Download or read book Tapta Marga written by Walter O. Kaelber and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1989-09-15 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the most comprehensive study yet made of tapas and of asceticism during the Vedic period. It also explains three other essential components of Vedic thought: sacrifice, homology, and knowledge. These concepts, along with tapas and initiation symbolism, reveal the heart of Vedic religion. therefore, this study presents a history of Vedic religion, organized around the central building blocks of that tradition.
Download or read book Tapta M rga written by Walter O. Kaelber and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1989-09-15 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the most comprehensive study yet made of tapas and of asceticism during the Vedic period. It also explains three other essential components of Vedic thought: sacrifice, homology, and knowledge. These concepts, along with tapas and initiation symbolism, reveal the heart of Vedic religion. therefore, this study presents a "history of Vedic religion," organized around the central building blocks of that tradition.
Download or read book Tapta M rga written by Walter O. Kaelber and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Fiction of Raja Rao written by Mittapalli Rajeshwar and published by Atlantic Publishers & Dist. This book was released on 2001 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Raja Rao Is One Of The Triumvirate Of The Pioneering Indian Novelists In English. His Contribution To The Growth Of The English Novel In India Is Enormous. Each One Of His Novels Is A Trendsetter. Kanthapura, For Instance, Demonstrates How The English Language Can Be Used To Tell A Typically Indian Story Without Violating The Native Speech Rhythms And His The Serpent And The Rope Gave A New Direction To The Indian Novel In English By Philosophising It. His Range And Vision Transcend All Barriers. He Used The Fictional Medium To Portray His Patriotic And Philosophical Concerns In A Masterly Way.In This Volume, An Attempt Has Been Made To Assess Raja Rao S Novels And Short Stories In Terms Of His, Philosophy, Vision, Style, Themes And Techniques. It Is Hoped That Raja Rao Scholars Across The Globe Will Find The Book Irresistible.
Download or read book Changing Minds written by Michele Marie Desmarais and published by Motilal Banarsidass. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book by Dr. Desmarais is by all means a positive contribution in the field of Yoga, Indology and cognitive neurosciences. It covers Eastern and Western, ancient and modern, religion and metaphysics, psychology and epistemology, as well as the cultural heritage for these. The book is arranged in six chapters using our common concept of show as a metaphysical stage: getting ready for the show; entering the theatre; taking the stage; all the world as stage; following the plot; thickening of the plot; and finally, the lights come up. This has its source in the Samkhya metaphor of prakrti as analogous to a divine actor, on the world stage and in a cosmic drama. Another symbolic metaphor that comes before our mind is that of Ardhanarinatesvara of Lord Siva, depicted as the Cosmic divine Supreme actor endowed with half-female in his person. The reader, the spectator or audience member, symbolizes the Purusa of Samkhya and yoga.
Download or read book The Origins of Yoga and Tantra written by Geoffrey Samuel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-03-27 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yoga, tantra and other forms of Asian meditation are practised in modernized forms throughout the world today, but most introductions to Hinduism or Buddhism tell only part of the story of how they developed. This book is an interpretation of the history of Indic religions up to around 1200 CE, with particular focus on the development of yogic and tantric traditions. It assesses how much we really know about this period, and asks what sense we can make of the evolution of yogic and tantric practices, which were to become such central and important features of the Indic religious scene. Its originality lies in seeking to understand these traditions in terms of the total social and religious context of South Asian society during this period, including the religious practices of the general population with their close engagement with family, gender, economic life and other pragmatic concerns.
Download or read book Yoga FAQ written by Richard Rosen and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Concise and readable answers to the most commonly asked questions about yoga, and illuminating little-known facts and esoteric aspects of the philosophy and practice--by renowned yogi Richard Rosen. Here are answers to all the questions that come up in your yoga practice and study! Renowned yoga teacher Richard Rosen has asked—and been asked—nearly every yoga-related question that there is, and his wonderfully practical, helpful answers will give you a thorough explanation of the tradition’s key concepts, and the nuts and bolts of yoga philosophy and practice, including: • Yoga’s main texts, including the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutra, among others • Yamas and niyamas • The subtle body—what it means and what it looks like in practice • The evolution of asanas • Pranayama • Mudras and bandhas • And much more
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Hinduism written by Constance Jones and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2006 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated A to Z reference containing more than 700 entries providing information on the theology, people, historical events, institutions and movements related to Hinduism.
