Hinduism Books - Page 12

Back to the Truth: 5000 years of Advaita

Dennis Waite

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Masterful Guide to Advaita 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful.

A profoundly astute and masterful guide to the field of Self-discovery. An authoritative scholar, Dennis writes with supreme clarity as he skillfully expounds, logically analyzes and insightfully integrates the wisdom of classical and contemporary teachers with the principles of Advaita.
- Katie Davis, Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment

Editorial Review:

Advaita is a spiritual philosophy based on the Upanishads, older than most other religious systems we know about but also the most logical and scientific in its approach. This book is a systematic treatment of Advaita which demystifies it, differentiating between approaches and teachers, enabling you to decide which approach is most suitable for you. It compares the scriptures of traditional Advaita with the words of contemporary sages and neo-Advaita. Should we ignore the mind? Is the world real? Is there anything we can do to become enlightened? These questions and many more are addressed, with explanations given in their own words from those who discovered the truth. A massively comprehensive, definitive work.

Upanishads

Anonymous

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

New Penguin Upanisads (Roebuck 2000/2003) Fall Short of Oxford in Every Way 3 out of 5 stars.
10 of 12 people found this review helpful.

After some Sanskrit studies years ago, I decided I'd like to read the principal Upanishads in an accurate (so not the laughably loose Mascaro version) but readable (so not the painfully literal and commentary-heavy tome of Radhakrishnan) English version. It soon became apparent that the choice was between Roebuck and Olivelle (Oxford World's Classics). The academic book reviews were quite ambivalent, so I got the two rivals out from the library and made my own comparison.

I was surprised to find the Oxford superior in every way. Most importantly, Olivelle's translation (while plenty literal) is simply in much more natural English. Roebuck is fond of unnatural word order. Her version includes many footnotes on each page, without which her text would sometimes make no sense; Olivelle manages to translate just as literally, but so that you don't NEED to consult his equally voluminous notes in the back. Looking at the Sanskrit text in cases of notable differences, I found that I was almost always more satisfied with Olivelle's version as scrupulously & clearly reflecting the original, too. (In any case, there's no question that Olivelle is the more authoritative scholar; Roebuck needs to cite several of his books in her bibliography and apologize for the "temerity" of offering a new version, but there is no important scholarly work of Roebuck's that Olivelle can cite in his extensive bibliography.)

Publishing is a business. Roebuck freely admits that she relied heavily on Olivelle's version in making her own. The surprise is that she did not manage to stand on his shoulders and make something better in any way. (The reviews and marketing blurbs that suggest Roebuck's version has any more "devotional" value boils down to some pretty superficial and unimportant differences, like including the invocations before and after each upanishad--which are in no sense a part of the actual text or teaching.) In a sane world, there is no need for this Penguin. The chronology is clear: Penguin realized Mascaro was an embarrassment in need of replacement; they contracted Roebuck; while she was working Olivelle's version came out, making hers otiose. Penguin can't let its Mascaro version be totally eclipsed by Oxford, so we have this choice to confuse us. Don't be confused--get the Oxford.

Finally, the Oxford volume is much better-designed. The notes are clearly indexed by page numbers at the top; the upanishads themselves have much clearer running head-numbers; the upanishads are usefully prefaced by a short, clear outline; etc.

Editorial Review:

An “Upanisad” is a teaching session with a guru, and the thirteen texts of the “Principal Upanis.ads”—which comprise this volume—form a series of philosophical discourses between teacher and student that question the inner meaning of the world. Composed beginning around the eighth century bce, the Upanisads have been central to the development of Hinduism, exploring its central doctrines: rebirth, karma, overcoming death, and achieving detachment, equilibrium, and spiritual bliss. Speaking to the reader in direct, unadorned prose or lucid verse, the Upanisads collected here embody humanity’s perennial search for truth and knowledge. Valerie Roebuck’s powerful new translation blends accuracy with readability and retains the oral style of these stirring and profound philosophical explorations.

The Tailor's Daughter (Unabridged)

Janice Graham

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Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Set in 1860’s Victorian England, Janice Graham’s suspenseful new novel tells the story of Veda Grenfell, a passionate young woman with an indomitable spirit. Raised on Savile Row, the enclave of fashionable London tailors, Veda is every inch her father’s daughter. She has inherited his talent, his sense of style, and his love of tailoring. When a fever leaves her deaf at the age of sixteen, shattering her hopes of marriage, only Grenfell’s familiar workshop offers any promise of an active life. Determined to prove her worth in a world off-limits to respectable women, Veda eventually persuades her father to promote her to the front of the shop where she . She makes a name for herself as tailor to London’s smart young sporting set.

