The Roots of Vedanta PDF Download

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Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 8184757182
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
This erudite and wide-ranging anthology offers a panoramic view of Vedānta in Śaṅkara’s own words, with selections from standard translations of his commentaries on the Upaniṣads, the Brahma-sūtra (Vedānta-sūtra) and the Bhagavad-gītā—texts which together form the scriptural canon of Vedānta—and an independent treatise, the Upadeśa Sāhasri, on whose authenticity there is unanimity. Exhibiting a deep empathy with the living tradition, Sudhakshina has selected passages that explain all the important concepts and teachings, including up-to-date deliberations on Śaṅkara. Her general and sectional introductions illuminate and demystify the esoteric concepts, providing a holistic perspective of Vedānta and making it eminently accessible to the modern reader.

Author: Śaṅkarācārya
Publisher: Penguin Books India
ISBN: 0143064452
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
This erudite and wide-ranging anthology offers a panoramic view of Ved?nta in Sankara's own words, with selections from standard translations of his commentaries on the Upani?ads, the Brahma-s?tra (Ved?nta-s?tra) and the Bhagavad-g?t? - texts which together form the scriptural canon of Ved?nta - and an independent treatise, the Upade?a S?hasri, on whose authenticity there is unanimity. Exhibiting a deep empathy with the living tradition, Sudhakshina has selected passages that explain all the important concepts and teachings, including up-to-date deliberations on ?a?kara. Her general and sectional introductions illuminate and demystify the esoteric concepts.

Author: Andrew J. Nicholson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231149875
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
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.

Author: Swami Satchidanandendra
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
ISBN: 9788120813588
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 1024

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Book Description
Swami Satchidanandendra`s major work represents the first large scale critical history of Advaita Vedanta ever attempted. It seeks to establish a clear view of the traditional advaita vedanta based on the upanishads Brahma sutras and bhagavad gita as syst

Author: Paul Hourihan
Publisher: eBookIt.com
ISBN: 1931816123
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
PRACTICAL TEACHINGS FOR PEACE AND FULFILLMENT In this clear introduction to the Vedanta philosophy of India, you'll discover a new perspective that can bring inner peace, inner strength and improve your relationships for a happier life. This spiritual book written by Paul Hourihan, an American, introduces these ancient teachings in a way that Westerners, in particular, can easily relate to and understand. Why learn about the teachings of Vedanta? - According to Vedanta, ignorance of our real nature is the cause of our suffering and grief. The practical application of this philosophy is the means to Self-discovery, integration and inner peace for those of all faiths and those with no particular faith. - By stressing the universal truths common to all religions, they provide a unifying basis for mutual understanding and peace in a world increasingly fragmented by opposing beliefs. - They provide a foundation for understanding why a moral and ethical life are necessary. - This knowledge gives us the means for realizing our true identity as Children of Immortal Bliss. Using the teachings of the Upanishads, this study covers the main principles and core concepts of Vedanta and covers important subjects such as meditation, nonattachment. It also provides an overview of the mysticism of India and a summary of the Yoga system of thought, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, another key Vedantic scripture. The last section reveals the universality of these teachings through confirmations of great mystics from other traditions including Plotinus, Lao Tzu, Meister Eckhart and the Sufis of Islam. Vedanta shows the way to inner peace, harmony among all peoples, and respect for all life.

Author: Swami Satprakashananda
Publisher: Sri Ramakrishna Math
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
This book is a collection of Swami Satprakashananda’s class talks on different aspects of Vedanta. One of his disciples has compiled and edited the talks and produced this book. The book has 15 chapters discussing in a conversational tone topics including the aura of meditation, the dichotomy of good and evil, the reconciliation between divine grace and the law of karma, the inter-relation between reason, volition and emotion and what happens after death. The book is not only ‘Vedanta for All’ but also ‘All about Vedanta’.

