Hindu life and practice Books

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Book SynopsisAt first sight the lives of hermits, living in solitude and committed to a life of prayer and contemplation seems to be a world apart of the active practice of interfaith dialogue. Yet, there is a long tradition of seeking the divine together and thus making a contribution to better mutual understanding and an active contribution to peace between Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism in India.Drawing on his experience of travelling to some of India's holy places, the life and work of writers like Thomas Merton, Charles de Foucauld and Abishaktanda and being himself a Benedictine hermit and Professor of Divinity at the University of St Andrews, Mario Aguilar opens up new possibilities for dialogue between three of the world's major religions in today's world. He shows how his own experience of an eremitic life has brought him into deep communion with pilgrims of other faiths, be it through shared silence or listening to each other's experience, through reading sacred scriptures together, through poetry or interfaith worship that draws on practices and texts from Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity.This is a book for all engaged in interfaith dialogue and seeking to explore how spiritualities of silence, contemplation and prayer can make a contribution to peace and harmony in the world today.Trade ReviewIn a culture characterised by incessant noise, Mario Aguilar's celebration of the sound of silence could not be more welcome. This book will not only engage your mind with its thoughtful insights - its prayerfulness and beauty will touch your soul. -- Right Reverend Dr Russell Barr, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of ScotlandIn this heartfelt and personal account, Professor Aguilar takes the reader on a journey into the practice and ideas of the hermit across traditions and his or her understanding of life as a journey to a fulfillment in a higher reality. This is an engaging and highly readable account. -- Professor Gavin Flood FBA, Senior Research Fellow, Campion Hall, Oxford UniversityProfessor Aguilar's book moves across continents and religious traditions with the ease and grace that comes from the depth and empathy of a lifetime's familiarity and study. Whether meeting Buddhists in Chile, Sikhs in India, or Hindus in Scotland we feel the personal friendships and experiences which have inspired him. However, its particular strength and uniqueness is the way he explores the places of the hermit's life as a site of meaning and sacred connectedness. Both those fresh to interreligious dialogue and lifelong practitioners and scholars in the discipline will find fresh insights and perspectives in the pages of this work. -- Paul Hedges, Associate Professor of Interreligious Studies at RSIS, NTU, Singapore and author of Towards Better Disagreement: Religion and Atheism in DialogueIn a world awash with chatter and superficial talk-fests, the choice of solitude and silence is spiritually challenging. Memory lives in silence. God is found there. With a deep and movingly autobiographical thread, The Way of the Hermit creatively probes the contribution of the eremitic life to Christian interfaith encounter. -- Professor Douglas Pratt, University of Waikato & University of BernDigging deep and drawing generously from the wells of experience and expertise, Professor Aguilar throws open the richness of dialogue that happens in the depths of silence and solitude that characterise a life of hermitage. Theologically imaginative and spiritually inspiring, the book recovers the potential of presence, poetry and prayer for dialogue in fresh and fascinating ways. -- The Reverend Dr Peniel Jesudason Rufus Rajkumar, Programme Executive, Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, World Council of Churches, SwitzerlandMario Aguilar's personal homage to silence is eloquent, lucid, and simple. Not so much an argument for silence or against words which remain fundamental in every tradition, his meditations witness to his own instinct for silence and his growing solitude as a hermit in the world. The story of a soul, The Way of the Hermit joins the canon of spiritual autobiographies, akin to the monastic journeys of Thomas Merton, Henri Le Saux, and Bede Griffiths. It mirrors the broad interreligious wisdom of Raimon Panikkar, and stands in harmony with a multitude of Hindu and Buddhist experiences in today's world. A contemplative gift, The Way of the Hermit aids us in recovering quiet in today's noisy world. -- Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Director, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University'How great the multitude of truths which the garment of words can never contain!' ~ Baha'u'llahDialogue in silence; speaking without words; this complex book explores the possibility of connection between faiths in the sacred space that silence allows and is a useful addition to the growing literature on interfaith dialogue. -- Dr Maureen Sier, Director of Interfaith ScotlandThis is Aguilar's first book on the eremitic life and how it relates to/enhances his own interfaith encounters, be they virtual or in situ. The broad range of topics he addresses and the variety of literary styles he uses-at times reflective, at times descriptive-can demand patience of the reader, but a patience that is well worth the effort. ..I found his work to be enlightening, informative, reflective, and provocative. He is a true seeker and peacemaker. -- Angela Del Greco, a lay consecrated hermit in the Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud and an Oblate of Saint Benedict * Monastic Interreligious Dialogue *The reader who has had experience of interfaith encounter will delight in this book. The reader whose experience of other traditions is more limited would find it a valuable introduction. Those of us who may feel oppressed by the noise and tumult of the world will find an invitation to an inner silence and an opportunity to explore our own cave of the heart, and the God who dwells therein. In this most valuable volume we may discover clues to intimacy with All in solitariness and the Voice of God in silence. -- Kevin Tingay * The Christian Parapsychologist *Table of ContentsIntroduction. Experiencing Dialogue. 1. Hermits in Christianity and Hinduism. 2. Ordering Time, Space and Meditation Together. 3. Inter-Faith Encounters and Silence. 4. Creating Liturgies for the Absolute. 5. Reading Texts: Upanishads and Bodhisattvas. 6. The Silence of Death. Appendix 1. An Indian Eucharistic Prayer. Appendix 2. Morning Christian-Hindu Prayers. Appendix 3. Evening Christian-Hindu Prayers. Appendix 4. Roman Indian Liturgy (Eucharist). Appendix 5. Christian-Hindu Liturgies (Midday Worship). Appendix 6. Declarations for a Shared Humanity (St. Andrews and India).