Veda matures into a woman of eye-catching beauty, inspiring the devotion of her dear and faithful tutor, Mr. Nicholls, as well as an ambitious Italian whose marriage proposal she rejects, with disastrous consequences for her father’s firm. For years, Veda has been increasingly drawn to Harry Breadalbane, a young viscount with humane ambitions frustrated by the expectations of his class. Heedless of the unsettling rumors about Harry’s family and his brutally powerful father, Veda has absolute faith in Harry’s goodness. When passion turns to betrayal, she abandons her beloved Savile Row and sets off on a treacherous journey that will lead her into a world of deception, murder, and madness.

In the classic tradition of richly detailed historical fiction, Graham’s elegant prose paints a deeply human portrait of a girl both willful and confused, vulnerable and yet fiercely courageous. Veda’s chronicle of her struggle to sustain ties with the hearing world, and her determination to seize for herself those dreams others try to deny her, render her character unforgettable and illuminate a world rarely imagined in literature.

The Rig Veda (Penguin Classics)

Anonymous

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Ian Myles Slater on: Penguin's New Packaging 5 out of 5 stars.
56 of 61 people found this review helpful.

This is a re-issue, in Penguin's current format, and with new cover art, of the Penguin Classics volume previously listed by Amazon as "The Rig Veda: An Anthology of One Hundred Eight Hymns," published in 1981 (and as of October 2005, confusingly still available from Amazon), as translated and edited by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty. That was her married name, since dropped, to the accompaniment of endless bibliographic and bookselling confusion. She is now known as Wendy Doniger, and is the "Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions" at the University of Chicago. (She has reported receiving mail with interesting combinations of names and titles.)

Upon inspection, the "new edition" is revealed to be one of Penguin's cosmetic re-packagings to make the whole line uniform (and mostly quite handsome), and not one of the revised editions which have also been appearing as part of the same project. I offer here, with some modifications, my review of the 1981 edition (itself previously reissued in a larger format, with new cover art, some years ago, but also not otherwise changed).

Meanwhile, I suggest trying the Amazon page for the older edition of "The Rig Veda: An Anthology..." if you are interested in a variety of responses by over a dozen other reviewers. And, again, don't let the title and name variations suggest that they are different books, of exactly the same length, from the very same publisher! (As a matter of fact, the actual front-cover title of these editions has been just "The Rig Veda" all along.)

Under any form of her name, Wendy Doniger is a distinguished interpreter and translator of Vedic and classical Sanskrit texts, and of Indian religions in general. Her books are often witty, and at times quite dense with detail. She fully appreciates the playfulness of many versions of Hindu stories of the gods. ("Play" being in fact an explicit theme in some of them.)

In this volume she presents a selection of very ancient poems, in quite readable translations, and backs them up with detailed interpretive and bibliographic notes. It is a first-rate introduction to a very difficult body of literature, which, like the Bible and the Koran, is held sacred by a very large number of people. It is an intriguing and attractive look at the hymns and songs of ancient India, although this volume is at best an adjunct to an appreciation of the living religion, which certainly regards The Four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva) as its basic canonical texts, but looks very different indeed to outsiders from the ancient beliefs and practices in archaic Sanskrit.

Unfortunately, like the Koran, the Vedas are traditionally memorized, recited, cited, and sometimes explained, but not translated, which makes this book religiously problematic. Turning the mystical sounds of Sanskrit into readily intelligible words seems to strike some as sacrilege. At best, devotional readings are the only acceptable renderings. To the apparent distress of some true believers, Wendy Doniger tries to reconstruct what the poems meant when they were first recited, mainly (according to the early Sanskrit supplementary texts, the Brahmanas and Aranyakas) to accompany rituals; although some seem to have had other contexts.

This is not their meaning to present-day Hindus, over three thousand years later, which would be an interesting topic in itself; but two of the other four canonical Vedic Samhitas (collections) are verses of the Rig Veda arranged for such liturgical use, so the attempt to apply this information to the poems is not some strange leap in logic by foreigners. Nor is the rigorous use of comparative grammar and analysis of sound-changes -- this was a science which really can be said, quite fairly, to have been learned by Europeans from the Sages of India, even if they have applied it in unexpected and non-traditional ways.

