A celebrated Hindu pilgrimage site, Hardwar lies on the river Ganges at the edge of the Himalayas. Its identity as a holy place is inextricably tied to the mythology and reality of the Ganges, and traditional sources overwhelmingly stress this connection. Virtually nothing has been written about Hardwar's history and development, although the historical record reveals striking changes of the past few centuries. These changes have usually reflected worldly forces such as shifting trade routes, improved transportation, or political instability. Yet such mundane influences have been ignored in the city's sacred narrative, which presents a fixed, unchanging identity. The city's complex identity, says Lochtefeld, lies in the tension between these differing narratives. In this fieldwork-based study, Lochtefeld analyzes modern Hardwar as a Hindu pilgrimage center. He looks first at various groups of local residents -- businessmen, hereditary priests, and ascetics -- and assesses their differing roles in managing Hardwar as a holy place. He then examines the pilgrims and the factors that bring them to Hardwar. None of these groups is as pious as popularly depicted, but their interactions in upholding their own interest create and maintain Hardwar's religious environment. In conclusion, he addresses the wider context of Indian pilgrimage and the forces shaping it in the present day. He finds that many modern Hindus, like many modern Christians, feel some dissonance between traditional religious symbols and their 21st-century world, and that they are reinterpreting their traditional symbols to make them meaningful for their time.

Rudra Puja has been practised in India since the beginning of time. Shiva means Auspicious. Rudra is a synonym for Shiva that means 'Destroyer of Evil'. Puja means that which is born of fullness. The Vedic scriptures hail the Rudram chants as a method to remove sufferings, attain desires and bestow all round prosperity in one's village. This book presents the complete Rudra Puja Abhisheka procedure in Sanskrit using clear Devanagari font. Headings are given in English for the performer to follow the text correctly. The Rudram Verses for NORTH INDIAN Shukla Yajur Veda as well as for SOUTH INDIAN Krishna Yajur Veda are both given in separate sections with correct Vedic Accents. Additionally, the Devanagari Latin Transliteration is given for the South Indian version. A copious Appendix gives the Devanagari Alphabet, Pronunciation Key, and some famous Shiva Shlokas. Ideal for use at home or in the temple.

We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers is a super user-friendly Sing-Along prayer book for the Shabbat (Saturday) Morning Synagogue Service with TRANSLITERATED ENGLISH TEXT, translation and explanation of the service. Its primary purpose is to make it beyond easy to learn the prayers when listening and singing along to the 64 track music CD album set of the same name; but it also stands, in its own right, as a learning tool explaining the meaning of the words and the service. Our Jewish prayers are beautiful love songs; full of goodness, affection, adoration, hope, kindness and generosity. They are our DNA, even if we do not know them, because these prayers, our religion, have moulded the Jewish people; our way of thinking, education, who we are, and what we represent. Judaism is all about being good and positive for oneself, family, community, the wider world - all out of respect and love for Hashem. It fills me with gratitude, humility, and pride. Our heritage is an intellectual, cultural, spiritual and religious blessing - but we need easy access. I was never able to participate in, let alone enjoy, the Shabbat Morning Service, but I loved those moments when the whole community comes together and sings a few short prayers with moving melodies. There just was not enough of it, we needed more singing, much more! Community is all about family and friends, and we are all friends, it is actually written in one of our prayers. Our prayers are crying out to be sung with great happiness, clearly and harmoniously. Communal prayers are all about belonging, sharing, and that is only possible if we can all join in as equals; and for that we need clearly articulated words that are easy to learn and enjoyable to sing. I dedicate this project of melodizing the Shabbat Morning Service prayers and writing a Sing-Along prayer book to all who love and care for Jewish Continuity, Judaism, Torah, and the Nation-State of the Jewish People, Israel; and so also to all our wonderful friends, the righteous among the nations. Remember to remember that when we sing together, we stay together. AM ISRAEL CHAI - the people of Israel live. With love, and hope for our children, Richard Collis

The summer of 2022 saw the celebration of the seventieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, the first time in British history that a monarch has reached this remarkable milestone. As the event was the first of its kind to be televised, images from the ceremony inside Westminster Abbey are instantly recognisable. Far less familiar are the scenes in the streets outside, where huge crowds assembled to see a procession of state coaches and historic regiments marching past public buildings festooned with patriotic banners and colourful grandstands erected outside many famous landmarks. Using a private collection of more than 200 rare images of London's West End, Protect and Keep looks back to the day that the Queen pledged herself to her country. It provides a unique and precious record of an historic occasion: the day of the Coronation as it was seen by ordinary members of the public.

