Download or read book Shaiva Devotional Songs of Kashmir written by Utpala and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Shaiva Devotional Songs of Kashmir written by Constantina Rhodes and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1987-07-01 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utpaladeva was considered a siddha, a "perfected being," one of the masters of the tantric tradition in Kashmir, and he is best known for his philosophical treatises. The Shivastotravali reflects Utpaladeva's philosophy, known as the Pratyabhijna school. And yet it is unique among the author's works in its not being a straightforward philosophical treatise but instead, as Dr. Bailly points out in her introduction, more of a spiritual diary of one who is actually treading the path of Shiva. The path that Utpaladeva has chosen does not require leaving one's home and heading for a mountain cave; instead it calls for changing one's view of the world, for leading a life of divine recognition while carrying on with ordinary life. In clearly written, lucid prose Dr. Bailly illuminates the many facets of Utpaladeva's quest. At the core of his spiritual journey is the enigmatic relationship between devotion and grace: how much does spiritual attainment depend upon the individual's efforts, and how much is a divine gift? And how are these to be realized while living in the midst of society, maintaining worldly obligations and lifestyle? For over a thousand years the Shaiva community of Kashmir has used in its worship the hymns of Utpaladeva's Shivastotravali. Here for the first time these hymns are presented in translation as English verse along with the Sanskrit, a clear and lively introduction, two appendices on special aspects of Kashmir Shaivism, and additional notes.
Download or read book The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism written by Swami Shankarananda and published by Motilal Banarsidass. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kashmir Shaivism is the study of consciousness. Consciousness is the most intimate experience of life the essence of life itself. Among the many spiritual traditions born and developed in India, one ancient philosophy-Kashmir Shaivism-has explored it completely. Consciousness is the most intimate experience of life, the essence of life itself. Among the many spiritual traditions born and developed in India, one ancient philosophy-Kashmir Shaivism-has explored it completely. Until now, Kashmir Shaivism was an esoteric field accessible only to a few scholars and other specialists. Here, for the first time, Swami Shankarananda, a Self-realised spiritual master, presents the wisdom of this powerful tradition in a form that will delight and inspire all spiritual seekers. He explores the teachings in rich detail, elucidating ideas and meditative practices while drawing upon a vast canvas of many great beings, wisdom traditions and personal experience. When Kashmir Shaivism is studied the way a subject at university is studied, it becomes a set of principles and concepts, which are rich and suggestive. But Kashmir Shaivism is not only food for the intellect. It also implies direct nurturance of the soul, the direct experience of consciousness itself. The goal of this book is to inspire spiritual seekers to make sure of the sublime methods and understandings of Shaivism in their own practice. The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism is a book that will transform you. It is a resource and guides you towards investigating and deepening your own consciousness.
Download or read book Poetry as Prayer in the Sanskrit Hymns of Kashmir written by Hamsa Stainton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historically, Kashmir was one of the most dynamic and influential centers of Sanskrit learning and literary production in South Asia. In Poetry as Prayer in the Sanskrit Hymns of Kashmir, Hamsa Stainton investigates the close connection between poetry and prayer in South Asia by studying the history of Sanskrit hymns of praise (stotras) in Kashmir. The book provides a broad introduction to the history and general features of the stotra genre, and it charts the course of these literary hymns in Kashmir from the eighth century to the present. In particular, it offers the first major study in any European language of the Stutikusum=añjali, an important work of religious literature dedicated to the god 'Siva and one of the only extant witnesses to the trajectory of Sanskrit literary culture in fourteenth-century Kashmir. The book also contributes to the study of 'Saivism by examining the ways in which 'Saiva poets have integrated the traditions of Sanskrit literature and poetics, theology (especially non-dualism), and 'Saiva worship and devotion. It substantiates the diverse configurations of 'Saiva bhakti expressed and explored in these literary hymns and the challenges they present for standard interpretations of Hindu bhakti. More broadly, this study of stotras from Kashmir offers new perspectives on the history and vitality of prayer in South Asia and its complex relationships to poetry and poetics.
Download or read book The Study of Hinduism written by Arvind Sharma and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this text, leading scholars from around the world take stock of two centuries of international intellectual investment in Hinduism. Since the early 19th century, when the scholarly investigation of Hinduism began to take shape as a modern academic discipline, Hindu studies has evolved from its concentration on description and analysis to an emphasis on understanding Hindu traditions in the context of the religion's own values, concepts and history. Offering an assessment of the current state of Hindu studies, the contributors to this volume identify past achievements and chart the course for what remains to be accomplished in the field.