Now, this is exactly what critical scholarship is supposed to be about. Anyone who finds in it a specific bias against Hinduism might take a close look at an issue of, say, "The Journal of Biblical Literature." Christians and Jews having been doing this sort of thing with their own sacred texts for a couple of hundred years (actually, although sporadically, rather longer).

Now, I haven't studied Sanskrit. But I *have* compared her versions of a number of famous hymns to earlier English translations, to relatively recent treatments of passages in academic journals, and to transliterated Sanskrit texts (and also citations and variants outside the Rig Veda, traced in the digital version of Bloomfield's "Vedic Concordance"), and even to the highly regarded German translation by Geldner (not a lot of help for me there...). I found that her renderings tend to be a bit sparse, or at least concise, compared to most, but she uses headnotes and end notes to fill up gaps by explaining implications, instead of interpolating extra words or phrases to make clear her understandings of passages.

So I can't agree that she is willfully misrepresenting the originals.

No, I think that the main problem with the volume, as the translator would probably acknowledge, is that it will leave the (non-devotional) reader hungry for more. There are only 108 (a sacred number) out of a canon of 1,028. She chose some of the most attractive poems, including most of the famous ones, and presented them in language free of late-Victorian pseudo-Biblical idioms. Although sometimes (not always) too formal to be truly colloquial -- we are, after all, looking at formal compositions, many very clearly ceremonial! -- they are hardly in what Hank Heifetz (a co-winner of the Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation of South Asian Languages) has called "Indologese," either.

Unfortunately, most of the other English versions, and all of the more-or-less complete ones, belong to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and, besides these literary faults, are a century or so out of date; although still reprinted, even (or especially) in India. The e-book "Rig Veda" offered by Amazon from digiread may be the R.T.H. Grifffith translation of 1889, revised in 1896. The Kessinger e-book is Griffith's version, and, as I have described in a separate review, has the complete hymns, with some passages relegated by the translator to an appendix, but it omits the translator's valuable running notes. There was a one-volume Book-of-the-Month Club edition of it in 1992, with both all of the hymns and notes, and some appendices but apparently without some of Griffith's other apparatus; see "Hinduism: The Rig Veda (Sacred Writings)" by Ralph T.H. Griffith for the Amazon listing. (One hopes the digireads version isn't the incomplete H.H. Wilson rendering, the first installments of which are from 1850!)

Readers without Sanskrit, like me, can neither rely upon these and other old translations, nor easily find corrections for specific passages. Many pieces that aren't included in this Penguin selection are only too likely to be missed by those of us who have seen references to particular hymns, and would like to have a better idea of what they are about. But I'm grateful to have what is here.

Editorial Review:

The earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas, and the first extensive composition to survive in any Indo-European language, The Rig Veda (c. 1200–900 bc) is a collection of more than 1,000 individual Sanskrit hymns. A work of intricate beauty, it provides unique insight into early Indian mythology and culture. Fraught with paradox, the hymns are meant “to puzzle, to surprise, to trouble the mind,” writes translator Wendy Doniger, who has selected 108 hymns for this volume. Chosen for their eloquence and wisdom, they focus on the enduring themes of creation, sacrifice, death, women, and the gods. Doniger’s The Rig Veda provides a fascinating introduction to a timeless masterpiece of Hindu ritual and spirituality.

The Concise Yoga Vasistha

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Ultimate Truth 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

This is the epitome and crux of Hindu philosphy. A must read for a person looking for ultimate truth and liberation. After knowing the truth presented in this book, there remains nothing to be read further. The author has done a super job of putting this great ancient work together.

Excellent translation and 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The Vedic texts are so full of wisdom and profundity that they take a real time commitment to appreciate them. The full text of the Yoga Vasista is no different. That is why I appreciate this condensed version so much. The meaning and nuances are all there, yet it is written in an accessible style. Make no mistake, this condensed form will take time to read also (perhaps one verse per night before sleep), but it is so sublime and so easy to use.