We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers is a super user-friendly Sing-Along prayer book for the Shabbat (Saturday) Morning Synagogue Service with TRANSLITERATED ENGLISH TEXT, translation and explanation of the service. Its primary purpose is to make it beyond easy to learn the prayers when listening and singing along to the 64 track music CD album set of the same name; but it also stands, in its own right, as a learning tool explaining the meaning of the words and the service. Our Jewish prayers are beautiful love songs; full of goodness, affection, adoration, hope, kindness and generosity. They are our DNA, even if we do not know them, because these prayers, our religion, have moulded the Jewish people; our way of thinking, education, who we are, and what we represent. Judaism is all about being good and positive for oneself, family, community, the wider world - all out of respect and love for Hashem. It fills me with gratitude, humility, and pride. Our heritage is an intellectual, cultural, spiritual and religious blessing - but we need easy access. I was never able to participate in, let alone enjoy, the Shabbat Morning Service, but I loved those moments when the whole community comes together and sings a few short prayers with moving melodies. There just was not enough of it, we needed more singing, much more! Community is all about family and friends, and we are all friends, it is actually written in one of our prayers. Our prayers are crying out to be sung with great happiness, clearly and harmoniously. Communal prayers are all about belonging, sharing, and that is only possible if we can all join in as equals; and for that we need clearly articulated words that are easy to learn and enjoyable to sing. I dedicate this project of melodizing the Shabbat Morning Service prayers and writing a Sing-Along prayer book to all who love and care for Jewish Continuity, Judaism, Torah, and the Nation-State of the Jewish People, Israel; and so also to all our wonderful friends, the righteous among the nations. Remember to remember that when we sing together, we stay together. AM ISRAEL CHAI - the people of Israel live. With love, and hope for our children, Richard Collis

The Spiritual Traveler's Travel Guide "A must read before a trip." Escape "One of the greatest travel books I have ever read." Peter Feibleman, author of Lilly: Reminiscences of Lillian Hellman #1 Bestseller in Atlases & Maps The classic guide to making travel meaningful. The Art of Pilgrimage is a travel guide full of inspiration for the spiritual traveler. Not just for pilgrims. We are descendants of nomads. And although we no longer partake in this nomadic life, the instinct to travel remains. Whether we're planning a trip or buying a secondhand copy of Siddhartha, we're always searching for a journey, a pilgrimage. With remarkable stories from famous travelers, poets, and modern-day pilgrims, The Art of Pilgrimage is for the mindful traveler who longs for something more than diversion and escape. Rick Steves with a literary twist. Through literary travel stories and meditations, award-winning writer, filmmaker and host of the acclaimed Global Spirit PBS series, Phil Cousineau, shows readers that travel is worthy of mindfulness and spiritual examination. Learn to approach travel with a desire for risk and renewal, practicing intentionality and being present. Spiritual travel for the soul. If you're looking for reasons to travel, this is it. Whether traveling to Mecca or Memphis, Stonehenge or Cooperstown, one's journey becomes meaningful when the traveler's heart and imagination are open to experiencing the sacred. The Art of Pilgrimage shows that there is something sacred waiting to be discovered around us. Inside find: Inspirational stories, myths, parables, and quotes from many travelers and many faiths How to see with the "eyes of the heart" Over 70 illustrations If you enjoyed books like The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, Unlikely Pilgrim, Zen on the Trail, or Pilgrimage The Sacred Art, then The Art of Pilgrimage is a travel companion you'll want to have with you.

This book explores the ramifications of being infertile in the medieval Arab-Islamic world by examining legal texts, medical treatises, and works of religious preaching. Sara Verskin illuminates how attitudes toward mixed-gender interactions; legal theories pertaining to marriage, divorce, and inheritance; and scientific theories of reproduction contoured the intellectual and social landscape infertile women had to navigate.

Now in paperback, from the New York Times best-selling author of Sacred Contracts and Anatomy of the Spirit, a timely guide with 100 prayers for entering into a personal relationship with the Divine. "I've loved so many of Caroline Myss's books, but maybe none so much as Intimate Conversations with the Divine. Has there ever been a more urgent need for her unique and profound (and sometimes wonderfully cranky) take on our spiritual reality, healing, and the language of holiness?" -- Anne Lamott, author of Traveling Mercies and Help, Thanks, Wow In her most personal book to date--now available in paperback for the first time--beloved teacher and best-selling author Caroline Myss draws on her own practice to help us regain our fluency in the language of prayer and renew our connection to the sacred. Intimate Conversations with the Divine offers 100 of Myss's personal prayers as a resource and inspiration to start a prayer practice of your own. Each prayer illustrates a different type of grace that feeds the human soul, from awakening, endurance, and healing, to silence, surrender, and trust. "We are one holy system of life and great cosmic truth, which is that all life--including all of us--breathes together," Myss writes. "I hope this book, these prayers, will bring you comfort and grace, and help you through the difficult times ahead. And I hope they will inspire you to believe that with God, all things are possible."

