Indian Books - Page 4

Krishnamurti: Reflections on the Self

Jiddu Krishnamurti

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Described by the Dalai Lama as "one of the greatest thinkers of the age", Jiddu Krishnamurti has influenced millions throughout the 20th century, including Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell, Henry Miller and Joseph Campbell. Born of middle-class Brahmin parents in 1895, Krishnamurti was recognised at age fourteen by theosophists Annie Besant and C W Leadbetter as an anticipated world teacher and proclaimed to be the vehicle for the reincarnation of Christ in the West and of Buddha in the East. In 1929 he repudiated these claims and travelled the world, sharing his philosophical insights and establishing schools and foundations. Because Krishnamurti had no interest in presenting theories, his thought is far removed from academic philosophy in the analytic tradition, yet his insights remain extremely relevant to contemporary philosophical theories and to those interested in understanding themselves and the world. Rather than a theorist, Krishnamurti is regarded as a seer and a teacher. He perceived inherent distorting psychological structures that bring about a division in the individual's consciousness between "the observer" and "the observed". He believed this division was a potent source of conflict, both within the individual and externally for society as a whole, and offered a way to transcend these harmful structures through a radical transformation in human consciousness. This is a collection of Krishnamurti's writings and lectures about the individual in relation to society. He examines the importance of inquiry, the role of the emotions, the relation between experience and the self, the observer/observed distinction, the nature of freedom, and other philosophical ideas.

Tantra Unveiled

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait

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Illuminating the truth hidden by ignorance. 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

When one thinks of Tantra, one's mind swings to the notion of sexual practices that are viewed by most schools of thought as taboo. However "Tantra Unveiled" reveals the truth behind the Vedic science that is shrouded in mystery. This is achieved by giving all facts about Tantra that have been hidden due to the focus on ritual sex that, in itself is grossly misunderstood and abused. Pandit Rajami Tigunait writing style is easy to read and he presents information in a clear and precise manner. This coupled with his personal accounts of the practice of Tantric teachings and his experiences with his Guru, make for a most enjoyable lesson on the Tantric science. Any person put off by the widely held image of Tantra will be pleasantly surprised.

Editorial Review:

This powerful book describes authentic tantra, what distinguishes it from other spiritual paths, and how the tantric way combines hath yoga, meditation, visualization, Ayurveda, and other disciplines. Taking us back to ancient times, Pandit Tigunait shares his experiences with tantric masters and the techniques they taught him. Tantra Unveiled is most valuable for those who wish to live the essence of tantra: practicing spirituality while experiencing a rich outer life.

The Bhagavad Gita

Lars Martin Fosse

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great study edition 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Though perhaps not lush in artwork and poetic in outlook, this is an easy-to-read study version of the Bhagavad Gita. The translation is no-nonsense, but not clunky-sounding either.

The introduction is worth the price alone--covering the history of the Mahabarata Epic, India's great contribution to mythological and religion writing. The translation goes verse by verse with the Sanskrit text of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute's critical edition. This makes a handy reference for the Sanskrit scholar. There is a comprehensive glossary of names and a good index. If you are studying this work for comparative religions, great books, mythology or other college work, you will find this a useful edition.

Editorial Review:

At last, an edition of the Bhagavad Gita that speaks with unprecedented fidelity and clarity. It contains an unusually informative introduction, the Sanskrit text of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research InstituteÕs critical edition, an accurate and accessible English translation, a comprehensive glossary of names and epithets, and a thorough index. REL032000

The Tantric Way: Art, Science, Ritual

Ajit Mookerjee, Madhu Khanna

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Tantric Way is scholarly, artistic, and penetrating 5 out of 5 stars.
35 of 35 people found this review helpful.

The book is a rich combination of Makoorjee's scholarly style and an excellent collection of Tantric art, both geometric/diagramatic and visual, including the ever-popular Tibetan yab-yum pairs. I came upon the original edition as an undergraduate in the 1970s and was impressed then by the elaborate and in-depth scientific and metaphysical explanations of a complex and elusive topic -- tantra -- or the science and practice of first "seeing," then experiencing the essence behind form, not intellectually but with the perceptive faculties of one's inner being. His narration is interwoven with the illustrations to give the reader a clear sense of both the culture from which this body of knowledge arises and the subtle dynamics of tantric knowledge as revealed through art, ritual, and practice. Not a practitioner's guide, but an excellent introduction to tantric history, theory, metaphysics, and cultural expression.