Download or read book The Samnyasa Upanisads written by Patrick Olivelle and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1992-02-13 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first readable and accurate translation of twenty of the most authoritative Hindu documents pertaining to ascetic ideals and the ascetic way of life, this text opens to students a major source for the study of the Hindu ascetical institutions and of the historical changes they underwent during a period of a thousand years or more. Beginning with an analysis of the historical context that gave rise to Indian ascetical institutions and ideologies, Patrick Olivelle moves on to elucidate the meaning of renunciation—the central institution of holiness in most Hindu traditions—and the function and significance of the various elements that constitute the rite of renunciation. The Samnyasa Upanisads will be an unparalleled source of information and insight for students of Hinduism and Indian asceticism, mysticism, and holiness.
Download or read book The Roots of Tantra written by Katherine Anne Harper and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book A Bull of a Man written by John Powers and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-19 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The androgynous, asexual Buddha of contemporary popular imagination stands in stark contrast to the muscular, virile, and sensual figure presented in Indian Buddhist texts. In early Buddhist literature and art, the Buddha’s perfect physique and sexual prowess are important components of his legend as the world’s “ultimate man.” He is both the scholarly, religiously inclined brahman and the warrior ruler who excels in martial arts, athletic pursuits, and sexual exploits. The Buddha effortlessly performs these dual roles, combining his society’s norms for ideal manhood and creating a powerful image taken up by later followers in promoting their tradition in a hotly contested religious marketplace. In this groundbreaking study of previously unexplored aspects of the early Buddhist tradition, John Powers skillfully adapts methodological approaches from European and North American historiography to the study of early Buddhist literature, art, and iconography, highlighting aspects of the tradition that have been surprisingly invisible in earlier scholarship. The book focuses on the figure of the Buddha and his monastic followers to show how they were constructed as paragons of masculinity, whose powerful bodies and compelling sexuality attracted women, elicited admiration from men, and convinced skeptics of their spiritual attainments.
Download or read book In Search of the Cradle of Civilization written by Georg Feuerstein and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House. This book was released on 2005 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this pathbreaking book, the authors show that the ancient Indians were no primitives but possessed a high spiritual culture, which not only influenced the evolution of the Western world in decisive ways but which still hs much to teach us today. India's archaic spirituality is codified in the rich symbols, metaphors and myths of the magnificent Rig-Veda, which is shown to be much older than has been widely assumed by scholars. The present book also unravels the astonishing mathematical and astronomical code hidden in the Vedic hymns. Anyone interested in ancient cultural history, India, archaeo-astronomy or spirituality will find this well researched and cross-cultural work spellbinding and enriching.
Download or read book Indian Asceticism written by Carl Olson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the history of Indian religions, the ascetic figure is most closely identified with power. A by-product of the ascetic path, power is displayed in the ability to fly, walk on water or through dense objects, read minds, discern the former lives of others, see into the future, harm others, or simply levitate one's body. These tales give rise to questions about how power and violence are related to the phenomenon of play. Indian Asceticism focuses on the powers exhibited by ascetics of India from ancient to modern time. Carl Olson discusses the erotic, the demonic, the comic, and the miraculous forms of play and their connections to power and violence. He focuses on Hinduism, but evidence is also presented from Buddhism and Jainism, suggesting that the subject matter of this book pervades India's major indigenous religious traditions. The book includes a look at the extent to which findings in cognitive science can add to our understanding of these various powers; Olson argues that violence is built into the practice of the ascetic. Indian Asceticism culminates with an attempt to rethink the nature of power in a way that does justice to the literary evidence from Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain sources.