The author uses the heb-sed, or Sed-festival, an ancient Egyptian religious festival that can be traced to the Archaic period, as the basis for a comparative study for providing insights into the controversial reign of Amenhotep IV - Akhenaten.

"Harmonizing Similarities" is a study of the legal distinctions (al-furuq al-fiqhiyya) literature and its role in the development of the Islamic legal heritage. This book reconsiders how the public performance of Islamic law helped shape legal literature. It identifies the origins of this tradition in contemporaneous lexicographic and medical literature, both of which demonstrated the productive potential of drawing distinctions. Elias G. Saba demonstrates the implications of the legal furuq and how changes to this genre reflect shifts in the social consumption of Islamic legal knowledge. The interest in legal distinctions grew out of the performance of knowledge in formalized legal disputations. From here, legal distinctions incorporated elements of play through its interactions with the genre of legal riddles. As play, books of legal distinctions were supplements to performance in literary salons, study circles, and court performances; these books also served as mimetic objects, allowing the reader to participate in a session virtually. Saba underscores how social and intellectual practices helped shape the literary development of Islamic law and that literary elaboration became a main driver of dynamism in Islamic law. This monograph has been awarded the annual BRAIS - De Gruyter Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World.

The scientific debates on border crossings and cultural exchange between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have much increased over the last decades. Within this context, however, little attention has been given to the biblical Exodus, which not only plays a pivotal role in the Abrahamic religions, but also is a master narrative of a border crossing in itself. Sea and desert are spaces of liminality and transit in more than just a geographical sense. Their passage includes a transition to freedom and initiation into a new divine community, an encounter with God and an entry into the Age of law. The volume gathers twelve articles written by leading specialists in Jewish and Islamic Studies, Theology and Literature, Art and Film history, dedicated to the transitional aspects within the Exodus narrative. Bringing these studies together, the volume takes a double approach, one that is both comparative and intercultural. How do Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts and images read and retell the various border crossings in the Exodus story, and on what levels do they interrelate? By raising these questions the volume aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of contact points between the various traditions.

"Wir Singen Wir Bleiben Zusammen (We Sing We Stay Together) - Gebete zum Morgengottesdienst am Shabbat" ist ein besonders benutzerfreundliches Gebetsbuch zum Mitsingen fur den Morgengottesdienst am Shabbat (Samstag) in der Synagoge, mit TRANSKRIBIERTEM ENGLISCHEM TEXT und einer Transliteration des Gottesdienstes mit Erklarungen. Hauptsachlich will das Werk beim Hoeren und Mitsingen der 64 Titel des gleichnamigen CD-Musikalbums das Erlernen der Gebete ganz besonders erleichtern; doch auch fur sich genommen dient es als Hilfsmittel zum Erlernen der verwendeten Begriffe und der Ablaufe des Gottesdienstes. Unsere judischen Gebete sind wunderschoene Liebeslieder; voller Gute, Warmherzigkeit, Anbetung, Hoffnung, Freundlichkeit und Edelmut. Sie sind uns eingraviert, selbst wenn wir sie nicht kennen, denn diese Gebete, die gleich unserer Religion sind, haben das judische Volk, seine Denkweise und die Ausbildung gepragt und uns zu dem gemacht, was wir sind und fur was wir einstehen. Im Judentum geht es vor allem darum, zu sich selbst, der Familie, der Gemeinde und allen Mitmenschen gut und positiv zu sein - und das aus dem Respekt und der Liebe zu Hashem heraus. Das erfullt mich mit Dankbarkeit, Demut und Stolz. Unser Erbe ist ein intellektueller, kultureller, spiritueller und religioeser Segen - aber wir brauchen jemanden, der uns Zugang dazu gewahrt. Ich konnte nie am Shabbat-Morgengottesdienst teilnehmen, geschweige denn, ihn geniessen, doch ich liebte jene Momente, in denen die ganze Gemeinde zusammenkam und einige kurze Gebete in bewegenden Melodien singt. Man konnte einfach nicht genug davon bekommen, und deshalb brauchen wir mehr Lieder, noch viel mehr! Die Gemeinde sind die Familie und die Freunde, und wir alle sind Freunde - so heisst es sogar in einem unserer Gebete. Unsere Gebete verlangen danach, mit grosser Freude deutlich und harmonisch gesungen zu werden. Das gemeinsame Gebet bringt Zugehoerigkeit und Gemeinschaftsgeist, und das ist nur moeglich, wenn jeder von uns gleich ist. Dazu brauchen wir gut verstandliche Worte, die man leicht lernt und die zu singen Freude macht. Ich widme dieses Projekt der Vertonung von Gebeten zum Shabbat-Morgengottesdienst und der Niederschrift eines Gebetsbuchs zum Mitsingen all denjenigen, die den Fortbestand der Juden, das Judentum, die Thora, und den Nationalstaat des judischen Volks, Israel, lieben und schatzen, und ich widme das Werk unseren wunderbaren Freunden, den Gerechten unter den Voelkern. Denken Sie immer daran: Wenn wir zusammen singen, dann bleiben wir zusammen. AM ISRAEL CHAI- das Volk Israels lebt. Mit Liebe und Hoffnung fur unsere Kinder, Richard Collis