Editorial Review:

Though its roots are in Hinduism, tantra's goals are the universal ones of self-knowledge and liberated joy. Its methods and effects transcend geography and era, and can be applied to everyday life. This historical survey explains the roles of astronomy, astrology, alchemy, and cosmology in tantrism. It discusses the different viewpoints of "left-hand" and "right-hand" tantrikas and their respective attitudes toward human sexuality and its place in ritual.

The drawings and illustrations serve further to explain and instruct, thus providing a unique opportunity for close contact with one of the world's oldest practical methods of achieving an expanded and creative awareness of oneself. 228 illustrations, 18 in color.

The Indian Way: An Introduction to the Philosophies & Religions of India (2nd Edition)

John M. Koller

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Koller 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Why is this book so expensive?? Definitely not worth all that money just because its printed on some different type of paper. I was not too happy about the price, but the book itself was a good read. Required for school, but I will probably keep it around for future references. At the end of each chapter he includes a list of related texts that are very helpful. Get it if you can afford it.

Editorial Review:

There is no other book on the market today that explains both the philosophies and religions of India in their full historical development. The Indian Way is accessible to readers new to this subject, and does justice to the Indian tradition’s richness of religious and philosophical thought. Clear and powerful explanations of yajna and dharma, and appealing, intimate descriptions of Krishna, Kali, and Shiva allow you to read some of the great Indian texts for themselves. For anyone interested in learning more about India and its great tradition of answering the “big” philosophical and religious questions that we all have: “Who am I?” “What is knowledge?” “What is it to be a good person?”  

The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World

Paul Mason

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Celebrating Life 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

INITIATION TO THE VEDAS : AN ABRIDGED EDITION OF THE VEDIC EXPERIENCE - MANTRAMANJARI by Raimon Pannikar. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2006. 102 pp. Color Plates. ISBN: 8120829549. Binding: Soft Cover

We have all heard of the Vedas. We know that the Vedic Canon comprises a huge body of literature handed down orally in India since ancient times. Many of us have heard that it is made up of four collections - the Rigveda, Atharva Veda, Yajurveda, and Samaveda - along with adjacent treatises such as the Brahmanas and Aranyakas. These books undoubtedly exist, written in an inaccessible language, published in large and expensive scholarly editions, and tucked away in obscure libraries. Although we may have run into a translated excerpt or two, for many of us the whole subject has a musty and forbidding air, and we probably concluded long ago that it's something best left to scholars as quite irrelevant to to we moderns. But a few minutes spent with Dr Panikkar's superb anthology will show us how wrong we are.

Dr Panikkar is a remarkable man, not only for his incredible scholarship - he is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with many significant publications to his credit - but remarkable also for his honesty. He points out that modern man is a diminished man. Despite the superficial excitements of our high-tech world, life for most has become a flat, stale, and joyless thing. It is joyless because we have forgotten what life is supposed to be, and Dr Panikkar hopes by means of this book to shift our perception of things to a different register, to put us back in touch with realities by reawakening in us something of the joy and wonder in life which was felt by those early and vigorous peoples who sang the Vedas.

The Vedic songs represent the most amazing celebration of life that has ever been created. And although Dr Panikkar's book is certainly scholarly, it was not written primarily for scholars, or even for persons with a special interest in things Indian. It was written for all of us. Its only requirement is that you be human.

The book wasn't even written to be read, for each of the beautifully translated texts Dr Panikkar has given us is a Mantra or meditation. We are supposed to soak in them, assimilate them, and preferably even recite them aloud along with others in a group. They are a means whereby all of us, no matter of what race or persuasion, can come together and join again in a joyous celebration of life and our shared humanity, and of the glorious universe we live in. And I think you will find that they do work. Here (slightly modified since it should be set out as poetry) is an example of their fine quality as captured in the translator's wonderfully lucid English:

"Now Dawn with her earliest light shines forth,
beloved of the Sky,
Fresh from her toilet, conscious of her beauty,
she emerges visible for all to see.
Dawn, Daughter of Heaven, lends us her lustre,
dispersing all shadows of malignity,
Arousing from deep slumber all that lives,
stirring to motion man and beast and bird,
This maiden infringes not the Eternal Law,
day after day coming to the place appointed."

As its title indicates, the present book is an abridgement of Dr Pannikar's 'The Vedic Experience: Mantramanjari - An Anthology of the Vedas for Modern Man' (ISBN 8120812808) and those whose appetites have been whetted by the present abridgedement may be interested in details of the full edition.

