Hinduism Books

The Bhagavad-Gita : Krishna's Counsel in Time of War (Bantam Classics)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Wore out my first copy -- came here to order another one [Muslim Reviewer] 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Salaam to all,

I can not claim to speak authoritatively regarding the accuracy and fidelity of the translator's work, but it speaks to me and I am *quite* fond of this translation of the Gita.

I would like to address a few points raised by other reviewers.

Lets start with the sub-title: The "war" is between the illusory world of senses (and delusional 'imagination') and The-Eternal-Absolute, aka Al-Samad to Muslims, and YHVY to Israelites. This book is an 'exposition' on the Greater Jihad (Greater Struggle) spoken of by The Prophet (ALLAH's Salaam and Blessings Be upon him, his house, his progeny, his companions, and his Umma.)

The second item that needed to be addressed was implicitly addressed above. Is this 'book' congruent with the Religion of Abraham (ALLAH's Salaam and Blessings Be upon him and his progeny) and his Chosen Israel (ALLAH' Salaam and Blessing Be upon Israel) and HIS Anointed King of Israel, the Word made flesh (And ALLAH's Salaam Is Ever upon him) and *finally* with the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (ALLAH's Salaam and Blessings Be upon him, his house, his progeny, his companions, and his Umma)? In my 'reading' of The Book -- The Torah, The Pslams, The Gospels, and The Qur'an -- the answer is a resounding 'Yes'.

Who is this book addressed to? This book is an 'exposition' of matters Divine by Al-Samad to HIS Friends, HIS Friends being those Sentient that wish to find an 'eternal abode' with HIM, The Un-Changing. (In The Qur'an, these Friends of ALLAH are called 'Those Who are Granted *Nearness to HIM*'.) Thus, in this manual of the Greater Jihad -- which is the Inner Striving to strip away that which is 'not' -- we have The-GOD manifesting HIM-Self to Arjuna as his "Friend", "Teacher", and "Pilot".

Gandhi read this book every day. It certainly has a place in the daily reading list of any Friend of The-GOD, Who IS our Source and our Destiny.

This book will help with the task of 'choosing' the manner in which you, my fellow Sentient, shall 'Return' unto HIM.

Editorial Review:

The Bhagavad-Gita has been an essential text of Hindu culture in India since the time of its composition in the first century A.D. One of the great classics of world literature, it has inspired such diverse thinkers as Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, and T.S. Eliot; most recently, it formed the core of Peter Brook's celebrated production of the Mahabharata.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga Sutras by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Sri S. Satchidananda

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

easy reading, great comprehension 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I love this book! Easy to read, simple explanations from Sri Swami Satchidananda, allows you to dive deeply on the true meaning of each Sutra. Truly a book commented by an enlightened soul.

Wonderful book! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I enjoy reading this book! The author quite obviously knows what he is talking about. He gives wonderful explanations and provides insights to the Yoga Sutras. I am learning a great deal from his commentaries on Pantanjali's humanity-benefiting work.
Thank you, Swami Satchinananda!

Patanjali's yoga sutras brought to life by a modern master 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The collection of concise yoga sutras, put together by Patanjali are an important read for any yoga practitioner--teacher or enthusiast. Swami Satchidananda has translated the ancient text into meaningful and practical explanations which really apply to modern living. This is not just a one time read, but rather a wonderful guide to reflect upon often. The text is organized into four books geared to inspire and teach a yogic way of life. Yoga is not a religion of any sorts but rather an eight limbed path leading us from suffering to freedom. The details of how we develop this peace are all included in the book. I highly recommend this book in particular because of its clear and thoughtful translations.

Editorial Review:

This valuable book provides a complete manual for the study and practice of Raja Yoga, the path of concentration and meditation. This new deluxe printing of these timeless teachings is a treasure to be read and referred to again and again by seekers treading the spiritual path. The classic Sutras (thought-threads), at least 4,000 years old, cover the yogic teachings on ethics, meditation, and physical postures, and provide directions for dealing with situations in daily life.

Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth

Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi, Mahadev H. Desai

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Gandhi's nonviolent struggles in South Africa and India had already brought him to such a level of notoriety, adulation, and controversy that when asked to write an autobiography midway through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself. Although accepting of his status as a great innovator in the struggle against racism, violence, and, just then, colonialism, Gandhi feared that enthusiasm for his ideas tended to exceed a deeper understanding. He says that he was after truth rooted in devotion to God and attributed the turning points, successes, and challenges in his life to the will of God. His attempts to get closer to this divine power led him to seek purity through simple living, dietary practices (he called himself a fruitarian), celibacy, and ahimsa, a life without violence. It is in this sense that he calls his book The Story of My Experiments with Truth, offering it also as a reference for those who would follow in his footsteps. A reader expecting a complete accounting of his actions, however, will be sorely disappointed.