A new edition of the classic that helped launch the Centering Prayer movement. Centering Prayer is a precious part of the ancient spiritual traditions of the West. When Finding Grace at the Center was first published in 1978, people all over the world welcomed this practical guide to a simple and beautiful form of meditative prayer. Reflections and advice on Centering Prayer's possibilities—and its pitfalls—are presented with clarity and simplicity, with a vision of the deeper life of the soul that contemplative prayer can bring about. Now, with a new foreword by Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, PhD, another generation will discover the amazing difference Centering Prayer can make in their lives.

For anyone with an interest in Judaica and sacred objects, this book presents some of the most outstanding examples of contemporary Judaica-sacred Jewish objects-that have been created over the last 30+ years. Fifty-three makers have told their stories in their own words, giving incredible insights into why they make Judaica and what it means in their lives and in their journeys as artists. The featured works include Seder plates, ketubah (Jewish marriage documents), kiddush cups, hand-lettered Torahs, and even a Tefillin Barbie. Stretch your perception of Judaica and gain insights into the next generation of makers and how Judaica responds to significant social issues affecting Jews and the world population as a whole. More than 250 color photographs illustrate the makers' works, and Jewish artists from the United States, Israel, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are featured.

The Kanwar is India's largest annual religious pilgrimage. Millions of participants gather sacred water from the Ganga and carry it across hundreds of miles to dispense as offerings in Siva shrines. These devotees-called bhola, gullible or fools, and seen as miscreants by many Indians-are mostly young, destitute men, who have been left behind in the globalizing economy. But for these young men, the ordeal of the pilgrimage is no foolish pursuit, but a means to master their anxieties and attest their good faith in unfavorable social conditions. Vikash Singh walked with the pilgrims of the Kanwar procession, and with this book, he highlights how the procession offers a social space where participants can prove their talents, resolve, and moral worth. Working across social theory, phenomenology, Indian metaphysics, and psychoanalysis, Singh shows that the pilgrimage provides a place in which participants can simultaneously recreate and prepare for the poor, informal economy and inevitable social uncertainties. In identifying with Siva, who is both Master of the World and yet a pathetic drunkard, participants demonstrate their own sovereignty and desirability despite their stigmatized status. Uprising of the Fools shows how religion today is not a retreat into tradition, but an alternative forum for recognition and resistance within a rampant global neoliberalism.

This text presents a holistic view of the ways that art, ritual and performance interrelate within the seamless fabric of Balinese life.

The bond between humans and horses is deep. For humans, horses provide freedom. Riding on horses and horse-drawn chariots or carts has allowed humans to go farther and faster than they could on their own. Horses (now high-horsepower cars) are our wings. As a result, their images show up in our dreams and our personal and cultural stories as symbols not only of freedom, but of power, swiftness, nobility, and beauty. Equine images empower us to ride on inner journeys, explore the mysteries of the soul, and carry the human spirit forward. In bringing to life the horse tales of many cultures throughout the ages, Riding on Horses' Wings is as whimsical and magical as it is inspiring. From the white-winged Pegasus and part-human Centaurs in ancient Greek myths, Epona in ancient Celtic lore, the eight-legged Sleipnir in Nordic tales, and Kanthaka in Buddhist lore, to the many horses in Native American mythologies and today's literary and fine arts, movies, YouTube videos, and beyond, horses touch our hearts and elevate our imaginations. In this book, Janet Bubar Rich taps into our love of horses and horse tales, inspiring us all to take life by the reins, make the changes needed to improve our lives, and create sustainable futures for horses, humans, and other species on earth, our home.