The complete and unabridged edition edition represents an enormous labor of love. Dr Panikkar tells us that he spent over ten years combing through the vast Vedic corpus in order to select, translate, and arrange the very best texts it had to offer, texts that we moderns are very much in need of, whether we realize it or not. Each of the more than five hundred texts he has selected for the complete edition is preceded by very full introductory comment and is also usefully annotated. The texts have been organized into seven parts:

Part I - Dawn and Birth (Waters, Earth, Wind, Dawn, Human Birth, etc.).

Part II - Germination and Growth (Divine Gifts, Food, Knowing the Earth, Human Work, The Happy Life, etc.).

Part III - Blossoming and Fullness (Radiance and Cosmic Refulgence, Sacrifice, Breaking the Boundaries, etc.).

Part IV - Fall and Decay (Sorrow and Suffering, Sin and Mercy, etc.).

Part V - Death and Dissolution (The Mystery of the Beyond, The Blessings for the Journey, Liturgy for the Dead, Cosmic Disintegration, Hell, Heaven).

Part VI - New Life and Freedom (Transcendental Consciousness, The Discovery of the Ground, The Fulfillment of the Person, etc.).

Part VII - Twilight (At Sunrise, Spring Summer, Rainy Season, Autumn, Winter, Frosty Season, etc.).

The texts, most of them quite short, are contained in a book of almost 1000 pages which is cloth-bound, stitched, and well-printed on good paper. Even the most hard-boiled could open it up at any page and immediately become enthralled. There is a freshness and purity to these texts that is irresistible. It is like coming across a blossom-filled meadow in spring.

These vigorous and life-affirming songs give us what men and women once were, and what we may yet become once again, for it is what deep down we still are though we have forgotten. Life, despite its many hardships, is supposed to be joyous, something to be celebrated. And one is intensely grateful to Dr Panikkar for having rescued these songs from scholarly oblivion and provided us with the means of again entering into that celebration.

Editorial Review:

EXcellent short guide to Vedas, early Hindu religious experience, texts

The Mind of the Cells or Willed Mutation of Our Species

Satprem

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

For those ready to change NOW. 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 12 people found this review helpful.

An indeniable help in clarifying the so called "mystic" experience, the "enlighted experience. The mental of the cell brings the seeker back his/her sole reality: the body' the physical vessel of existence: the cell, that infatigable creator.
the cell and it's primary "program" submited to a continuous, repetitive replication of itself in its struggle for survival.
the cell imbecillitated by the force of Habit. the cell stubborn and blinded, unfolds its DNA in a way viable with the environment...from the cell to the borders of the universe: the same fabric. the same continuum, the same conscience. As a thread in the fabric, human intelligence, THE tool at hand for our specie to participate consciously into the process of evolution, the process of change. Satprem, as Mother's witness, relates her 50 years of experimenting inner conscious metamorphosis. The most sublime bath taken into the Here/Now.
For those who are willing to BE their own conscience and the universal conscience, meet with Mother and Mother's experiment. She will remind you that the only laboratory for what is seeked as "spiritual change" is the cell itself. The work is to be done at the physical level.It is the re-creation, the re-organization of the conglomerate matter that forms the body which will allow a "spiritual" change.

The Laws of Manu (Penguin Classics)

Anonymous

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Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Ian Myles Slater on: Laying Down the Law? 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 26 people found this review helpful.

The 1991 Penguin Classics translation of "The Laws of Manu," by Wendy Doniger (thus on the cover; earlier known as Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, and often so listed) and Brian Smith, is one of two relatively recent translations of the text. The other is "The Law Code of Manu: A New Translation," by Patrick Olivelle, in the Oxford World's Classics (2004), which was also published elsewhere with a new critical edition of the Sanskrit original. Olivelle had earlier translated four other, related, works as "Dharmasutras: The Law Codes of Ancient India" (1999), for the same series.

The reader may want to give precedence to Olivelle's newer translation, which has an elaborate commentary offering access to more recent literature. However, the Penguin version is still worth consulting; and I find some sections of it much more readable that Olivelle's version, although the reverse is sometimes true of other passages. Both are annotated (the Penguin with footnotes; there is some overlap with Olivelle's end-notes, but they tend to be complementary), and both have extremely detailed indexes (the Penguin volume's being in rather more legible type). Their introductions take different approaches, but cover much the same territory.

