Author: Richard Smoley
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1577319176
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
In this fascinating book, Richard Smoley examines the roles God has played for us and reconciles them with what we today know through science and reason. In the process, he shows that consciousness is the underlying reality beneath everything in the universe. In one of Hinduism’s great myths, Shiva plays a dice game with his consort, Parvati, and loses consistently. If he is the greatest god, why does he lose? Through this story, Richard Smoley explores the interplay between consciousness, represented by Shiva, and experience, exemplified by Parvati. He draws on numerous disciplines to offer an illuminating exploration of mind and matter and a provocative understanding of consciousness, the self, and the world.
The Dice Game of Shiva
Author: Richard Smoley
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1577319176
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
In this fascinating book, Richard Smoley examines the roles God has played for us and reconciles them with what we today know through science and reason. In the process, he shows that consciousness is the underlying reality beneath everything in the universe. In one of Hinduism’s great myths, Shiva plays a dice game with his consort, Parvati, and loses consistently. If he is the greatest god, why does he lose? Through this story, Richard Smoley explores the interplay between consciousness, represented by Shiva, and experience, exemplified by Parvati. He draws on numerous disciplines to offer an illuminating exploration of mind and matter and a provocative understanding of consciousness, the self, and the world.
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1577319176
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
In this fascinating book, Richard Smoley examines the roles God has played for us and reconciles them with what we today know through science and reason. In the process, he shows that consciousness is the underlying reality beneath everything in the universe. In one of Hinduism’s great myths, Shiva plays a dice game with his consort, Parvati, and loses consistently. If he is the greatest god, why does he lose? Through this story, Richard Smoley explores the interplay between consciousness, represented by Shiva, and experience, exemplified by Parvati. He draws on numerous disciplines to offer an illuminating exploration of mind and matter and a provocative understanding of consciousness, the self, and the world.
God Inside Out
Author: Don Handelman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195355288
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
This book offers a new exploration of the mythology of the Hindu god Siva, who spends his time playing dice with his wife, to whom he habitually loses. The result of the game is our world, which turns the god inside-out and changes his internal composition. Hindus maintain that Siva is perpetually absorbed in this game, which is recreated in innumerable stories, poems, paintings, and sculptural carvings. This notion of the god at play, arguee Handelman and Shulman, is one of the most central and expressive veins in the metaphysics elaborated through the centuries, in many idioms and modes, around the god. The book comprises three interlocking essays; the first presents the dice-game proper, in the light of the texts and visual depictions the authors have collected. The second and third chapters take up two mythic "sequels" to the game. Based on their analysis of these sequels, the authors argue that notions of "asceticism" so frequently associated with Siva, with Yoga, and with Hindu religion are, in fact, foreign to Hinduism's inherent logic as reflected in Siva's game of dice. They suggest an alternative reading of this set of practices and ideas, providing startling new insights into Hindu mythology and the major poetic texts from the classical Sanskrit tradition.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195355288
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
This book offers a new exploration of the mythology of the Hindu god Siva, who spends his time playing dice with his wife, to whom he habitually loses. The result of the game is our world, which turns the god inside-out and changes his internal composition. Hindus maintain that Siva is perpetually absorbed in this game, which is recreated in innumerable stories, poems, paintings, and sculptural carvings. This notion of the god at play, arguee Handelman and Shulman, is one of the most central and expressive veins in the metaphysics elaborated through the centuries, in many idioms and modes, around the god. The book comprises three interlocking essays; the first presents the dice-game proper, in the light of the texts and visual depictions the authors have collected. The second and third chapters take up two mythic "sequels" to the game. Based on their analysis of these sequels, the authors argue that notions of "asceticism" so frequently associated with Siva, with Yoga, and with Hindu religion are, in fact, foreign to Hinduism's inherent logic as reflected in Siva's game of dice. They suggest an alternative reading of this set of practices and ideas, providing startling new insights into Hindu mythology and the major poetic texts from the classical Sanskrit tradition.
