Gayatri Mantra

Gayatri Mantra
Author: S. Viraswami Pathar
Publisher: Sura Books
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2001
Genre: Hindu hymns, Sanskrit
ISBN: 9788174782182

Sri Gayatri Mantrartha Dipika

Sri Gayatri Mantrartha Dipika
Author: Mandala Publishing
Publisher: Mandala Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008-10-14
Genre: Hindu mantras
ISBN: 9781886069008

Authoritative commentary on perhaps the most popular mantra in Asia.

The Chaitanya Vaishnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami

The Chaitanya Vaishnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami
Author: Ravi M. Gupta
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2007-08-07
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1134135629

The Chaitanya Vaishnava tradition is famous for its depth of devotion to Krishna, the blue-hued Deity. Chaitanya Vaishnavas are known for having refined the practice and aesthetics of devotion into a sophisticated science. This imposing devotional edifice was constructed upon a solid foundation of philosophical argument and understanding. In this book, Ravi Gupta sheds new light on the contribution of Chaitanya Vaishnavism to the realm of Indian philosophy. He explores the hermeneutical tools employed, the historical resources harnessed, the structure of the arguments made, and the relative success of the endeavor. For most schools of Vaishnavism, the supporting foundation consists of the philosophical resources provided by Vedanta. The Chaitanya tradition is remarkable in its ability to engage in Vedantic discourse and at the same time practice an ecstatic form of devotion to Krishna. The prime architect of this balance was the scholar-devotee Jiva Gosvami (ca. 1517 - 1608). This book analyses Jiva Gosvami's writing concerning the philosophy of the Vedanta tradition. It concludes that Jiva's writing crosses 'disciplinary boundaries', for he brought into dialogue four powerful streams of classical Hinduism: the various systems of Vedanta, the ecstatic bhakti movements, the Puranic commentarial tradition, and the aesthetic rasa theory of Sanskrit poetics. With training in and commitments to all of these traditions, Jiva Gosvami produced a distinctly Chaitanya Vaishnava system of theology.

The Vedic Experience

The Vedic Experience
Author: Raimundo Panikkar
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Total Pages: 984
Release: 1994
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9788120812802

One of the most stupendous manifestations of the Spirit is undoubtedly that which has been handed down to us under the generic name of the Vedas. The Vedas are still too much neglected not only in the world at large but also in their country of origin. this Vedic anthology will make direct and fruitful knowledge of the Vedas available to a wider range of people than the small elite of pandits and Indologists. This anthology collects the most crucial texts of the Indian Sacred Scriptures--in all more than 500--newly translated into contemporary English. Dr. Panikkar`s principle has been to select and place together texts so as to offer a selection of texts that cover the full range of `The Vedic Experience` and at the same time to show how they manifest the universal rhythms of nature, history, and Man. Excerpts are taken from the oldest hymns, such as the Rig Veda; from the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, or Forest Treatises, and finally the Upanishads, which represent the mystical and philosophical culmination of the Vedas. This is a book for meditation, for reading, public and private, as well as for thorough study at this wellspring of human wisdom. It should, moreover, facilitate that meeting of East and West so long desired and delayed, and now so imperative.

Principles of Tantra

Principles of Tantra
Author: Sir John Woodroffe
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Total Pages: 967
Release: 2014-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 8178224542

The present work is a defense of the Tantra, of which Sastra the author is an adherent and a polemic, undertaken in the interests of Hindu orthodoxy in its Sakta and Tantrika form against secularism on the one hand, and on the other the religious eclecticism and various reforming movements, of which, when the book was first written, the Brahmasamaj was a leading type. In fact, in parts the book reads like an orthodox Catholic protest against modernism and is thus interesting as showing how many fundamental principles are common to all orthdox forms of belief, whether of West or of East. The author of the Tantratattva (on which this translation is based)is a well-known Tantrik Pandit, preacher, and secretary of the Sarvamgalasabha of Benares, who knew no English. His work, which is written in Bengali, may therefore be taken to be an accurate popular statement of modern orthodox views on the subject treated by him. The word Tattva is a very comprehensive one, which is by no means always easy to translate. The author has rendered the title of the book as Principles of Tantra, though, may be, it should be Subjects of Tantra. The work deals with chosen topics of Tantra. This, however, also involves a statement of certain fundamental principles which govern Sastrik teaching on the subjects dealt with, and this as well as the contents of possible future volumes must be the justification for giving the book ambitious title.