Those already somewhat familiar with the legal literature of ancient India may want to skip to the end for the rest of my comparison of these two to each other, and to an older (1886) translation, which has also been in paperback in recent years; and some general observations on its reputation.

For those unfamiliar with the work, even by reputation, or with the Western study of India:

The "Manavadharmashastra" or "Manusmrti" ("Manu's Dharma-Treatise" or "The Manu-Tradition"), or just "Manu," was revealed to the Western world in 1794 in a translation by Sir William Jones, who had been assigned by the Honorable East India Company to organize the judiciary for some of the vast territories it "managed" under contract to Indian rulers, both Muslim and Hindu. (One of the most strikingly original forms of imperial conquest; producing logical contradictions not resolved until Victoria was proclaimed Empress, and the Company was replaced by direct rule from London, with complications lingering until Independence, and still yielding problems, like the status of Kashmir.)

For some reason, Jones decided to consult the Indians themselves about their laws; particularly the Hindus (or Hindoos, as it would have been written at the time), under the impression that they were, after all, an Ancient and Highly Civilized people, not a gaggle of beastly heathens whose silly ideas could (and should) be disregarded by good Christians.

This required Jones to learn Sanskrit, the language of high culture; which introduced him to the brilliant Sanskrit grammarians, and, as a by-product, to the invention of modern Indology. And also made possible his demonstration of the relationship of Sanskrit to Avestan Persian, to Greek, to Latin, and indeed to most of the languages of Europe. The latter had momentous consequences, both good and bad, particularly when "Aryan" was treated as a biological rather than a linguistic classification.

However, Jones' original, judicial, project went a bit astray. Instead of working with the living legal traditions of different parts of (then) contemporary India, he was directed by his learned teachers to a legal manual, which, he was assured, was regarded with veneration by all good Hindus, and attributed to "the Indian Adam," the Father of Humankind (manava), Manu, himself. (Well, actually to one of the fourteen Manus; but that is another set of stories!)

Also, according to Olivelle, he was shown a local (Calcutta) text, which turns out to be less than reliable. (Deference to a manuscript has been a constant problem with European scholarship; a Brahmin was supposed memorize everything, anyway...) By all accounts, Jones was also greatly impressed by the elaborate traditional commentaries, which supplied ready solutions to problems; too impressed, setting a bad precedent, in some views.

It also didn't seem to have occurred to Jones to ask whether this remarkably comprehensive and well-ordered legal code, so reminiscent of the Code of Justinian, on the one hand, and the Five Books of Moses on the other, and thus familiar in concept, had recently, or indeed EVER, been applied by actual judges in India to real life. (Which was sort of the point of the exercise.)

Apparently it hadn't. And some of the actual familiarity of its contents to traditionally educated Hindus was due, not to pious consultation of "Manu," but to big chunks of it appearing, in virtually identical form, in the Sanskrit epic "Mahabharata." (The literary relationship of these passages is still open to debate.) This is made clear by Doniger and Smith and by Olivelle; although both focus on the work as an example of, and influence, in, the Indian cultural tradition.

In fact British jurisprudence in India seems to have gone its own way, as an ad-hoc mixture of observed customs, "common sense" (meaning what seemed obvious to an educated Englishman), and Common Law; with "Manu" now available for rhetorical flourishes on policy issues, if used at all.

Jones' translation was more influential in shaping educated European views of India, and its caste system; and, somewhat indirectly, to an emerging concept of "race" and "racial purity." It was rapidly translated into other European languages. And, thanks to its success, a variety of later, generally better translations of "Manu" appeared, in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, for several decades the only form readily available in English was the old-fashioned "Sacred Books of the East" version of 1886 by Georg Buehler, which had been reprinted by Dover in 1969.

Besides a rather clumsy English, and a tendency to insert traditional commentaries into the translated text, Buehler's version was marked by the assumption of superiority common to later nineteenth-century Indologists. Apparent contradictions were taken at face value, and held to demonstrate the illogical nature of the Oriental Mind, or sloppy editorial work by a compiler, or both. (This attitude closely resembled, in a particularly raw form, the nineteenth-century German Higher Critical approach to the Bible. It is not true that "the Higher Criticism was actually the Higher Anti-Semitism," but some of its practitioners made no secret of their general disdain for "the Hebrews" and modern Jews alike.)

