for over three hundred years and Victorian English prudery was taught in the schools and wholeheartedly embraced by the majority of India. Thus, Shri Ma GuruMayi lived a secluded life and did not teach Tantra. Things became even worse when the Western world started popularizing Tantra as quick-fix, sexual solution.

Thus when Bhagavan Shanmukha approached her to learn the left-hand or Vama Marga ways of Tantra she initially hesitated but accepted after a few months as she realized the seriousness of his intention and that he had an in-depth understanding of the science from his grandparents and was only lacking the left-hand or the Vama Tantra aspect. She taught him the rituals and sexual aspects of Tantra.

She initiated him as an Acharya of the Shiva-Shakta tradition and with the title of Bhagavan. To hold this title one must be educated and initiated in the Vedas, and therefore in the various Agamas including: Kashmiri Shaivism also known as Trika or correctly Uttaramnaya, the Sidhanta Shaivism or Dakshinamnaya, and also the Tamil Shaivism. He is also learned in the Lingayat or Jangama ideology - the Shaivism of Karnataka state in India. This means that he is educated in the Vedas and therefore aware of various interpretations such as Agamas, Tantras i.e. Kula, Kaula, Mata, Krama etc. In short, he is well versed with the traditional reading of the Veda and this includes also Vaishnavism, Krishnaism and Buddhism. He also understands and practices the Pasupata rituals etc. Bhagavan Shanmukha is fluent in the Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindi and English languages as well as a few other non-Indian languages. The title Bhagavan is synonymous with the term SarvaDarshana Acharya: an Acharya whose initiation takes him to understand the whole science.