Author: Brian A. Hatcher
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195344138
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
In this new book, Brian Hatcher examines the modern Hindu penchant for constructing religious worlds in an eclectic fashion. Noting how Hindu apologists from Rammohun Roy to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan make an almost promiscuous use of the world's many philosophies and religions to define and defend Hinduism, Hatcher sets out to explore the ancient roots and contemporary significance of such eclectic borrowing. A discussion of the Vedic and classical roots of Hindu eclecticism affords Hatcher the opportunity to reflect upon the profound and widespread role of eclecticism in South Asian religion, while consideration of the work of Swami Vivekananda--as well as a variety of religious reformers from nineteenth-century Bengal--suggests the ongoing significance of the phenomenon in colonial and postcolonial contexts. By examining the development of Brahmo and Neo-Vedanta discourse, Hatcher is able both to problematize the notion of a monolithic concept of religious eclecticism and to reflect upon the various ways scholars might nevertheless attempt to make sense of a bewildering variety of eclectic philosophies. What emerges is not simply an attempt to refine our understanding of the role eclecticism has played in the modern Hindu context, but an extended reflection upon changing attitudes toward eclecticism in the West, from Diderot and Kant through postmodern critical theory. By investigating modern and postmodern perspectives on such issues as history, system, authenticity, and difference, Hatcher seeks to set in motion a dialectical approach to the study of eclectic world construction that balances the positivisitic confidence of modern scholarship with the playful exuberance of postmodern pastiche. Invoking the critical theories of Salman Rushdie, Theodor Adorno, and Richard Rorty, Hatcher advocates an approach to modern Hindu eclecticism that honors its creative poetics while retaining the critical distance necessary for judging its sometimes baleful fruits.

Author: Prof. V. Krishnamurthy
Publisher: Notion Press
ISBN: 1642499021
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 559

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Book Description
Open any page of this book of 365 Thoughts of Spiritual Wisdom, and you will drift into a cornucopia of various voices from towering scholars of spirituality speaking from personal experience.

Author: Philip Goldberg
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0307719618
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 427

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Book Description
A fascinating look at India’s remarkable impact on Western culture, this eye-opening popular history shows how the ancient philosophy of Vedanta and the mind-body methods of Yoga have profoundly affected the worldview of millions of Americans and radically altered the religious landscape. What exploded in the 1960s, following the Beatles trip to India for an extended stay with their new guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, actually began more than two hundred years earlier, when the United States started importing knowledge--as well as tangy spices and colorful fabrics--from Asia. The first translations of Hindu texts found their way into the libraries of John Adams and Ralph Waldo Emerson. From there the ideas spread to Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and succeeding generations of receptive Americans, who absorbed India’s “science of consciousness” and wove it into the fabric of their lives. Charismatic teachers like Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda came west in waves, prompting leading intellectuals, artists, and scientists such as Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, Allen Ginsberg, J. D. Salinger, John Coltrane, Dean Ornish, and Richard Alpert, aka Ram Dass, to adapt and disseminate what they learned from them. The impact has been enormous, enlarging our current understanding of the mind and body and dramatically changing how we view ourselves and our place in the cosmos. Goldberg paints a compelling picture of this remarkable East-to-West transmission, showing how it accelerated through the decades and eventually moved from the counterculture into our laboratories, libraries, and living rooms. Now physicians and therapists routinely recommend meditation, words like karma and mantra are part of our everyday vocabulary, and Yoga studios are as ubiquitous as Starbuckses. The insights of India’s sages permeate so much of what we think, believe, and do that they have redefined the meaning of life for millions of Americans—and continue to do so every day. Rich in detail and expansive in scope, American Veda shows how we have come to accept and live by the central teaching of Vedic wisdom: “Truth is one, the wise call it by many names.”

Author: Katherine Anne Harper
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 079148890X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Among the many spiritual traditions born and developed in India, Tantra has been the most difficult to define. Almost everything about it—its major characteristics, its sources, its relationships to other religions, even its practices—are debated among scholars. In addition, Tantrism is not confined to any particular religion, but is a set of beliefs and practices that appears in a variety of religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. This book explores one of the most controversial aspects of Tantra, its sources or roots, specifically in regard to Hinduism. The essays focus on the history and development of Tantra, the art history and archaeology of Tantra, the Vedas and Tantra, and texts and Tantra. Using various disciplinary and methodological approaches, from history to art history and religious studies to textual studies, scholars provide both broad overviews of the beginnings of Tantra and detailed analyses of specific texts, authors, art works, and rituals.