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A ground-breaking contribution to the emerging field of eco–art history, the book examines architecture, paintings, photography, and prints created in Braj alongside theological treatises and devotional poetry to foreground seepages between the natural ecosystem and cultural production. The paintings of deified rivers, temples that emulate fragrant groves, and talismanic bleeding rocks that Ray discusses will captivate readers interested in environmental humanities and South Asian art history." * South Asia Research Note *"A wonderfully imaginative addition to the growing body of literature on the Little Ice Age. Sugata Ray traces the influence of climatic variations on South Asian art, architecture and devotional practices with extraordinary interpretive skill. This book is a must read for everyone with an interest in human responses to climate variability." -- Amitav Ghosh * author blog *"By opening art history to questions about how humans have thought about the earth, and how art and religion have been shaped by human changes and natural disruptions to the earth, Ray’s brilliant book guides us to new problems, and to new ways of thinking about art" * H-Asia (H-Net) *"This is an excellent book that is well worth reading. Sugata Ray is a very good writer, and Climate Change and the Art of Devotion was impressively researched." * Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JAAR) / Reading Religion *"This is a thought-provoking work whose greatest contribution is that it carves a path for new studies that may extend our understanding of the deep and complex interrelationships among geoaesthetics, ecology, spiritual practice, and the built environment in early modern India." * Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians *"[E]nchanting and compelling. Ray musters visual and textual evidence for an original approach to representations of the natural environment in art and temple architecture devoted to the god Krishna during a three-hundred-year time span, 1550-1850." * The Middle Ground *"[T]he methodologies entailed in geoaesthetics and eco art history open up new avenues for understanding the history of Braj religion and art in particular, and the cultural dynamics of climate change more broadly. As we enter ever more deeply into the Anthropocene, scholarship such as Ray’s will be increasingly important." * Journal of Religion *"To call the methodology of this book transdisciplinary does not do justice to this well-constructed and beautiful masterpiece...Climate Change and the Art of Devotion is a must-read for all who care about religion and ecology, religion and art history, Indian philosophy and religion, Asian art, art history, and geoaesthetics." * Reading Religion *

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Book SynopsisThe timeless leadership wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita explained Although it was written well over two thousand years ago, the Bhagavad Gita ("Song of God"), a revered Hindu religious text, contains an immense wealth of ageless wisdom that speaks directly to the needs of today's business leaders.Table of ContentsA Note about the Text xv Acknowledgments xix Introduction: The Context of the Gita xxi SUTRA 1 The Warrior’s Journey Leaders Embrace Discontinuity and Death 1 All Wars Are First Fought in the Mind 3 The Mind Is a Mob 5 The Ego Is a Disposable Idea 8 Leaders Embrace Discontinuity by Dispossessing the Ego 10 The Secret of Invincibility: The Conquest of the Binary Mind 12 Self Is the Cause; Self Is the Effect 13 Hunting for the I 15 SUTRA 2 Invincible Wisdom Leaders Create Alternative Reality 17 Grief, Pity, and Shame: The Mind’s GPS System 18 Creating Alternative Reality 20 Motivation and the Monkey Mind 22 The Leader’s Inspiration Comes from Unselfish Work 23 Unselfish Work Leads to Evenness of Mind 26 Applying Invincible Wisdom: Powered by the Intellect and Driven by Unselfishness 29 SUTRA 3 Karma Yoga Leaders Enter the Timeless Cycle of Action 33 Arjuna’s Dilemma: The Warrior as Worrier 34 Work and Its Secret: Action, Inaction, and Effortless Action 35 Karma Yoga: Work as Worship 38 The Yajna Spirit: Discovering the Timeless Cycle of Work 40 Swadharma: The Case for Righteous Action 42 Work as a Means of Realizing Who We Are 44 SUTRA 4 Timeless Leaders Pursue Purpose as the Source of Supreme Power 47 Rajarshi: The Leader as Sage 48 The Many Faces of the Supreme Power 50 Twenty-Four-Hour Leadership 53 The Return of the Rishi 55 SUTRA 5 Leadership Is the Art of Undoing The State