Download or read book Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair written by Rāmaprasāda Sena and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 1982 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mother of My Heart Daughter of My Dreams written by Rachel Fell McDermott and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2001-06-28 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book chronicles the rise of goddess worship in the region of Bengal from the middle of the eighteenth century to the present. Focusing on the goddesses Kali and Uma, McDermott examines lyrical poems written by devotees from Ramprasad Sen (ca. 1718-1775) to Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976).
Download or read book Tantra in Practice written by David Gordon White and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-26 with total page 661 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As David White explains in the Introduction to Tantra in Practice, Tantra is an Asian body of beliefs and practices that seeks to channel the divine energy that grounds the universe, in creative and liberating ways. The subsequent chapters reflect the wide geographical and temporal scope of Tantra by examining thirty-six texts from China, India, Japan, Nepal, and Tibet, ranging from the seventh century to the present day, and representing the full range of Tantric experience--Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and even Islamic. Each text has been chosen and translated, often for the first time, by an international expert in the field who also provides detailed background material. Students of Asian religions and general readers alike will find the book rich and informative. The book includes plays, transcribed interviews, poetry, parodies, inscriptions, instructional texts, scriptures, philosophical conjectures, dreams, and astronomical speculations, each text illustrating one of the diverse traditions and practices of Tantra. Thus, the nineteenth-century Indian Buddhist Garland of Gems, a series of songs, warns against the illusion of appearance by referring to bees, yogurt, and the fire of Malaya Mountain; while fourteenth-century Chinese Buddhist manuscripts detail how to prosper through the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper by burning incense, making offerings to scriptures, and chanting incantations. In a transcribed conversation, a modern Hindu priest in Bengal candidly explains how he serves the black Goddess Kali and feeds temple skulls lentils, wine, or rice; a seventeenth-century Nepalese Hindu praise-poem hammered into the golden doors to the temple of the Goddess Taleju lists a king's faults and begs her forgiveness and grace. An introduction accompanies each text, identifying its period and genre, discussing the history and influence of the work, and identifying points of particular interest or difficulty. The first book to bring together texts from the entire range of Tantric phenomena, Tantra in Practice continues the Princeton Readings in Religions series. The breadth of work included, geographic areas spanned, and expert scholarship highlighting each piece serve to expand our understanding of what it means to practice Tantra.
Download or read book Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair written by Rāmaprasāda Sena and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ramprasad Sen, a great lover of Kali Ma, the Hindu goddess, wrote these pieces in her honor. Contemporary translations are full of devotion and vitality. --Hohm Press.
Download or read book Teachings of the Hindu Mystics written by Andrew Harvey and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of the most lyrical, passionate, illuminating writings of the Hindu mystical tradition. Some of the most lyrical, passionate, and illuminating writings of the Hindu mystical tradition are showcased in this anthology. Spiritual scholar and writer Andrew Harvey has selected excerpts from ancient and contemporary sources, including the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and other classical Hindu texts; the words of such venerable spiritual teachers as Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi; and the devotional poetry of Mirabai, Ramprasad, and many others. The scope of the collection makes it an excellent introduction to Hindu mystical literature, while the power and beauty of the language will inspire those already familiar with the genre. This book is part of the Shambhala Pocket Library series. The Shambhala Pocket Library is a collection of short, portable teachings from notable figures across religious traditions and classic texts. The covers in this series are rendered by Colorado artist Robert Spellman. The books in this collection distill the wisdom and heart of the work Shambhala Publications has published over 50 years into a compact format that is collectible, reader-friendly, and applicable to everyday life.
Download or read book In Praise of Adya Kali written by Aditi Devi and published by SCB Distributors. This book was released on 2013-12-12 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Praise of Adya Kali details the goddess Kali, and her culture of devotion in West Bengal and South Asia. Different from most contemporary books about this Dark Goddess, this book offers a liturgy of worship—a spiritual practice, the Song of the Hundred Names of Adya Kali, that readers can use to cultivate a direct devotional relationship to Kali. In Praise of Adya Kali is also a context-setting guide, establishing this practice as a general orientation to life. Most compelling, the text of this liturgy and Commentaries contain an intimate revelation of how the goddess establishes herself in her devotees’ bodies and thus intervenes, by unconditional love and acceptance, in their lives. A lengthy Introduction, both scholarly and personal, describes the goddess and the possibilities that these prayers will offer. Aditi Devi guides us in how to build a shrine to Kali, various types of offerings to make to her, and suggests a schedule for how to use this liturgy with a long-term commitment over the course of 108 nights. “This Song of the Hundred Names is a powerful teaching that all forms are her forms,” the author notes. Male, female, or other gendered, readers are presented with the possibility to experience the depths of their own internal feminine energies, and thereby come into greater healing and wholeness, more readily able to express this often neglected part of ourselves.