The greatest of Indian Scriptures 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Among the great scriptures of Indian spiritual thought, Yoga Vasistha is the the most beloved of mine. It is not a dry, wise and scholarly representation of Upanishadic thinking. It is a witty, surrealistic, out-of-mind story-telling to break the grip of one's logic-dominated mind. How to grasp with human mind what essentially is beyond it? Read it and either you will jump with joy or you will not understand anything beyond the stories. Are you ready? Or are you asleep with your eyes wide open?
Shantu Dand

Shiva Sutras: The Supreme Awakening

Swami Lakshmanjoo

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Beyond Brilliant! 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 13 people found this review helpful.

I adore this book! One to be read many times. The thoughts, ideas, and philosophies to be held within the heart. Swamiji's presence seems to come right through the text into the reader's heart and mind. This book is for those who wish to deepen their practice to Shaivism. People looking for a real and verifiable experience should read this book after reading "Self Realization In Kashmir Shaivism." Then "The Secret Supreme" and finally this one. Although I suppose you could start with this one too. But I read Swamiji's books in that order and can attest to having a real and verifiable experience with Swami Lakshmanjoo. Although, you can only verify this experience with yourself. I doubt you could verify it to others. It's a kind of subjective knowledge. But the objective is there too. And some wierdo in between subjective and objective as well. I don't know. It's hard to put into words. I think Swami Ji says it best. So, just buy the book. And you'll taste what I'm talking about!

Editorial Review:

The Shiva Sutras is one of the most important spiritual treasures of the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. The secret teachings and potent spiritual practices it contains are revealed for the first time by the great philosopher saint Swami Lakshmanjoo.

Kundalini Awakening: A Gentle Guide to Chakra Activation and Spiritual Growth

John Selby, Zachary Selig

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Review by meditation instructor and shakti-kundalini practitioner 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 17 people found this review helpful.

I teach meditation and have a background in physiology, biochemistry, biofeedback and psychology. My latest graduate degree is in integral psychology, which studies psychology within the context of the world's wisdom traditions. As such, I am well read in meditation, yoga, world religions, etc. As part of my eductation, I have also studied shakti-kundalini yoga with a well known teacher who is also an M.D./Ph.D and has been practicing most of her life. While I'm not an expert at kundalini yoga, I have read many of the important classics on this topic and probably am better qualified than the average reader to review this one.

In short, I really liked this book and found it to be extremely useful. It presents kundalini awakening in a very logical, straightforward and non-esoteric way. It invites the reader to experience this energy in their own body and contains many useful exercises to accompany the readings. Best of all, it takes the most important teachings and shows how a modern person could apply them making them relevant to a modern context and people with busy lives.

This book assumes that you are your own inner master and encourages you to gently explore this territory with an open mind. It starts with helping the reader develop simple breathing techniques and then encourages development of expanded practices that include awareness of the heart, the pull of gravity on the body and then eventually the energy centers of chakras.

This volume is approximately 200 pages, but it contains a lot of material and develops the subject quickly. It has an encouraging tone and the progression of exercises are logical. A lot of the focus is on the heart chakra where heaven meets earth, which is appropriate and emphasized regularly throughout the book. In general, the development recommendations of the book seem to gentle, thorough and safe for the average person.

Part II of the book talks in detail about awakening the seven energy centers with a variety of exercises and this included working with yantras or mandalas, sound and visualization. This text also includes excellent color plates by Zachary Zelig which can be used for some of the exercises.

This is an intelligent, learn by doing approach to kundalini yoga. I highly recommend it as an introductory volume for Westerners, especially Westerners turned off by a lot of jargon on the subject. In place, the author made some assertions that weren't thoroughly supported and may not even be true, but overall the book is accurate and well-researched. In addition, the author has experience in an established lineage and is a working therapist who applies his ideas in his practice.

Editorial Review:

Kundalini Awakening delivers a universe of easy benefits for readers seeking to find relaxation, harmony, and inner peace.

Kundalini Awakening demystifies the complex science of Kundalini in a compelling content of:

· A full understanding of the seven Chakras, from the first Root Chakra located at the base of the spine to the brain's Crown Chakra
· The power of mantras and complete instructions for their use
· Breathing techniques for relaxation and stress reduction
· Meditation exercises using the guided imagery and the magnificent full color Chakra paintings of Zachary Selig that clarify the color coding of the Chakras

Kundalini Awakening presents a dynamic humanization solution through Chakra models framed in meditations to address the challenges in our world and the way we interact with ourselves.