Download or read book Real Sadhus Sing to God written by Antoinette Elizabeth DeNapoli and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on ethnographic research spanning ten years, Antoinette Elizabeth DeNapoli offers a new perspective on the practice of asceticism in India today. Her work brings to light the little known and often marginalized lives of female Hindu ascetics (sadhus) in the North Indian state of Rajasthan. Examining the everyday religious worlds and practices of the mostly unlettered female sadhus, who come from a number of castes, Real Sadhus Sing to God illustrates that these women experience asceticism in relational and celebratory ways. They construct their lives as paths of singing to God, which, the author suggests, serves as the female way of being an ascetic. Examining the relationship between asceticism (sannyas) and devotion (bhakti) in contemporary contexts, the book brings together two disparate fields of study-yoga/asceticism and bhakti-using the singing of bhajans (devotional songs) as an orienting metaphor. This is the first book-length study to explore the ways in which female sadhus perform and thus create gendered views of asceticism through their singing, storytelling, and sacred text practices, which DeNapoli characterizes as their "rhetoric of renunciation."
Download or read book Asceticism and Its Critics written by Oliver Freiberger and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-10-19 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars of religion have always been fascinated by asceticism. Some have even regarded this radical way of life-- the withdrawal from the world, combined with practices that seriously affect basic bodily needs, up to extreme forms of self-mortification --as the ultimate form of a true religious quest. This view is rooted in hagiographic descriptions of prominent ascetics and in other literary accounts that praise the ascetic life-style. Scholars have often overlooked, however, that in the history of religions ascetic beliefs and practices have also been strongly criticized, by followers of the same religious tradition as well as by outsiders. The respective sources provide sufficient evidence of such critical strands but surprisingly as yet no attempt has been made to analyze this criticism of asceticism systematically. This book is a first attempt of filling this gap. Ten studies present cases from both Asian and European traditions: classical and medieval Hinduism, early and contemporary Buddhism in South and East Asia, European antiquity, early and medieval Christianity, and 19th/20th century Aryan religion. Focusing on the critics of asceticism, their motives, their arguments, and the targets of their critique, these studies provide a broad range of issues for comparison. They suggest that the critique of asceticism is based on a worldview differing from and competing with the ascetic worldview, often in one and the same historical context. The book demonstrates that examining the critics of asceticism helps understand better the complexity of religious traditions and their cultural contexts. The comparative analysis, moreover, shows that the criticism of asceticism reflects a religious worldview as significant and widespread in the history of religions as asceticism itself is.
Download or read book Sacred Pain written by Ariel Glucklich and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-10-30 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why would anyone seek out the very experience the rest of us most wish to avoid? Why would religious worshipers flog or crucify themselves, sleep on spikes, hang suspended by their flesh, or walk for miles through scorching deserts with bare and bloodied feet? In this insightful new book, Ariel Glucklich argues that the experience of ritual pain, far from being a form of a madness or superstition, contains a hidden rationality and can bring about a profound transformation of the consciousness and identity of the spiritual seeker. Steering a course between purely cultural and purely biological explanations, Glucklich approaches sacred pain from the perspective of the practitioner to fully examine the psychological and spiritual effects of self-hurting. He discusses the scientific understanding of pain, drawing on research in fields such as neuropsychology and neurology. He also ranges over a broad spectrum of historical and cultural contexts, showing the many ways mystics, saints, pilgrims, mourners, shamans, Taoists, Muslims, Hindus, Native Americans, and indeed members of virtually every religion have used pain to achieve a greater identification with God. He examines how pain has served as a punishment for sin, a cure for disease, a weapon against the body and its desires, or a means by which the ego may be transcended and spiritual sickness healed. "When pain transgresses the limits," the Muslim mystic Mizra Asadullah Ghalib is quoted as saying, "it becomes medicine." Based on extensive research and written with both empathy and critical insight, Sacred Pain explores the uncharted inner terrain of self-hurting and reveals how meaningful suffering has been used to heal the human spirit.
Download or read book A Literary Philosophical and Religious Journey into Well Being written by Nili Alon Amit and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2022-09-14 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together researchers to analyse and describe the concept of happiness in its various appearances in the history of thought. They trace its journey from the very first writings in Greek literature and historiography, through early Greek philosophy, Classical, Hellenistic and Neoplatonic philosophers, 10th century Christian manuscript writings, early and late medieval mysticism to the medieval Hindu philosophy of liberation, early modern philosophy and contemporary positive psychology. As the volume shows, happiness appears in many forms, all connected with the human sense of approaching oneness with the world or with the divine.