The Vedic Core of Human History
Author: M. K. Agarwal
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1491715944
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 551
Book Description
The origin of world civilization can be traced to the Indus Valley cradle, where brilliant and original thinkers made groundbreaking discoveries. The history of these discoveries is recorded in the vast Sanskrit literature. In this study, author M. K. Agarwal explores the cultural and historical significance of the region. He explores Indus Valley culture, which encouraged creative thought as opposed to the Abrahamic faiths, which herded followers into dogmatic thinking. He holds that these religions prospered because of their unfettered hatred of the Vedic-Hindu-Buddhist peoples, who were demonized as pagans to be murdered, tortured, raped, enslaved, and robbed. He also considers the achievements of that culture, such as the creation of the most affluent, most scientifically advanced, and most spiritual of all societies, with archeological moorings that can be traced back to 8000 BC. No other region can even come close to transforming people and culture like the Indus Valley, but the world's Vedic roots have been ignored, shunned, and covered up. Uncover the history that has been lost and develop a deeper appreciation for the true cradle of human civilization with The Vedic Core of Human History.
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1491715944
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 551
Book Description
The origin of world civilization can be traced to the Indus Valley cradle, where brilliant and original thinkers made groundbreaking discoveries. The history of these discoveries is recorded in the vast Sanskrit literature. In this study, author M. K. Agarwal explores the cultural and historical significance of the region. He explores Indus Valley culture, which encouraged creative thought as opposed to the Abrahamic faiths, which herded followers into dogmatic thinking. He holds that these religions prospered because of their unfettered hatred of the Vedic-Hindu-Buddhist peoples, who were demonized as pagans to be murdered, tortured, raped, enslaved, and robbed. He also considers the achievements of that culture, such as the creation of the most affluent, most scientifically advanced, and most spiritual of all societies, with archeological moorings that can be traced back to 8000 BC. No other region can even come close to transforming people and culture like the Indus Valley, but the world's Vedic roots have been ignored, shunned, and covered up. Uncover the history that has been lost and develop a deeper appreciation for the true cradle of human civilization with The Vedic Core of Human History.
Against Dogmatism
Author: Madhuri M. Yadlapati
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252095200
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
Many contemporary discussions of religion take an absolute, intractable approach to belief and nonbelief that privileges faith and dogmatism while treating doubt as a threat to religious values. As Madhuri M. Yadlapati demonstrates, however, there is another way: a faith (or nonfaith) that embraces doubt and its potential for exploring both the depths and heights of spiritual reflection and speculation. Through three distinct discussions of faith, doubt, and hope, Yadlapati explores what it means to live creatively and responsibly in the everyday world as limited, imaginative, and questioning creatures. She begins with a perceptive survey of diverse faith experiences in Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Protestant Christianity and then narrows her focus to Protestant Christianity and Hinduism to explore how the great thinkers of those faiths have embraced doubt in the service of spiritual transcendence. Yadlapati traces religious perspectives on trust, humility, belonging, commitment, and lively skepticism as they relate to faith and doubt. Drawing on various doctrines, scriptures, and the writings of great religious thinkers such as C. S. Lewis, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, and Raimon Panikkar, Yadlapati demonstrates how doubt can serve to enhance faith, not hinder it. Defending the rich tapestry of faith and doubt against polarization, Against Dogmatism reveals an ecumenical middle way, a spiritual approach native to traditions in which faith and doubt are interwoven in constructive and dynamic ways.
