In the last few decades, yoga has helped millions of people to improve their concepts of themselves. Yoga realises that man is not only the mind, he is body as well. Yoga has been designed in a such a way that it can complete the process of evolution of the personality in every possible direction. Kundalini yoga is a part of the tantric tradition. Even though you may have already been introduced to yoga, it is necessary to know something about tantra also. Since the dawn of creation, the tantrics and yogis have realised that in this physical body there is a potential force. It is not psychological or transcendental; it is a dynamic potential force in the material body, and it is called Kundalini. This Kundalini is the greatest discovery of tantra and yoga. Scientists have begun to look into this, and a summary of the latest scientific experiments is included in this book.

Unexplainable coincidences abound in the Bible and in biblical Hebrew. For example, the Hebrew words for ear and balance are derived from the same philological root. But it was only toward the end of the nineteenth century that scientists discovered that the human body s balancing mechanism resides in the ear. Coincidences in the Bible and in biblical Hebrew details scores of such incidents, including:

Words in Hebrew that show intent to convey a message
Coincidences in the Hebrew language that show intent to convey hidden information, and occasionally information that could not be expected to be known in biblical times
Passages in the Bible that convey or assume information or knowledge unlikely to have been known in biblical times
Other coincidences from Jewish tradition or Jewish history

In this second edition, author Haim Shore discusses two types of coincidences-those that can be considered just that, and others that are subject to rigorous statistical analysis. Altogether, nineteen analyses have been conducted with highly significant results. Simple plots that accompany the analyses clarify their meanings and implications so that no prior statistical know-how is required. Genesis creation story is statistically analyzed.

These ancient stories whisper truth to your soul.

Great stories have the power to draw the heart. But certain stories have the power to draw the heart to God and awaken the better angels of our nature. Such are the tales of the rabbis of the Talmud, colorful, quirky yarns that tug at our heartstrings and test our values, ethics, morality and our imaginations.

In this collection for people of all faiths and backgrounds, Rabbi Burton Visotzky draws on four decades of telling and teaching these legends in order to unlock their wisdom for the contemporary heart. He introduces you to the cast of characters, explains their motivations, and provides the historical background needed to penetrate the wise lessons often hidden within these unusual narratives.

In learning how and why these oft-told tales were spun, you discover how they continue to hold value for our lives."

"Speaking of Gods in Figure and Narrative" analyzes the figurative-narrative creation of gods, their heavenly abodes, and behaviors, reaching back to the beginning of history in Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, and Greece, and continuing through a biblical tradition that includes the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur'an. Each culture leaves its linguistic residue for the next to incorporate into its sacred texts, resulting in the perpetuation and validation of ancient imagining, attitudes, and ideas.

The Islamic prophet Muhammad initiated a theological program in theocratic form. The Qur'an challenges Christians and Jews in many ways and invites them to take a stance. This is why an explicitly theological response is legitimate and necessary. This book draws on current scholarly research on Islam and discusses the sources of the Qur'an, the fundamental features of its relationship with Judaism, and its perception of Jesus. This leads to a realistic assessment of Islam and stimulates a renewed Christian self-understanding. The fourth chapter presents the largely unknown insights of the German-Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig and the theologian Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI on Islam. They provide an important perspective - beyond submission.

The Psalms have resulted in controversies between Jews and Christians over the centuries and it is only from the mid twentieth century onwards that the two traditions have worked side by side in the academy at least. This is one of the very few volumes on the psalms to incorporate scholarship from both these traditions for nearly a century, and the result is a rich celebration of these extraordinary ancient songs. This innovative essay collection draws together internationally renowned Jewish and Christian scholars of the Psalms, with one tradition responding to the other, in areas as diverse as Qumran studies, Medieval Jewish interpretation, Reception History, Liturgical Psalters and Chagall's Church Windows and more recent Literary Studies of the Psalter as a Book. The range of topics chosen will be of interest not only to those specializing in the Psalms but also to others interested more generally in biblical studies. Several musical and artistic representations of selected psalms are also included and the book includes a colour plate section which illustrates several of the chapters.

