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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Hinduism
With historical-critical analysis and dialogical even-handedness,
the essays of this book re-assess the life and legacy of Swami
Vivekananda, forged at a time of colonial suppression, from the
vantage point of socially-engaged religion at a time of global
dislocations and international inequities. Due to the complexity of
Vivekananda as a historical figure on the cusp of late modernity
with its vast transformations, few works offer a contemporary,
multi-vocal, nuanced, academic examination of his liberative vision
and legacy in the way that this volume does. It brings together
North American, European, British, and Indian scholars associated
with a broad array of humanistic disciplines towards
critical-constructive, contextually-sensitive reflections on one of
the most important thinkers and theologians of the modern era.
The proposed book presents an overview of select theories in the
classical Vaisesika system of Indian philosophy, such as the
concept of categories, creation and existence, atomic theory,
consciousness and cognition. It also expounds in detail the concept
of dharma, the idea of the highest good and expert testimony as a
valid means of knowing in Vaisesika thought. Some of the major
themes discussed are the religious inclination of Vaisesika thought
towards Pasupata Saivism, the affiliation of the Vaisesika System
to the basic foundations of Indian philosophical thought, namely
Veda and Yoga, and their insights into science, hermeneutics and
metaphysics. In addition, this book includes recent Sanskrit
commentaries on key Vaisesika texts and provides a glimpse of
Vaisesika studies across the world. Overall, this book enunciates
the Vaisesika view from original sources and is an important work
for Vaisesika studies in current times for serious students as well
as researchers.
Drawing from original texts on self-mastery, Evola discusses two
Hindu movements--Tantrism and Shaktism--which emphasize a path of
action to gain power over energies latent within the body.
Some postcolonial theorists argue that the idea of a single system
of belief known as "Hinduism" is a creation of nineteenth-century
British imperialists. Andrew J. Nicholson introduces another
perspective: although a unified Hindu identity is not as ancient as
some Hindus claim, it has its roots in innovations within South
Asian philosophy from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries.
During this time, thinkers treated the philosophies of Vedanta,
Samkhya, and Yoga, along with the worshippers of Visnu, Siva, and
Sakti, as belonging to a single system of belief and practice.
Instead of seeing such groups as separate and contradictory, they
re-envisioned them as separate rivers leading to the ocean of
Brahman, the ultimate reality. Drawing on the writings of
philosophers from late medieval and early modern traditions,
including Vijnanabhiksu, Madhava, and Madhusudana Sarasvati,
Nicholson shows how influential thinkers portrayed Vedanta
philosophy as the ultimate unifier of diverse belief systems. This
project paved the way for the work of later Hindu reformers, such
as Vivekananda, Radhakrishnan, and Gandhi, whose teachings promoted
the notion that all world religions belong to a single spiritual
unity. In his study, Nicholson also critiques the way in which
Eurocentric concepts--like monism and dualism, idealism and
realism, theism and atheism, and orthodoxy and heterodoxy--have
come to dominate modern discourses on Indian philosophy.
According to ancient Yogic tradition, your soul has four distinct
desires: * The desire for purpose, the drive to become who you are
meant to be * The desire for the means (money, security, health) to
prosper in this world * The desire for pleasures like intimacy,
beauty and love * The desire for spiritual fulfillment and lasting
freedom Learning to honour these four desires is the key to
happiness, and to a complete and balanced life. But how can you
discern what will truly satisfy your desires? How can you increase
your capacity to achieve them? What if your desires seem to
conflict with one another? Is it really possible to live a
spiritual life while also wanting material pleasures and success?
For more than three decades, master teacher Rod Stryker has taught
yoga in the context of its deepest philosophy. His course, called
The Yoga of Fulfillment (TM), has helped thousands recognise their
soul's call to greatness and to achieve their dreams. Now, in this
wise and richly practical book, he has distilled those broad
teachings into a road map for becoming the person you were meant to
be. It is filled with revealing true stories, provocative exercises
and practices for unlocking your inner guidance. And even if you've
never done a yoga pose, you can follow this step-by-step process
to: * discover your soul's unique purpose - the one you came into
this world to fulfill. * recognise the goal(s) you need to focus on
at any given time and enliven your capacity to reach them. *
overcome self-defeating ideas and behaviour. * recruit your deepest
energies and strengthen your resolve to meet any challenge. * learn
to live with joy at every stage of your growth. The Four Desires is
nothing less than a complete path toward living your best life
possible - a life that is rich in meaning and in means, a life that
attracts and emanates happiness.
Chanting of Sri Sai Ashtothara, the 108 names of Shirdi Saibaba, is
the most chosen and popular way of worshipping Baba. "The
Ashtothara" was compiled, originally, by Pujya Sri Narasimha
Swamiji, an ardent Sai devotee. Sai Ashtothara is chanted daily in
Shirdi during Kakad (Morning) Arti. However, no attempt has been
undertaken to make one relate these sacred names to the memorable
miracles and leelas of his grace and protection. This is a prayer
book and an attempt to explore the deeper inner significance of
each name. Hopefully it will be helpful to every Sai devotee to win
his grace and blessings.