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252095200
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
Many contemporary discussions of religion take an absolute, intractable approach to belief and nonbelief that privileges faith and dogmatism while treating doubt as a threat to religious values. As Madhuri M. Yadlapati demonstrates, however, there is another way: a faith (or nonfaith) that embraces doubt and its potential for exploring both the depths and heights of spiritual reflection and speculation. Through three distinct discussions of faith, doubt, and hope, Yadlapati explores what it means to live creatively and responsibly in the everyday world as limited, imaginative, and questioning creatures. She begins with a perceptive survey of diverse faith experiences in Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Protestant Christianity and then narrows her focus to Protestant Christianity and Hinduism to explore how the great thinkers of those faiths have embraced doubt in the service of spiritual transcendence. Yadlapati traces religious perspectives on trust, humility, belonging, commitment, and lively skepticism as they relate to faith and doubt. Drawing on various doctrines, scriptures, and the writings of great religious thinkers such as C. S. Lewis, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, and Raimon Panikkar, Yadlapati demonstrates how doubt can serve to enhance faith, not hinder it. Defending the rich tapestry of faith and doubt against polarization, Against Dogmatism reveals an ecumenical middle way, a spiritual approach native to traditions in which faith and doubt are interwoven in constructive and dynamic ways.
Performance Studies
Author: Richard Schechner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135652597
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 370
Book Description
In this second edition, the author opens with a discussion of important developments in the discipline. His closing chapter, 'Global and Intercultural Performance', is completely rewritten in light of the post-9/11 world. Fully revised chapters with new examples, biographies and source material provide a lively, easily accessible overview of the full range of performance for undergraduates at all levels in performance studies, theatre, performing arts and cultural studies. Among the topics discussed are the performing arts and popular entertainments, rituals, play and games as well as the performances of everyday life. Supporting examples and ideas are drawn from the social sciences, performing arts, post-structuralism, ritual theory, ethology, philosophy and aesthetics. User-friendly, with a special text design, Performance Studies: An Introduction also includes the following features: numerous extracts from primary sources giving alternative voices and viewpoints biographies of key thinkers student activities to stimulate fieldwork, classroom exercises and discussion key reading lists for each chapter twenty line drawings and 202 photographs drawn from private and public collections around the world.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135652597
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 370
Book Description
In this second edition, the author opens with a discussion of important developments in the discipline. His closing chapter, 'Global and Intercultural Performance', is completely rewritten in light of the post-9/11 world. Fully revised chapters with new examples, biographies and source material provide a lively, easily accessible overview of the full range of performance for undergraduates at all levels in performance studies, theatre, performing arts and cultural studies. Among the topics discussed are the performing arts and popular entertainments, rituals, play and games as well as the performances of everyday life. Supporting examples and ideas are drawn from the social sciences, performing arts, post-structuralism, ritual theory, ethology, philosophy and aesthetics. User-friendly, with a special text design, Performance Studies: An Introduction also includes the following features: numerous extracts from primary sources giving alternative voices and viewpoints biographies of key thinkers student activities to stimulate fieldwork, classroom exercises and discussion key reading lists for each chapter twenty line drawings and 202 photographs drawn from private and public collections around the world.
The Pocket Guide to Dice & Dice Games
Author: Keith Souter
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620879786
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
Dice games have been played for centuries and are a staple of the playground, board games, and casinos alike. This pocket guide spans the history of dice and offers clear explanations of popular dice games, including farkle (played since the Middle Ages), Gluckhaus (a German game of fortune, played since the medieval era), craps, and Jacks! This guide also includes tips on winning and how to avoid being tricked by loaded or “crooked” dice. Famous dice players, such as the Roman emperors Augustus and Caligula, lost money playing dice and quickly stole other people’s to continue their gaming sprees. In the early nineteenth century, fortunes could be won and lost at the roll of a die and it was not only money which was gambled away, but estates and even marriages. Full of fascinating facts and useful tips, this is a must-read book for everyone interested in family fun, games, gambling, or social history. Did you know? • Dice derives from the Latin datum, meaning “ought to be played” • The black marks showing the numbers are called pips • Dice were first played in India around 3000 bc • Dice were originally made from bones, including knuckle and ankle bones • Traditionally cubed, dice also come in other geometric shapes, incuding the zocchihedron, the 100-sided die, and the deltoidal icositetrahedron, where each side is shaped like a kite
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620879786
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