of Detached Engagement 59 How Anchors of the Past Hinder Performance 60 The Art of Detached Involvement 62 Evolving to the Equality of Vision 63 The Art of Undoing 66 SUTRA 6 Leaders Are Masters of Their Minds The Art and Practice of Meditation 69 Separating the Self Image from the Real Self 70 Mastery of the Mind 73 Disciplines of Mastery: Concentration, Detachment, and Transcendence 76 The Power of Stillness 77 SUTRA 7 Leaders Are Integrators The Freedom of “I Am” 81 Context 81 Arjuna’s Journey from Ignorance to Wisdom 82 Timeless Leaders Integrate People and Processes 84 The Leader’s World: A Reflection of Unmanifest Dharma 85 From Ego-Centered to Spirit-Centered Leadership 87 Leaders Liberate Themselves and Others from Suffering 89 SUTRA 8 Timeless Leadership Decoding the Meaning of Life 93 Timeless Leaders Explore the Ultimate Meaning of Life 94 The Multidimensional Meaning of Life 95 Creation Is Sacrificing the Smaller for the Sake of the Greater 97 The Real Meaning of Life Is Contained in Life Itself 98 Meaningful Work: A Synthesis ofReflection and Action 100 SUTRA 9 The Sovereign Secret Timeless Leaders Live in a Self-Organizing Universe 103 Sovereign Self and the Path of Unity 104 The Governance of the Ego: The Path of Disintegration 105 Self-Organization: When Organization Becomes Community 107 The Law of Giving: Being and Becoming 110 SUTRA 10 Leadership Is an Adventure of Consciousness 113 Leading Consciously 113 Silence: The Language of Timeless Leadership 115 The Dynamism of Indivisibility 118 The Pursuit of Excellence 121 SUTRA 11 Timeless Leaders Have Integral Vision 125 Integral Vision 126 Sight and Insight 128 The Pangs of Plurality 130 The Leader as Servant: Being an Instrument of the Whole 132 SUTRA 12 Love Is the Leader’s Essence; Love is the Leader’s Presence 135 Leadership Is Love Made Visible 136 Devotion: The Art and Practice of Leadership 138 Attributes of the Leader as Devotee 142 SUTRA 13 Leaders Command Their Field with the Eye of Wisdom 145 The Leader as a Knower in the Field of Knowledge 146 The Dimensions of the Field and the Knower of the Field 149 Seeing with the Eye of Wisdom 151 SUTRA 14 Leaders Harness the Dynamic Forces of Nature 155 Nature’s Manuscript: The Three Forces 156 How Leaders Harness the Three Forces of Nature 158 Transcending the Dynamics of Nature 162 SUTRA 15 Timeless Leaders Discover Their Invisible Source The Tree of Life 165 The Tree of Life 166 The Invisible Leader 169 From the Perishable to the Imperishable: Quest for the Supreme Self 172 SUTRA 16 Leaders Negotiate the Crossroads The Divine and the Devilish 175 The Crossroads of Leadership: The Divine and the Devilish 176 Toxic Leadership 180 The Return Journey 182 SUTRA 17 Leaders Follow Their Faith The Journey of Self-Giving 185 Faith: The Deep Structure of Leadership 186 Three Kinds of Faith 187 The Art and Science of Self-Giving 191 SUTRA 18 Leadership Is Transcendence The Unity of Two Wills 195 The Source and Resource 196 The Algebra of Attachment 198 Renunciation and Regeneration of the Leader 201 The Path of Transcendence 203 The Unity of Two Wills: The Fighter and the Warrior 207 CONCLUSION Arjuna’s Awakening Practical Wisdom for Timeless Leaders 211 Quiet Leadership: The Practice of Handling Information Overload 212 Leaders Must First Solve Their Most Persistent Problem 214 Wisdom in Times of Uncertainty: Leaders Deal with Discontinuities in Life and Work 215 Leaders Triumph by Merging Their Individual Will with Life’s Purpose 216 References 219 About the Author 223 Index 225

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Book SynopsisLearn more at www.luminosoa.org. Impersonations: The Artifice of Brahmin Masculinity in South Indian Dance centers on an insular community of Smarta Brahmin men from the Kuchipudi village in Telugu-speaking South India who are required to don stri-vesam (woman's guise) and impersonate female characters from Hindu religious narratives. Impersonation is not simply a gender performance circumscribed to the Kuchipudi stage, but a practice of power that enables the construction of hegemonic Brahmin masculinity in everyday village life. However, the power of the Brahmin male body instri-vesamis highly contingent, particularly on account of the expansion of Kuchipudi in the latter half of the twentieth century from a localized village performance to a transnational Indian dance form. This book analyzes the practice of impersonation across a series of boundariesvillage to urban, Brahmin to non-Brahmin, hegemonic to non-normativeto explore the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in