Miracle of Love: Stories about Neem Karoli Baba

Ram Dass

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"There can be no biography of him. Facts are few, stories many. He seems to have been known by different names in many parts of India, appearing and disappearing through the years. His western devotees of recent years knew him as 'Neem Karoli Baba,' but mostly as 'Maharajii'--a nickname so commonplace in India that one can often hear a tea vendor addressed thus. Just as he said, he was 'Nobody.' He gave no discourses; the briefest, simplest stories were his teachings. Usually he sat or lay on a wooden bench wrapped in a plaid blanket while a few devotees sat around him. Visitors came and went; they were given food, a few words, a nod, a slap on the head or back, and they were sent away. There was gossip and laughter for he loved to joke. Orders for running the ashram were given, usually in a piercing yell across the compound. Sometimes he sat in silence, absorbed in another world to which we could not follow, but bliss and peace poured down on us. Who he was was no more than the experience of him, the nectar of his presence, the totality of his absence--enveloping us now like his plaid blanket. --Anjani In 1967 I met Neem Karoli Baba, a meeting which changed the course of my life. In the depth of his compassion, wisdom, humor, power and love I found human possibility never before imagined...an extraordinary integration of spirit and form. I was with him only briefly for he left his body in 1973, still he entered my heart as living truth, and his presence continues to enrich and guide my life. -- Ram Dass

Inner Peace: How to Be Calmly Active and Actively Calm

Paramahansa Yogananda

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A magnificent printing of timeless inspiration 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 19 people found this review helpful.

This little gem of a book is an ideal gift of peace. Universal, soul-satisfying insights and comforts from the great yoga master who founded Self-Realization Fellowship. For the sincere spiritual seeker here are the fundamentals common to all true religions and spiritualities. For the average person in modern society, here is comfort and relief from the alienation and distress of our material cultures.

As a retired psychologist and stress management trainer, I judge that the ultimate keys to handling stress in this crazy world are to be found in these few pages. They are filled with beautiful nuggets of reassurance and personal empowerment through attunement with universal spiritual principles.

After you have sampled some of these possibilities from yoga's ancient and timeless spiritual strategies, hopefully you'll be inspired to explore some of the other titles the publisher lists herein.

Editorial Review:

For all who feel that stress and nervousness are an unavoidable fact of modern life, one of the great spiritual teachers of our time reminds us that within each one of us is an inner core of peace that we can learn to access at will.

Wise and encouraging counsel, compiled from the talks and writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, shows you how to:
* overcome fear, worry, anger, nervousness, moodiness
* stay calmly present and actively focused, no matter what is going on around you
* experience the expansive timelessness and beauty of each moment.

Practical, inspiring, and highly effective, this book empowers you to transform busy-ness and stress into happiness and peace. Inner Peace offers a potent antidote to our fast-paced world.

Spring, Heat, Rains: A South Indian Diary

David Shulman

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Editorial Review:

           “Rocks. Goats. Dry shrubs. Buffaloes. Thorns. A fallen tamarind tree.” Such were the sights that greeted David Shulman on his arrival in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in the spring of 2006. An expert on South Indian languages and cultures, Shulman knew the region well, but from the moment he arrived for this seven-month sojourn he actively soaked up such simple aspects of his surroundings, determined to attend to the rich texture of daily life—choosing to be at the same time scholar and tourist, wanderer and wonderer.
            Lyrical, sensual, and introspective, Spring, Heat, Rains is Shulman’s diary of that experience. Evocative reflections on daily events—from explorations of crumbling temples to battles with ineradicable bugs to joyous dinners with friends—are organically interwoven with considerations of the ancient poetry and myths that remain such an inextricable part of life in contemporary India. With Shulman as our guide, we meet singers and poets, washermen and betel-nut vendors, modern literati and ancient gods and goddesses. We marvel at the “golden electrocution” that is the taste of a mango fresh from the tree. And we plunge into the searing heat of an Indian summer, so oppressive and inescapable that when the monsoon arrives to banish the heat with sheets of rain, we understand why, year after year, it is celebrated as a miracle.
            An unabashedly personal account from a scholar whose deep knowledge has never obscured his joy in discovery, Spring, Heat, Rains is a passionate act of sharing, an unforgettable gift for anyone who has ever dreamed of India.