Dice games have been played for centuries and are a staple of the playground, board games, and casinos alike. This pocket guide spans the history of dice and offers clear explanations of popular dice games, including farkle (played since the Middle Ages), Gluckhaus (a German game of fortune, played since the medieval era), craps, and Jacks! This guide also includes tips on winning and how to avoid being tricked by loaded or “crooked” dice. Famous dice players, such as the Roman emperors Augustus and Caligula, lost money playing dice and quickly stole other people’s to continue their gaming sprees. In the early nineteenth century, fortunes could be won and lost at the roll of a die and it was not only money which was gambled away, but estates and even marriages. Full of fascinating facts and useful tips, this is a must-read book for everyone interested in family fun, games, gambling, or social history. Did you know? • Dice derives from the Latin datum, meaning “ought to be played” • The black marks showing the numbers are called pips • Dice were first played in India around 3000 bc • Dice were originally made from bones, including knuckle and ankle bones • Traditionally cubed, dice also come in other geometric shapes, incuding the zocchihedron, the 100-sided die, and the deltoidal icositetrahedron, where each side is shaped like a kite
Festivals and Dalits
Author: B.T. GopalaKrishna
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1300682620
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 125
Book Description
The books brings out survey of Hindu festivals, explanation on birth of Hindu Festivals, relevance to Hindu practice of Untouchability. The belief and Reality between the two are highlighted. For Astrology enthusiasts the book explains the different terminologies and signs that are often committed to subterfuge in the course of writing.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1300682620
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 125
Book Description
The books brings out survey of Hindu festivals, explanation on birth of Hindu Festivals, relevance to Hindu practice of Untouchability. The belief and Reality between the two are highlighted. For Astrology enthusiasts the book explains the different terminologies and signs that are often committed to subterfuge in the course of writing.
The Eternal Quest
Author: Mukund D. Gangal
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 1665765038
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 275
Book Description
Since the prehistoric times, humans have wondered about the world around us. Ancients thought that the universe consisted of heaven and earth. With scientific knowledge, we know that the portion of the universe we can see has billions of galaxies. The great Maharishi scholars of the past and the brilliant scientists of our time pondered the key issues about the creator and the creation of this majestic universe. Modern science has been able to describe the development of our universe in great detail from just after the big-bang to the present time. The science of cosmology behind the understanding of the growth of the universe is very elegant and beautiful. There is simplicity behind the bewildering complexity of the scientific theories. Still, there are some important issues to be resolved. Many scientists are working to develop a theory of everything to address these deficits. This book describes the related scientific ideas at the conceptual level. Unfortunately, some of the key issues cannot be resolved by current science. This places us at the boundary between science and philosophy. One of the two key issues is how reality immerged out of the metaverse, an environment that did not have the elements of reality. The other issue is that the science can describe the laws of nature accurately but not how those were built into everything in reality. The ancient scholars also pondered about the creation issue and faced the same problems. They developed philosophical models based on creator centric ideas to explain creation. This book considers the ancient philosophical models and modern science of creation as a continuum of human thought. The philosophical models provide possible ideas that are beyond the scientific method. The four ancient models presented in this book are relevant in the modern times.
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 1665765038
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 275
Book Description
Since the prehistoric times, humans have wondered about the world around us. Ancients thought that the universe consisted of heaven and earth. With scientific knowledge, we know that the portion of the universe we can see has billions of galaxies. The great Maharishi scholars of the past and the brilliant scientists of our time pondered the key issues about the creator and the creation of this majestic universe. Modern science has been able to describe the development of our universe in great detail from just after the big-bang to the present time. The science of cosmology behind the understanding of the growth of the universe is very elegant and beautiful. There is simplicity behind the bewildering complexity of the scientific theories. Still, there are some important issues to be resolved. Many scientists are working to develop a theory of everything to address these deficits. This book describes the related scientific ideas at the conceptual level. Unfortunately, some of the key issues cannot be resolved by current science. This places us at the boundary between science and philosophy. One of the two key issues is how reality immerged out of the metaverse, an environment that did not have the elements of reality. The other issue is that the science can describe the laws of nature accurately but not how those were built into everything in reality. The ancient scholars also pondered about the creation issue and faced the same problems. They developed philosophical models based on creator centric ideas to explain creation. This book considers the ancient philosophical models and modern science of creation as a continuum of human thought. The philosophical models provide possible ideas that are beyond the scientific method. The four ancient models presented in this book are relevant in the modern times.