Download or read book Women in the Hindu World written by Mandakranta Bose and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-08-01 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women in the Hindu World explores the role of womanhood in Hindu religious culture and how the faith influences women’s social experiences. Women in the Hindu World encourages readers to develop and nurture their own understanding of the life of a woman as a Hindu. The seven chapters proceed both historically and thematically, exploring abstract philosophical concepts about women, as well as concrete worldly conditions of the lives they lead, from the earliest stages of Hindu society to the present, marking through time the evolving religious roles and social status of women. Hindu women have consistently found in their faith resources for claiming selfhood both within their faith and in society. Within the home, women are the keepers of the family’s religious rites. Outside the home, they worship through poetry, painting, dance, and music. Like their peers around the world, modern Hindu women have fought and worked together to claim decisive roles in shaping their own lives, while maintaining their faith and culture. Women in the Hindu World explores and explains the place of women in Hinduism, and the impact of Hinduism on women’s roles in society. EXPERT ANALYSIS: Author Mandakranta Bose is Professor Emerita and former Director of the Centre for India and South Asia Research at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, where she also has taught courses in religious and gender studies. SUPPLEMENTAL STUDY: Women in the Hindu World provides a breadth of educational knowledge as a supplement to both academic coursework and the independent study of Hinduism. With the integration of discussion questions, suggested further reading, and images throughout, Women in the Hindu World offers an accessible introduction to exploring the connection between womanhood and Hinduism. EXPLORE THE SERIES: The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Publishing Series offers authoritative yet accessible introductions to a wide range of subjects in Hindu Studies. Each book in the series aims to present its subject matter in a form that is engaging and readily comprehensible to persons of all backgrounds – academic or otherwise – without compromising scholarly rigour. The series thus bridges the divide between academic and popular writing by preserving and utilising the best elements of both. Women in the Hindu World joins other engaging texts in the series, including The Hindu Temple and Its Sacred Landscape and The Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation and Study Guide.
Download or read book Majesty and Meekness written by John Braisted Carman and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 1994 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Honoring Motherhood written by Lynn L. Caruso and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Connect with the birth, growth, change, joy, love and inner strength of mothering. Take a spiritual voyage through blessings, prayers, anecdotes and meditations about the sacred undertaking that is motherhood. These words of hope and healing, pain and promise, are for all mothers--traditional, single, adoptive, foster, step and bereaved--and are drawn from many faith traditions, including Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Native American. Special multifaith ceremonies offer ways to honor many aspects of motherhood, such as: becoming a new mother, either through birth or adoption; welcoming children into the larger community; and acknowledging the experience of weaning a child. Insightful and wise, the expressions in this soulful collection illustrate the paradox of motherhood and will speak to your heart as you see motherhood in a whole new--and holy--way. Contributions stem from both ancient and contemporary sources, and many contributions were written specifically for this book. Contributors: Maya Angelou * Dev Arjan *Isaac Babel * 'Abdu'l-Bahá * Sarah K. Bain * Winona L. Baker * Ellen Bass * Rev. Susie Crawford Beil * Big Thunder * Kathryn Black * Johanna Bodenstab * Emily Brontë * Martin Buber * DeLona Campos-Davis * Jane Welsh Carlyle * Gilbert Keith Chesterton * Rev. Linda Morgan Clark * Fr. Robert DeGrandis * Anita Diamant * Mary Douthitt *George Eliot * Saint Ephrem * Euripides * Kathleen Finley * Saint Francis of Assisi * Erich Fromm * Robert Frost * Saint Gertrude the Great * Kahlil Gibran * Maria Mazziotti Gillan * Stacey Goldblatt * Grace of Monaco * Hafiz * Leigh Hancock * Hanh, Thich Nhat * Fr. Edward Hays * Margaret Hebblethwaite * Jackie Heil * Sibilla Hershey * Lauri Hewitt * Rev. Gina Hilton-VanOsdall * Alicia Hokanson * Gerard Manley Hopkins * Jill E.Hopkins * Margaret Anne Huffman * Linda Lawrence Hunt * Crystal Hurdle * Jane Richardson Jensen * Saint John of the Cross * Julian of Norwich * Kabir * Hazrat Inayat Khan * Charles Kingsley * Laurie Klein * Jacqueline Kramer * Jean Baptiste Lacordaire * Fiona Tinwei Lam * Anne Lamott * Lao-Tzu * D. H. Lawrence * Dr. Donald Liebert * Rev. Lauren J. McFeaters * Rev. Dr. Henry McKeating * Lauren McLaughlin * Rosemary Bray McNatt * Maude Meehan * Amy Klauke Minato *Mirabai *Gabriela Mistral (pseudonym for Lucila Godoy y Alcayaga) * Janet Morley * Claire Rudolf Murphy * Sarah Napthali * Sister Nivedita (Margaret E. Noble) * Gunilla Norris * Theodore Parker * Christine Ryan Paulus * Margaret G. Payne * William Penn * Petronius * Po Chü-i * Jan Reynolds * Rivage (pseudonym for Mary Newman) * William H. Robinson * Christina Rossetti * George William Russell * Sappho * Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso * Meghan Nuttall Sayres * Edythe Haendel Schwartz * Ramprasad Sen * William Shakespeare * Trish Shields * Masaoka Shiki * Sadhu Sundar Singh * Mirabai Starr * Janeen Steer * Jonathan Swift * Rabindranath Tagore * Henry David Thoreau * Tukaram * Mark Twain * Miguel de Unamuno * Swami Vivekananda * Gloria Waggoner * Sophia Waldenberg * Jeanne Murray Walker * Robert E.Webber * John Woodroffe * Virginia Woolf
Download or read book The Spiral Path written by Theresa King and published by Yes International Publishers. This book was released on 1992-09 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This treasure of diverse and visionary writings explores the sacredness of women's everyday lives. Twenty-two contemporary spiritual teachers'including Irina Tweedie, Brooke Medicine Eagle, Swami Radha, Bernadette Roberts, and Mary Giles'probe aspects of their lives from sexuality, work, and cooking, to relationships, prayer, and mysticism. A vision then emerges of women as extraordinary sacred beings, their lives sources of personal and community transformation. This book is a guide for those seeking a practical, workable spiritual life.
Download or read book Homeless Tongues written by Monique Balbuena and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2016-07-27 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines a group of multicultural Jewish poets to address the issue of multilingualism within a context of minor languages and literatures, nationalism, and diaspora. It introduces three writers working in minor or threatened languages who challenge the usual consensus of Jewish literature: Algerian Sadia Lévy, Israeli Margalit Matitiahu, and Argentine Juan Gelman. Each of them—Lévy in French and Hebrew, Matitiahu in Hebrew and Ladino, and Gelman in Spanish and Ladino—expresses a hybrid or composite Sephardic identity through a strategic choice of competing languages and intertexts. Monique R. Balbuena's close literary readings of their works, which are mostly unknown in the United States, are strongly grounded in their social and historical context. Her focus on contemporary rather than classic Ladino poetry and her argument for the inclusion of Sephardic production in the canon of Jewish literature make Homeless Tongues a timely and unusual intervention.
Download or read book A Restatement of Religion written by Jyotirmaya Sharma and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers a portrait of Swami Vivekananda and his relationship with his guru, the legendary Ramakrishna. This work focuses on Vivekananda's reinterpretation and formulation of diverse Indian spiritual and mystical traditions and practices as "Hinduism" and how it served to create, distort, and justify a national self-image.
Download or read book Bhakti and Power written by John Stratton Hawley and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2019-05-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bhakti, a term ubiquitous in the religious life of South Asia, has meanings that shift dramatically according to context and sentiment. Sometimes translated as “personal devotion,” bhakti nonetheless implies and fosters public interaction. It is often associated with the marginalized voices of women and lower castes, yet it has also played a role in perpetuating injustice. Barriers have been torn down in the name of bhakti, while others have been built simultaneously. Bhakti and Power provides an accessible entry into key debates around issues such as these, presenting voices and vignettes from the sixth century to the present and from many parts of India’s cultural landscape. Written by a wide range of engaged scholars, this volume showcases one of the most influential concepts in Indian history—still a major force in the present day.