Although Gandhi presents his episodes chronologically, he happily leaves wide gaps, such as the entire satyagraha struggle in South Africa, for which he refers the reader to another of his books. And writing for his contemporaries, he takes it for granted that the reader is familiar with the major events of his life and of the political milieu of early 20th-century India. For the objective story, try Yogesh Chadha's Gandhi: A Life. For the inner world of a man held as a criminal by the British, a hero by Muslims, and a holy man by Hindus, look no further than these experiments. --Brian Bruya

Autobiography of a Yogi: with bonus CD

Paramahansa Yogananda

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 212 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Stretch your thinking! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is a challenge to Western religious thought. Having been written not so many years ago, it is difficult to dismiss. I am grateful that Paramahansa Yogananda made it his mission to introduce the West to some of the truths of Hinduism. His work supports many of the claims of my own faith, Christianity.

Editorial Review:

Often described as the book that has changed the lives of millions, Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi has been translated into 20 languages, and is regarded worldwide as a spiritual classic. It was selected as "One of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century." It reads like an adventure story while answering questions about religion, God, existence, yoga, higher consciousness, and the challenges of daily spiritual living. It is a book for people of all faiths; anyone yearning to know what life is truly all about.

Self Realization Fellowship's editions, and non others, incorporate all of the author's significant revisions to the text of the 1946 first edition.

The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (Penguin Classics)

R. K. Narayan

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Narayan's Ramayana 5 out of 5 stars.
29 of 32 people found this review helpful.

As a fan of Narayan's work, I was fascinated to see how he would tackle the grand subject of the Ramayana, a work that runs through and certainly influences all of Narayan's stories. The result is one of his most delightful and beautifully written novels. I think it is important to approach this book not as "THE" Ramayana, but one storyteller's unique vision of the timeless epic--even as a variation on one of his Malgudi novels (the characters certainly bare a distinct resemblance). Narayan's writing is extremely sensitive, refined, yet full of humor and charm. Throughout he adopts the tone of a storyteller, openly acknowledging that he is only "retelling" a story by a much greater storyteller, and leaving out the juciest parts at that. His little asides where he explains, "And here the poet described the scene so touchingly..." are at once reverent and amusing, as Narayan wisely omits anything too excessive or poetic that might derail his narrative. But the story itself is wonderful, a colorful, full-blooded telling of the Ramayana, sparse, fast-moving, but with all the hallmarks of Narayan's style. This book is a must for any fan of Narayan's fiction, Indian writing, or mythology. Narayan effectively conveys the epic's timelessness, with characters and situations that echo throughout literature and film, full of profound human emotions. And this is always one of Narayan's chief strengths, to create believable, complex human characters. In his treatment, even Rama and Sita emerge as sympathetic individuals, not the cardboard cut-outs all too common given their extraordinary powers. In short, this is a magical and engaging work that I know I will read again and again in the years to come. I invite you to do the same!

Editorial Review:

A sweeping tale of abduction, battle, and courtship played out in a universe of deities and demons, The Ramayana is familiar to virtually every Indian. Although the Sanskrit original was composed by Valmiki around the fourth century BC, poets have produced countless versions in different languages. Here, drawing on the work of an eleventh-century poet called Kamban, Narayan employs the skills of a master novelist to re-create the excitement he found in the original. A luminous saga made accessible to new generations of readers, The Ramayana can be enjoyed for its spiritual wisdom, or as a thrilling tale of ancient conflict.

Remember, Be Here Now

Ram Dass

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Total reviews: 101 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

It's easy to dismiss Be Here Now as the relic of a whacked-out '60s acid tripper. Paging through the center section of the book, with its inch-high print and psychedelic drawings, you come across lines like:

Magic Theatre
For madmen only
price of admission
your
mind

Then you turn to the first page of the book, and you are suddenly sucked into the story of a Harvard psychiatrist who has reached the pinnacle of success, discovers the mind-expanding powers of acid, and ends up trooping through India with a 23-year-old holy man from Laguna Beach, California. In the story, you see all the trappings of your own life and begin to wonder if India might hold the answers after all. Before booking your ticket, turn to the last section of the Be Here Now, "Cookbook for a Sacred Life." Ram Dass saves you the trouble by proffering a sober introduction to the basics of Hindu religion. Although he still can't resist CAPITAL LETTERS, he has done his homework, presenting a whole range of concepts and practices having to do with yoga postures, meditation, renunciation, dying, and sexual energy. So, for the most part, Be Here Now stands the test of time, and if you can entertain the center section in a retro kind of a spirit, it might be just what you're looking for: "The opposite of craving is saying, baby, this is the way it is, yeah, OK, here and now, this is it. I ACCEPT THE HERE & NOW FULLY." --Brian Bruya

Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India

Diana L. Eck

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Solid introduction to the concept of Hindu iconography and related ritual experience 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Diana Eck is a wonderful scholar who has written several great books on Hinduism. Darsan (or "darshan," if you're transliterating it simply for an English-speaking audience) is a wonderfully simple introduction to Hindu iconography and the related ritual experience, a subject that is overwhelmingly broad and often unwieldy.