Creating Places of Power
Author: Nigel Pennick
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1644115859
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 478
Book Description
An exploration of the traditional rites of auspicious building and crafting • Explains the ceremonial beginnings and Hermetic principles in the laying out of foundations not only for sacred buildings like temples but also for homes and barns • Examines the principles and ceremonies of electional astrology and details how to compute natural time, as opposed to clock time • Shares examples from ancient Egypt, Iran, India, and Europe that range from the Stone Age to the Renaissance and include secret societies When we make things--whether a building, a sacred space, or a magical object--there is a precise moment when the artifact comes into being as a separate entity. That moment in time possesses its own unique quality, and because of this, there is a right time to do something and a wrong time. And, as Nigel Pennick reveals, we have the power to select favorable moments for our creations, just as our ancestors did. Illustrating ancient principles of divination, chronomancy, and electional astrology, Pennick examines all the factors behind the ancestral art of geomancy: the auspicious creation and alignment of sacred buildings as places of power. Sharing examples from ancient Egypt, Iran, India, and Europe that range from the Stone Age to the modern day, including secret societies like the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons, he explains how many cities were constructed on specially selected sites and founded ritually at precise, predetermined moments. Looking at the traditional rites of creating places of power, Pennick explains the ceremonial beginnings and Hermetic principles in the laying out of foundations as well as the use of sacrifice in the building of many notable structures. Examining the role of sacred geometry in geomancy, Pennick explains the Hermetic meaning assigned to each direction in traditional European cultures as well as the principles of natural measures and the science of understanding lucky and unlucky days. Revealing how geomantic principles are rooted in the structure of the world and the cosmic patterns of space and time, the author shows how they transcend the ages and are just as meaningful today as they were to our ancestors.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1644115859
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 478
Book Description
An exploration of the traditional rites of auspicious building and crafting • Explains the ceremonial beginnings and Hermetic principles in the laying out of foundations not only for sacred buildings like temples but also for homes and barns • Examines the principles and ceremonies of electional astrology and details how to compute natural time, as opposed to clock time • Shares examples from ancient Egypt, Iran, India, and Europe that range from the Stone Age to the Renaissance and include secret societies When we make things--whether a building, a sacred space, or a magical object--there is a precise moment when the artifact comes into being as a separate entity. That moment in time possesses its own unique quality, and because of this, there is a right time to do something and a wrong time. And, as Nigel Pennick reveals, we have the power to select favorable moments for our creations, just as our ancestors did. Illustrating ancient principles of divination, chronomancy, and electional astrology, Pennick examines all the factors behind the ancestral art of geomancy: the auspicious creation and alignment of sacred buildings as places of power. Sharing examples from ancient Egypt, Iran, India, and Europe that range from the Stone Age to the modern day, including secret societies like the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons, he explains how many cities were constructed on specially selected sites and founded ritually at precise, predetermined moments. Looking at the traditional rites of creating places of power, Pennick explains the ceremonial beginnings and Hermetic principles in the laying out of foundations as well as the use of sacrifice in the building of many notable structures. Examining the role of sacred geometry in geomancy, Pennick explains the Hermetic meaning assigned to each direction in traditional European cultures as well as the principles of natural measures and the science of understanding lucky and unlucky days. Revealing how geomantic principles are rooted in the structure of the world and the cosmic patterns of space and time, the author shows how they transcend the ages and are just as meaningful today as they were to our ancestors.
Guests at God's Wedding
Author: Tracy Pintchman
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791465950
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
A fascinating look at women’s rituals honoring the god Krishna.
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791465950
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
A fascinating look at women’s rituals honoring the god Krishna.