Download or read book Nine Lives written by William Dalrymple and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of The Last Mughal (“A compulsively readable masterpiece” —The New York Review of Books), an exquisite, mesmerizing book that illuminates the remarkable ways in which traditional forms of religious life in India have been transformed in the vortex of the region’s rapid change—a book that distills the author’s twenty-five years of travel in India, taking us deep into ways of life that we might otherwise never have known exist. A Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet—and spends the rest of his life atoning for the violence by hand printing the finest prayer flags in India . . . A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her closest friend ritually starve herself to death . . . A woman leaves her middle-class life in Calcutta and finds unexpected fulfillment living as a Tantric in an isolated, skull-filled cremation ground . . . A prison warder from Kerala is worshipped as an incarnate deity for three months of every year . . . An idol carver, the twenty-third in a long line of sculptors, must reconcile himself to his son’s desire to study computer engineering . . . An illiterate goatherd from Rajasthan keeps alive in his memory an ancient four-thousand-stanza sacred epic . . . A temple prostitute, who initially resisted her own initiation into sex work, pushes both her daughters into a trade she nonetheless regards as a sacred calling. William Dalrymple chronicles these lives with expansive insight and a spellbinding evocation of circumstance. And while the stories reveal the vigorous resilience of individuals in the face of the relentless onslaught of modernity, they reveal as well the continuity of ancient traditions that endure to this day. A dazzling travelogue of both place and spirit.
Download or read book Feminist Philosophy of Religion written by Pamela Sue Anderson and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feminist Philosophy of Religion: Critical Readings brings together key new writings in this growing field.
Download or read book Offering Flowers Feeding Skulls written by June McDaniel and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004-08-05 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Indian state of West Bengal is home to one of the world's most vibrant traditions of goddess worship. The year's biggest holidays are devoted to the goddesses Durga and Kali, with lavish rituals, decorated statues, fireworks, and parades. In Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls, June McDaniel provides a broad, accessibly written overview of Bengali goddess worship. McDaniel identifies three major forms of goddess worship, and examines each through its myths, folklore, songs, rituals, sacred texts, and practitioners. In the folk/tribal strand, which is found in rural areas, local tribal goddesses are worshipped alongside Hindu goddesses, with an emphasis on possession, healing, and animism. The tantric/yogic strand focuses on ritual, meditation, and visualization as ways of experiencing the power of the goddess directly. The devotional or bhakti strand, which is the most popular form, involves the intense love and worship of a particular form of the goddess. McDaniel traces these strands through Bengali culture and explores how they are interwoven with each other as well as with other forms of Hinduism. She also discusses how these practices have been reinterpreted in the West, where goddess worship has gained the values of sexual freedom and psychological healing, but lost its emphases on devotion and asceticism. Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls takes the reader inside the lives of practicing Shaktas, including holy women, hymn singers, philosophers, visionaries, gurus, ascetics, healers, musicians, and businessmen, and offers vivid descriptions of their rituals, practices, and daily lives. Drawing on years of fieldwork and extensive research, McDaniel paints a rich, expansive portrait of this fascinating religious tradition.
Download or read book Praying Dangerously written by Regina Ryan and published by SCB Distributors. This book was released on 2012-07-23 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praying Dangerously instructs us that we can grow up spiritually, leaving behind a childish relationship to prayer as a superstitious ritual or mere plea for favors. It encourages readers to recognize the difference between prayer that asks only for reassurance, and prayer that asks for the Ultimate, and stands for transformation. �We can cease being ‘victims� of God�s Will, while at the same time embracing genuine surrender and reliance on the irrefutable power of love,” says author and retreat leader Regina Sara Ryan. Readers of the first edition (published in 2001) were enthusiastic in their praise, calling it a brave and useful book. Prayer groups and church congregations around the U.S. have used it for study, and it has been translated into Dutch, German and French. And the message of the book is more relevant now than it was 10 years ago. The insecurities of our times draw us inward or back to our churches. In prayer groups and retreats of all kinds we are looking for comfort and consolation, for spiritual direction, or for answers to the eternal questions that have always challenged humanity. This book is a valued contribution in that search. This 10th anniversary edition is fully revised, with several completely new chapters including: �The High Cost of Forgiveness”-a subject that challenges everyone-and �Praying on the Subway,” about how our generally busy and often chaotic lives can provide us with a constant impetus for blessing others.
