Meet Dr. Kavitha Chinnaiyan
A Renaissance woman, Dr. Kavitha Chinnaiyan is a practicing cardiologist with a remarkable breadth of expertise in medicine, technology, writing, mysticism, art, music. Her impressive career spans:
Medical Excellence:
- Practicing physician-scientist and a cardiologist with extensive experience in clinical medicine and research.
- On the Best Doctors in America list, 2013 – present.
- World leader in Cardiac Computed Tomography, with 100+ publications in peer-reviewed journals and textbooks.
- Leadership in international organizations, sharing her expertise globally.
- International speaker, educating audiences on cardiac imaging, preventive cardiology, and heart disease in women.
Author:
- The Heart of Wellness
- Shakti Rising (Winner of Nautilus Gold Award for Best Books of 2017)
- Glorious Alchemy: Living the Lalitā Sahasranāma
- Fractals of Reality: Living the Śrīcakra (Winner of Nautilus Gold Award for Best Books of 2022)
Mystic and Teacher:
- Tantric initiate and adept.
- Founder: Svatantra Institute and The Renegade Method™.
- Teacher & Mystic: Integrates spirituality and science to guide others in self-development, professional development, resilience, productivity, physician wellness, and burnout.
- Advocate: Weaves together wellness, nutrition, longevity, nonduality, Yoga, Tantra, Ayurveda, Vedanta, and the science of happiness.
- Leader: Worldwide retreats, workshops and seminars on human development, yogic philosophy, Tantric practices, rituals, and bringing together human physiology, physics, neuroscience, mindfulness, art, and living a fulfilling life.
- Guide: Rituals of Sanatana Dharma and Goddess Studies.
Artist and Musician:
- Art: Sacred geometry and religious art.
- Music: Trained in Indian classical music, researches sacred sound and sacred geometry, Sanskrit chanting, Vedic hymns, Yogic and Tantric chants.
Global Explorer:
- Embarks on unique pilgrimages, experiments with sound, body, and energy, and explores ancient sites worldwide.
Householder:
- Wife and mother.
It was 2 AM in Bangalore, India. I was jetlagged and wide awake. I had brought along a copy of Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, a 10th century text authored by one of the great masters of Trika (aka, Kashmir Shaivism) that is loosely translated as the “Heart of Recognition."
I opened the book to the first aphorism:
Citiḥ svatantrā viśvasiddhihetuḥ
“The independent (svatantrā) Absolute Reality (citiḥ) is the cause (hetuḥ) of all functions (siddhi) of the universe (viśva).”
My mind stopped...
I lay in bed, the verse appearing on the screen of my consciousness, letter by golden letter in Devanāgari, pausing again and again at the word svatantra. The word broke up in various ways, presenting a different meaning for the aphorism.
In the years to come, this word would become my goal as life took many twists and turns that repeatedly landed at the most important lesson I needed to learn in this lifetime - independence from all external means and sources, no matter how significant or revered. When the time had come for a total redo, the only way to svatantra was absolute self-destruction; nothing could be build from fragments of the old. The way of freedom necessarily needed to be paved anew...
Just as the Great Goddess had appeared in my consciousness years before, She did once more, whispering the word and the name of this new venture - Svantantra Institute, where the focus is on uncompromising independence through ecstatic modes of practice and study. She took shape as the logo that is reminiscent of Kāmakalā, the coming together of sound and form as the origin of creation. Here, the primordial Śakti praṇava Īm stretches out in a red downward facing triangle as Kuṇḍalinī, the power of supreme transformation. Gaze turned up, she bursts out of the bounds of the triangle. The yellow of the serpent mantra Īm and the red of the triangle evoke delight and ecstasy of Śakti, while the white of her eye is Śiva. Ecstasy finds completion in perfect awareness - as svatantra."
~Kavitha Chinnaiyan, Krṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī/Kālī Jayantī, September 2023