Download or read book Rediscovering God with Transcendental Argument written by David Peter Lawrence and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2015-07-29 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a comparative philosophical study of the thought of the two principle theorists of monistic Kashmiri Shaivism, Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta, and also formulates a conception of the nature of philosophy as a means of intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
Download or read book Exquisite Love written by William K. Mahony and published by Sarvabhava Press. This book was released on 2014-12-15 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bhakti Sūtra attributed to Nārada is a collection of 84 aphoristic statements in Sanskrit, dating to the tenth to eleventh centuries in India, on the nature of love for Divinity, which the text describes as the highest, most exquisite form of love. Translating, explaining and interpreting 21 of those statements, William K. Mahony brings these teachings into our contemporary world through his thoughtful and articulate extended reflections on the qualities of this love and on the contours of a life oriented toward strengthening, refining and elevating it. The book also includes Mahony’s translation of Nārada’s Bhakti Sūtra in its entirety. Basing his reflections on the understanding that God is absolute Love, Mahony speaks of a divine Heart present in our own human sentiments and expressions of love in all its modes, directions and degrees of intensity. He offers readers guidance into ways a Heart-centered spiritual life can open them ever more fully to the reality of Love itself.
Download or read book Mystical Verses of Lall written by Laldyada and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. This book was released on 2007 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mystical Verses of Lalla is a rich introduction to Lalla, the great 14th centuries. Also known as Lallesvari and Lal Ded, she defied social conventions and proceeded on the journey of self-realization. Her verses speak across cultural boundaries and traditions and are as relevant today as they were six centuries ago. Jaishree Kak has beautifully translated the verses from Kashmiri into English. Joseph Singer's prints and drawings complement the verses, providing visual pathways into Lalla's verses. The fourteenth-century mystic poet Lalla, also known as Lallesvari and Lal Ded, is an integral part of Kashmiri language, literature, and culture. Lalla-Vakh or Lalla's verse-sayings have resonated orally for centuries in the valley of Kashmir. Lalla has been compared to Shakespeare, Hafiz, Kabir and Tulsidasa. And, she has been honored as the first Kashmiri poet who modernized Kashmiri language as well as literature. Her richness of language, turn of phrases, and metaphors are now standard expressions in modern Kashmiri.
Download or read book Utpaladeva written by Raffaele Torella and published by DK Printworld (P) Ltd. This book was released on 2021-03-17 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About the Author Raffaele Torella is Professor of Sanskrit at University of Rome “Sapienza”, where he has also taught for long Indian Philosophy and Religion, and Indology. Dr. Bettina Bäumer, Indologist from Austria and Professor of Religious Studies (Visiting Professor at several universities), living and working in Varanasi since 1967, is the author and editor of a number of books and over 50 research articles. Her main fields of research are non-dualistic Kashmir Śaivism, Indian aesthetics, temple architecture and religious traditions of Odisha, and comparative mysticism. She has been Coordinator of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Varanasi, and Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. She has translated important Sanskrit texts into German and English. Dr. Bettina Bäumer, Indologist from Austria and Professor of Religious Studies (Visiting Professor at several universities), living and working in Varanasi since 1967, is the author and editor of a number of books and over 50 research articles. Her main fields of research are non-dualistic Kashmir Śaivism, Indian aesthetics, temple architecture and religious traditions of Odisha, and comparative mysticism. She has been Coordinator of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Varanasi, and Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. She has translated important Sanskrit texts into German and English. About the Book The book, which partly derives from the papers offered at the first International Seminar on Utpaladeva (IIAS, Shimla 2013), is the first ever attempt at presenting a comprehensive portrait of one of the most important philosophers of premodern India, so far mainly taken into account as a mere predecessor of the great Abhinavagupta. Recent studies by R. Torella and others have shown the central importance of Utpaladeva in the elaboration of the Pratyabhijñā philosophy, and reduced the role of Abhinavagupta to that of his brilliant commentator. The contributors to the present volume have shown the multifarious aspects of Utpaladeva, not only an outstanding metaphysician and epistemologist, engaged in a strenuous critical dialogue above all with the Buddhist logicians, but also one of the most extraordinary mystical poets of India. For the first time his contribution to poetics and aesthetics has been duly highlighted. The book contains two appendices with the critical edition and translation by R. Torella of fragments from Utpaladeva’s long commentary (Vivr̥ti) on his Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā and Vr̥tti, one of the most important works of Indian philosophy as a whole, so far deemed to be totally lost. This book should generate great interest among scholars of Sanskrit and philosophy for its uniqueness and should serve the curiosity of each and every scholarly reader of Kashmir Śaivism.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Hinduism written by Denise Cush and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 1129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covering all aspects of Hinduism, this encyclopedia includes more ethnographic and contemporary material in contrast to the exclusively textual and historical approach of earlier works.
Download or read book Traversing the Heart written by Richard Kearney and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2010-07-12 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays, narratives, and philosophical reflections on the interreligious imagination explores key historical and contemporary movements of cross-fertilization among our major spiritual traditions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam – as expressed in art, literature, ritual practice, and interfaith dialogue.