If you are an undergraduate studying Eastern religions, a graduate student new to Hinduism, a Western devotee wanting better cross-cultural knowledge of how to respectfully relate to your chosen god or goddess as Hindus do, or a curious layperson wanting to know more about the Hindu religious experience and what all the images and rituals are about, this is a great book for you to begin with. This slim volume doesn't go into elaborate depth, but covers a lot of ground and introduces many key terms in a very readable way, and is a useful introductory work.

A Profound Book 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book was my introduction to Hinduism, given to me by a friend following my first personal experience with darsan and Hindu devotion. It is a stunningly clear and subtle book, offering a careful, complex discussion of the unique nature of the Hindu conception of the divine. I read it then in 3 days and am rereading it now as a student of Hinduism, looking forward to seeing this great book from a new perspective.

Editorial Review:

-- Religious Studies Review

Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation

Stephen Mitchell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

On the list of the greatest spiritual books of all time, the Bhagavad Gita resides permanently in the top echelon. This poem of patently Indian genius sprouted an immense tree of devotional, artistic, and philosophical elaboration in the subcontinent. The scene is a battlefield with the prince Arjuna pitted against his own family, but no sooner does the poem begin than the action reverts inward. Krishna, Arjuna's avatar and spiritual guide, points the way to the supreme wisdom and perfect freedom that lie within everyone's reach. Worship and be faithful, meditate and know reality--these make up the secret of life and lead eventually to the realization that the self is the root of the world. In this titular translation, Stephen Mitchell's rhythms are faultless, making music of this ancient "Song of the Blessed One." Savor his rendition, but nibble around the edges of his introduction. In a bizarre mixture of praise and condescension, Mitchell disregards two millennia of Indian commentary, seeking illumination on the text from Daoism and Zen, with the Gita coming up just shy of full spiritual merit. Perhaps we should take it from Gandhi, who used the Gita as a handbook for life, that it nourishes on many levels. --Brian Bruya

The Bhagavad Gita (Classics of Indian Spirituality)

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Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Prince Arjuna faced a dilemma that many face sooner or later--whether to take action that is necessary yet morally ambiguous. The difference is that Arjuna's action was to wage war against his own family. With the armies arrayed, Arjuna loses his nerve. Krishna, his charioteer and incarnation of divine consciousness, begins to teach him the nature of God and of himself, that Arjuna can attain liberation through union with God, and that there are several available paths. And so the most famous and revered of all Hindu Scriptures goes on to teach the paths of knowledge, devotion, action, and meditation, becoming the seed for all the Hindu systems of philosophy and religion that followed. For all of its profundity, Eknath Easwaran manages to translate the Gita in easy prose that neither panders nor obscures. Coupled with his thorough introduction, Easwaran's version comes off on all the levels it should: as a guide to action, devotional Scripture, a philosophical text, and inspirational reading. So what does Arjuna finally do? He follows his dharma, of course, as we all must. --Brian Bruya

Chakra Clearing (Book & CD)

Doreen Virtue

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

For readers who seek a straightforward guidebook on learning about the chakra system and how to keep it healthy, this is an excellent resource. Virtue, who is a bestselling author (Messages From Your Angels, Healing With the Angels) and clairvoyant doctor of psychology, identifies the placements and functions of these "energy centers" in the body. She then teaches readers how to keep these chakras clear and clean, leading to greater health and energy.

The chakras themselves are a beautiful progression of shifting colors, starting with the red root chakra at the base of the spine and moving up the body, shade-by-shade, and ending with the royal purple "crown" chakra at the top of the head. Each chakra interacts with a person's issues and concerns in the world. For instance, the root chakra relates to basic survival, such as money, shelter, and material needs, according to Virtue. If a person feels stable in this arena, the "root chakra looks like a brilliant ruby held under a spotlight," she explains. However, if people feel fearful about money or become overly obsessed with their career or possessions, this chakra will be come "dirty" and have a muddy, dark red color.

Virtue offers an extensive assortment of original, guided meditations that are effective in cleaning and clearing all the chakras. The information is well organized and clearly presented with a corresponding CD to help readers integrate the meditations into daily life. She also touches upon other cleaning tools, such as what foods and crystals support the chakra system. Advanced energy workers may find this material basic, but beginners should find it an outstanding primer. --Gail Hudson