In the early 11th century, the Kashmiri philosopher Abhinavagupta
proposed panentheism-seeing the divine as both immanent in the
world and at the same time as transcendent-as a way to reclaim the
material world as something real, something solid. His theology
understood the world itself, with its manifold inhabitants-from
gods to humans to insects down to the merest rock-as part of the
unfolding of a single conscious reality, Siva. This conscious
singularity-the word "god" here does not quite do it justice-with
its capacity to choose and will, pervades all through, top to
bottom; as Abhinavagupta writes, "even down to a worm - when they
do their own deeds, that which is to be done first stirs in the
heart." His panentheism proposed an answer to a familiar conundrum,
one we still grapple with today: Consciousness is so unlike matter.
How does consciousness actually connect to the materiality of our
world? To put this in more familar twenty-first-century terms, how
does mind connect to body? These questions drive Loriliai
Biernacki's The Matter of Wonder: Abhinavagupta's Panentheism and
New Materialism. Biernacki draws on Abhinavagupta's thought-and
particularly his yet-untranslated, philosophical magnum opus, the
Isvara Pratyabhijna Vivrti Vimarsini-to think through contemporary
issues such as the looming prospect of machine AI, ideas about
information, and our ecological crises. She argues that
Abhinavagupta's panentheism can help us understand our current
world and can contribute to a New Materialist re-envisioning of the
relationship that humans have with matter.
Enlightenment has been eagerly sought for generations as a means to
remove the limitations that compromise one's happiness. Vedanta,
the science of self-inquiry, has been described as the grandfather
of all enlightenment traditions. James Swartz explains and unfolds
the methods of Vedanta in his direct style, while unravelling the
myths and mysteries behind the enlightened state. But this book
does not simply present one more set of spiritual techniques; it
presents a comprehensive body of knowledge and practice that has
successfully directed the inquiry into the nature of reality by
untold thousands of enlightened beings. The author starts from the
point of view of any individual seeking happiness and logically
walks the seeker through the whole spiritual path. This book
explains how self-inquiry affects the lives of those who practice
it, including its effects on personality, relationships, and the
mind. This book considers the qualifications necessary for
enlightenment, as well as the obstacles encountered on all
spiritual paths, and unfolds proven methods. The ancient teachings
of Vedanta, once available only to those who could receive them
directly from the sages of India, are now accessible to anyone with
a hunger for freedom and enlightenment.
This book is based on the teachings of Bhagavad Gita, one of the
most widely read books in the world. In today's busy life, we
hardly get any time to meditate deeper into the meaning and purpose
of life. We tend to take certain things for granted such as our
status, wealth, educational achievements, etc. and also presume
that they will be given to us in our next birth. But scriptures do
not endorse this view. All our possessions, or the lack of them,
are the result of our karma in the previous births. We rewrite our
destiny everyday for our future births. Hence, we should decide our
actions in accordance with the teachings of the scriptures and not
allow our materialistic aspirations to distort our understanding
and conduct in this world. Also one should not wait till the old
age to start reading the scriptures. The right age to read
scriptures is as early as one gets the consciousness so as to
minimise the loss of deep, illuminating thoughts which an
insightful reading of the Bhagavad Gita entails and hence, engage
in righteous actions. The divine wisdom of Lord Krishna,
encapsulated in the Bhagavad Gita, is addressed to each and every
individual to help solve perplexing problems and progress towards a
brighter future.
This tripartite study of the monkey metaphor, the monkey
performance, and the 'special status' people traces changes in
Japanese culture from the eighth century to the present. During
early periods of Japanese history the monkey's nearness to the
human-animal boundary made it a revered mediator or an animal deity
closest to humans. Later it became a scapegoat mocked for its vain
efforts to behave in a human fashion. Modern Japanese have begun to
see a new meaning in the monkey--a clown who turns itself into an
object of laughter while challenging the basic assumptions of
Japanese culture and society.
A fascinating read for scholars and general readers alike, Class
and Religion highlights the interdependence between the class
structure and the Vedic and Brahmanical form of religion in ancient
India. It seeks to demolish the myth that religiosity and
spirituality were the distinctive characteristics of ancient Indian
civilization. The author demonstrates that religion was a
superstructure of class relations used primarily by the ruling
class and the state to perpetuate a predatory class structure based
on exploitation and oppression. Buddhism, foreign immigrant
communities, Atheist-rationalist philosophies and the rise of
Shudra dynasties threatened to destabilize the class-caste
structure that had come into existence in the late Rig Vedic
period. However, the Brahmanical revival led by the ruling class
and the state from the second century B.C. restored the Vedic
religion and the class-caste structure in a slightly modified form.
A thorough analysis of the Vedas and Upanishads, Manusmriti, Gita,
Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas has been attempted in the
context of the relevant period.
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