Download or read book Singing the Body of God written by Steven Paul Hopkins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2002-04-18 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first full-length study of the devotional poetry and poetics of the fourteenth-century poet-philosopher Vedantadesika, one of the most outstanding and influential figures in the Hindu tradition of Sri-Vaishnavism (the cult of Lord Vishnu). Despite their intrinsic beauty and theological importance, the poetry and philosophy of Vedantadesika have received very little scholarly attention. But for the millions who belong to the Vaishnava tradition, those poems are not just classical literature; they are committed to memory, recited, sung, and enacted in ritual both in India and throughout the Hindu diaspora. Steven Hopkins here offers a comparative study of the Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Tamil poems composed by Vedantadesika in praise of important Vaishnava shrines and their icons--poems that are considered to be the apogee of South Indian devotional literature.
Download or read book Contemplative Learning and Inquiry across Disciplines written by Olen Gunnlaugson and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2014-07-16 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide-ranging consideration of the emerging field of contemplative education. Contemplative approaches to higher education have been gaining in popularity and application across a wide range of disciplines. Spurring conferences, a growing body of literature, and several academic programs or centers, these approaches promise to contribute significantly to higher education in the years to come. This volume provides an overview of the current landscape of contemplative instruction, pedagogy, philosophy, and curriculum from the perspectives of leading researchers and scholar-practitioners. Contributors come from a variety of disciplines, including education, management and leadership studies, humanities, social sciences, the arts, and information science. Drawing on diverse contexts, the essays reveal the applicability of contemplative studies as a watershed field, capable of informing, enriching, and sustaining the many disciplines and instructional contexts that comprise higher education. Chapters discuss the theoretical aspects of the field; the details, experiences, and challenges of contemplative approaches; and the hopes and concerns for the future of this field.
Download or read book Hymns to Shiva in Kashmir Shaivism written by Swami Lakshmanjoo and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-07-24 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hymns to Shiva: Utpaladeva's Shivastotravali Features/Benefits: - Includes free downloadable audio of original lectures. - Hymns to Shiva, Utpaladeva's Shivastotravali are profound outpourings of devotion for the passion of God consciousness. - In this translation by Master Yogi Swami Lakshmanjoo one can have a personal experience of devotional transcendence. The enchanting verses that comprise the Hymns to Shiva were born on Kashmir Valley's picturesque Dal Lake as an inspirational outpouring of devotion from the heart of the medieval Kashmiri spiritual master and mystic Utpaladeva. These hymns are so profound they have the power to free the devoted reader from the restrictions of their intellect and instantaneously elevate them to the experience of oneness with the very nature of their own divine consciousness. When commenting on this text Swami Lakshmanjoo would tell his devotees that, as Utpaladeva continually teaches us through these beautiful hymns, "devotion, or passion for God consciousness is everything." The reader will personally witness this for themselves when they experience Swami Lakshmanjoo's narrative as he, himself, becomes filled with emotion and longing for God.
Download or read book Goddesses who Rule written by Beverly Ann Moon and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2000 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Goddesses, feminine images of the divine, often are labeled as one-dimensional forces of nature or fertility. In examining a number of goddesses whose primary role is sovereignty, contributors to this volume go beyond the narrow vision of the past to discover the rich diversity of goddess traditions. Drawn from a variety of cultural and historical settings, the goddesses described here include Inanna of ancient Sumer; Mazu, a goddess still worshipped in southern China; Oshun of Nigeria; and Cihuacoatl of pre-historical America.
Download or read book Hinduism written by Roshen Dalal and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2010 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions; an amalgam of diverse beliefs and schools, it originates in the Vedas and is rooted in Indian culture. Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide illuminates complex philosophical concepts through lucid definitions, a historical perspective and incisive analyses. It examines various aspects of Hinduism, covering festivals and rituals, gods and goddesses, philosophers, memorials, aesthetics, and sacred plants and animals. The author also explores pivotal ideas, including moksha, karma, dharma and samsara, and details the diverse commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita and other important texts. Citing extensively from the regional languages, the book describes Hinduism’s innumerable myths and legends, and looks at the many versions of texts including the Ramayana and Mahabharata, placing each entry in its historical context and tracing its evolution to the present.
Download or read book The Music and Dance of the World s Religions written by E. Rust and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1996-08-23 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the world-wide association of music and dance with religion, this is the first full-length study of the subject from a global perspective. The work consists of 3,816 references divided among 37 chapters. It covers tribal, regional, and global religions and such subjects as shamanism, liturgical dance, healing, and the relationship of music, mathematics, and mysticism. The referenced materials display such diverse approaches as analysis of music and dance, description of context, direct experience, observation, and speculation. The references address topics from such disciplines as sociology, anthropology, history, linguistics, musicology, ethnomusicology, theology, medicine, semiotics, and computer technology. Chapter 1 consists of general references to religious music and dance. The remaining 36 chapters are organized according to major geographical areas. Most chapters begin with general reference works and bibliographies, then continue with topics specific to the region or religion. This book will be of use to anyone with an interest in music, dance, religion, or culture.