Though he has no formal rabbinical training, Ephraim Sobol began teaching a weekly parsha class in his community. In two years time, the class grew as his students shared their excitement. He began writing "Two Minutes of Torah," a weekly Dvar Torah email based on his class. These emails took on lives of their own, and soon they were a much sought after read. Appealing to audiences with a broad spectrum of knowledge, Two Minutes of Torah offers original and concise insights into the parsha. To help students connect with the lessons, he has woven many of his real-world experiences into his essays.In the third volume of his popular series of books on the parsha, Sobol completes that which he set out to do: provide a constant companion for those seeking insights on the parsha every week. Now spanning the entire Torah, these works have become an essential component of many Shabbos tables.Using a folksy and inviting manner Sobol provides fresh, deep insights into an ancient text.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

The term desire in the Hebrew Bible covers a wide range of human longings, emotions, and cravings. The direct and explicit term of desire is nevertheless limited to only two roots found in the Decalogue-the verb forms of the lexical roots and , which reflect not only the dynamics of desire occurring in human beings, but also in God. With an comprehensive semantic analysis and an overview of the synonyms and antonyms, the author shows that the verb form of the lexical root denotes a variety of needs related to human existence including aspiration for God while the verb form of the lexical root denotes the desire to acquire material wealth and possessions beyond basic needs. All the findings are compared on two levels-in relation to human beings (objects and people) and in relation to God-and ultimately serve for the interpretation of the roots in both versions of the Decalogue (Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21) to resolve questions concerning the meaning of the desire in Tenth Commandment and substantiate whether the answers to life's questions provided by the Bible correspond to modern society.

The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature explores the growth, makeup, and transformation of Chan (Zen) Buddhist literature in late medieval China. The volume analyzes the earliest extant records about the life, teachings, and legacy of Mazu Daoyi (709-788), the famous leader of the Hongzhou School and one of the principal figures in Chan history. While some of the texts covered are well-known and form a central part of classical Chan (or more broadly Buddhist) literature in China, others have been largely ignored, forgotten, or glossed over until recently. Poceski presents a range of primary materials important for the historical study of Chan Buddhism, some translated for the first time into English or other Western language. He surveys the distinctive features and contents of particular types of texts, and analyzes the forces, milieus, and concerns that shaped key processes of textual production during this period. Although his main focus is on written sources associated with a celebrated Chan tradition that developed and rose to prominence during the Tang era (618-907), Poceski also explores the Five Dynasties (907-960) and Song (960-1279) periods, when many of the best-known Chan collections were compiled. Exploring the Chan School's creative adaptation of classical literary forms and experimentation with novel narrative styles, The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature traces the creation of several distinctive Chan genres that exerted notable influence on the subsequent development of Buddhism in China and the rest of East Asia.

Time in the Book of Ecclesiastes offers a detailed analysis of the theme of time in Ecclesiastes. The book of Ecclesiastes engages at length with this theme and presents a sophisticated exploration of humanity's temporal situation. Ecclesiastes depicts the temporal reality as extremely problematic for human attempts to live meaningfully. This is especially due to the tension which the book's narrator perceives between the cosmic, temporal reality and the human experience of time. Consequently, humanity's cognitive engagement with time becomes a particular focus in his exploration of life under the sun. Time is not only a central theme in Ecclesiastes; it is also a theme which provides this difficult book with a degree of coherence and renders meaningful some of the passages which otherwise seem contradictory. Furthermore, the explicit exploration in Ecclesiastes of the theme of time provides an excellent entry-point into the broader discussion regarding the presence and character of temporal thinking in the Hebrew Bible more generally. Mirroring the interest in Ecclesiastes for both, Dr Mette Bundvad discusses the biblical book's presentation of both the cosmic temporal structures and the framework of the human past, present and future. It offers close readings of a series of passages in which the theme of time is especially prominent, thus demonstrating how the discussion of time works in Ecclesiastes and how it interacts with other of the book's key-themes.