The Doniger-Smith version was innovative compared to Buehler in that (a) it translated sections as prose paragraphs, instead of offering autonomous sentences, and (b) tried to translate the text as it stood, rather than as explained away by later commentators; their views were cited, not interpolated (even in brackets).

They also assumed that there was a logical coherence to the parts. A general rule followed by a contradiction and then another rule was treated not as a set of blunders, but as sharing the practice of the Sanskrit grammarians. In their works, a general rule is stated as it would be without exceptions, followed when necessary by empirically observed exceptions, and often by a rule to resolve contradictions with other rules. In this light, a "confused" text is shown to be a clear look at complex realities, as well as an exposition of preferred doctrines.

Olivelle's more recent version is quite similar in approach, although he often differs in details. As mentioned, he also translates from a new critical text, not the "received" version, which he claims is based on an atypical and inferior group of manuscripts which happened to be available when the work was first printed, and given undue precedence ever since.

Meanwhile, the association with Jones, and its resulting prominence in Indological literature, has made "The Laws of Manu" available as a target for those who, understandably, still resent British rule, criticizing it either for failing to respect the REAL India, or for showing TOO MUCH respect for traditions now found objectionable. And the translations are convenient targets for those who object to foreigners talking about their culture at all. Fair enough; but, to be consistent, shouldn't they refrain from talking in any detail about those foreigners and THEIR culture?

Editorial Review:

The Sanskrit text of this work was first translated into English in 1794, and translations into other European languages swiftly followed. No understanding of modern India is possible without it. Wendy Doniger provides a landmark translation, the first authoritative English rendering this century. It is also the first to set the unadulterated text in narrative form, making it accessible and enjoyable both to specialist scholars and to a wider audience. Includes an illuminating introduction.

The Compassionate Universe: The Power of the Individual to Heal the Environment

Eknath Easwaran

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This should be required reading for everyone 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This is one of those books that hit the nail right on the head for me. It integrates meditation, personal responsibility, and ecology into a message that I think our world desperately needs. It's an easy read with no esoteric Buddhist philosophy that in the past has made me bleed at the ears. Rather, it's practical, heart-felt, warm, and inviting. It's helped me to move from simple acceptance to real compassion. If every American read this book the world would be a much happier place.

Editorial Review:

Explores the major ecological crises we are facing today, and shows how we can undo the damage humankind has done. 190 pages.

Lives in the Shadow With J. Krishnamurti

Radha Rajagopal Sloss

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Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Confessions of a jilted lover 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Radha Sloss wrote this book primarily to expose Krishnamurti's affair with her Mother, Rosalind Rajagopal, therefore if someone is looking to learn more about K's life, this book will not provide him/her with much insight. It is obvious that Radha is basically a spokesperson for her Mother and her attitude towards Krishnamurti, though he was like a Father to her, turns into contempt and resentment as the affair begins to fall apart. Rosalind's letter exchange with K. is not available for legal reasons and though it seems conceivable that they did have an intimate and affectionate relationship that lasted for many years, it also becomes quite obvious that Rosalind was extremely jealous, possessive and obsessed with K. and this book served her as a way to vindicate her pain after the affair ended. It's sad that such private matters had to be exposed, especially for K., who was already dead when the book was published and could not respond to any of the allegations. Krishnamurti himself never claimed he was chaste; he just claimed his private life wasn't important. His intimate relationship with Rosalind based on mutual love and friendship shows no contradiction or hypocrisy in his teachings. It is important to understand that it wasn't really an affair, since Rosalind and Raja never had a true marriage (right after Rosalind gets pregnant Raja in fact announces to her that there is no need to live as man and wife anymore, and many passages refer to Raja's tacit consent to this romantic relationship between his wife and K.). Raja's and Rosalind's marriage seemed more of an arrangement based on a profound bond of friendship, friendship that had indeed existed between all three of them (K., Raja and Rosalind) for many years before any romantic bonds were established.
I read the book in hopes of learning more about who K. was, but felt a bit disgusted with the petty details of personal conflicts which Radha was trying to settle in the public eye.

Editorial Review:

This is not only the story of one person. It is the story of the relationships of J. Krishnamurti and people closely involved with him, especially Rosalind Williams Rajagopal and D. Rajagopal, my mother and father, and of the consequences of this involvement on their lives. Recently there have been biographies and a biographical film on Krishnamurti that have left areas, and a large span of years, in mysterious darkness. It is not in the interest of historical integrity, especially where such a personality is concerned, that there be these areas of obscurity.