In the wake of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the displacement of exile, there is a unique story that is told about the remnant left behind after the invasion. The narrative of Jeremiah 40-44 unfolds the challenges and crises of this community who remain in Judah as they negotiate their survival following the catastrophe of Jerusalem's fall. After the Invasion shares the often overlooked, but compelling story that emerges from the five later chapters of Jeremiah. Keith Bodner expertly reveals the assortment of personalities, geographic locations, shifts in point of view, temporal compression, and layers of irony. Primary focused on the narrative design of this text, Professor Bodner proves that these chapters form a creative and sophisticated narrative that make a rich, though perhaps underestimated, contribution to the book of Jeremiah as a whole.

For countless generations families have lived in isolated communities in the Godavari Delta of coastal Andhra Pradesh, learning and reciting their legacy of Vedas, performing daily offerings and occasional sacrifices. They are the virtually unrecognized survivors of a 3,700-year-old heritage, the last in India who perform the ancient animal and soma sacrifices according to Vedic tradition. In Vedic Voices, David M. Knipe offers for the first time, an opportunity for them to speak about their lives, ancestral lineages, personal choices as pandits, wives, children, and ways of coping with an avalanche of changes in modern India. He presents a study of four generations of ten families, from those born at the outset of the twentieth century down to their great-grandsons who are just beginning, at the age of seven, the task of memorizing their Veda, the Taittiriya Samhita, a feat that will require eight to twelve years of daily recitations. After successful examinations these young men will reside with the Veda family girls they married as children years before, take their places in the oral transmission of a three-thousand-year Vedic heritage, teach the Taittiriya collection of texts to their own sons, and undertake with their wives the major and minor sacrifices performed by their ancestors for some three millennia. Coastal Andhra, famed for bountiful rice and coconut plantations, has received scant attention from historians of religion and anthropologists despite a wealth of cultural traditions. Vedic Voices describes in captivating prose the geography, cultural history, pilgrimage traditions, and celebrated persons of the region. Here unfolds a remarkable story of Vedic pandits and their wives, one scarcely known in India and not at all to the outside world.

The Ramayana tells the tale of Rama and his beloved Sita, but its narratives and intent, as with all great literature, point to the grand themes of life, death and righteousness. Originally written in ancient Sanskrit, the elegant, epic work is a key part of the canon of both Hinduism and Buddhism. It continues to inspire art, theatre, poetry and temple architecture, dominating the spiritual landscape of the vast Indian sub-continent and the diaspora throughout the rest of the world. This deluxe new edition revives Ralph T. H. Griffith's evocative verse translation and abridges it for the modern reader - bringing the gripping narrative to the forefront. The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

What are the legal rights to ancient documents of editors, archaeologists, curators, or modern states? In the light of recent controversies, this collection emphasizes the status of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in Palestine, recovered in Jordan, and largely edited by an international Christian team who prevented public access to unpublished manuscripts. Subsquently, the state of Israel, which had already purchased many of the Scrolls, has assumed responsibility for all of them. Most recently, one scroll editor has claimed copyright on his reconstruction, instigating a lawsuit and introducing serious implications for future Scrolls scholarship. This volume looks at international copyright and property rights as they affect archaeologists, editors and curators, but focuses on the issue of 'authorship' of the Scrolls, both published and unpublished, and the contributors include legal experts as well as many of the major figures in recent controversies, such as Hershel Shanks, John Strugnell, Geza Vermes and Emanuel Tov.

In Tafsir as Mystical Experience, Todd Lawson shows how the Quran may be engaged with for meaning and understanding, the usual goal of mystical exegesis, and also how it may be engaged with through tafsir in a quest for spiritual or mystical experience. In this earliest of the Bab's extended works, written before his public claim to be the return of the hidden Imam, the act of reading is shown to be something akin to holy communion in which the sacred text is both entrance upon and destination of the mystic quest. The Quran here is a door to an "abode of glory" and an abiding spiritual encounter with the divine through the prophet, his daughter Fatima and the twelve Imams of Ithna-'ashari Shi'ism who inhabit the letters, words, verses and suras of the Book. Cover calligraphy by Burhan Zahrai of Quran 53:11