contemporary South Indian dance.Trade Review"In her excellent analysis of the arrival of the Indian classical dance Kuchipudi on the transnational stage, Kamath charts transformations in Kuchipudi narrative and performance. . . .Kamath cogently articulates these subversive possibilities through ideas of impersonation. Her work adds to the growing body of scholarly work on classical Indian dances that re-examines the cultural and gender politics of classicism as these forms are nationalized and globalized, and, in the current climate, increasingly integrated with the politics of Hindutva." * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Preface Acknowledgments Part One. The Spectacle of Fire 1. Burning Issues 2. Colonial Necro-Politics and the Polysemic Corpse Part Two. Questing Fire 3. The City and Its Dead 4. Consuming Fire 5. The Global Dead Part Three. The Fire Triumphant 6. The Rebirth of Cremation 7. Cremation and the Nation Epilogue: Rethinking the Hindu Pyre A Note on Weights and Currency List of Abbreviations Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA Treatise on Dharma, written in the fourth or fifth century, illuminates major innovations in religious, civil, and criminal law, and informed Indian life for a thousand years. This new critical edition, presented alongside the Sanskrit original in the Devanagari script, opens the classical age of ancient Indian law to modern readers.

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Book SynopsisTulasi Srinivas uses the concept of wonder—feelings of amazement at being overcome by the unexpected and sublime—to examine how residents of Banglore, India pursue wonder by practicing Hindu religious rituals as a way to accept and resist neoliberal capitalism.Trade Review"[The Cow in the Elevator] teased me into questioning what Srinivas has so beautifully and chillingly thought through for decades—wonder as an ethical practice." -- Dhruv Ramnath * The Citizen *"Srinivas provides a lively lesson in religious originality with applications and implications far beyond Bangalore or India." -- Jack David Eller * Reading Religion *"The central contribution of this book is its presentation of wonder as a new category of anthropological inquiry, and its interdisciplinary approach of parsing wonder from the vantage points of ritual and liturgical lives, socioeconomics, and aesthetic and creative spheres. Srinivas’s deployment of these specific categories by no means limits its readers; on the contrary, the book inspires readers to revisit their own field experiences, and look for the moments of wonder." -- Arthi Devarajan * Anthropology News *"Tulasi Srinivas does us a service in identifying important insights arising from her study of ritual practice that will help us to better understand wonder. Hopefully, her work will prompt other scholars to use an anthropological approach to better understand the dynamics of wonder from the perspective of the interlocutors they study." -- Steve Derné * Asian Anthropology *"The Cow in the Elevator captures in lovely detail and theory-rich rumination, the evolution and dynamism of Hindu ritualism in modern Bangalore, calling attention to the unstable and creative dimensions of ritual, and the ethical possibilities and challenges it opens up within this rapidly changing city. Scholars of Hinduism and South Asian urbanism will find much to ponder in this book, as will anthropologists interested in ritual theory and practice." -- Andrew C. Willford * Pacific Affairs *"I treasure The Cow in the Elevator for its sparkle and its positive news about hope and creativity in often bleak circumstances. Rich in original analytic insights, this book is not a tidy package but a cornucopia from which all kinds of sweet and bitter products may be extracted, tasted, consumed, and transformed: high-powered caloric fuel for interpretive intellectual energies. . . . Daring, insightful, and highly engaging, The Cow in the Elevator offers so much that its capacity to provoke unanswered questions in no way detracts from its invaluable qualities. Certainly, no other book on religion in urban India so effectively conveys the ways that ritual excess works wonders." -- Ann Grodzins Gold * American Ethnologist *"In this intriguing and richly-textured book, Tulasi Srinivas immerses us in the world of contemporary Hindu ritual practice in Malleshwaram, a suburb of the South Indian city of Bangalore. . . . The Cow in the Elevator is a deeply insightful work that offers us a glimpse of the creativity and wonder that sustain Hindu ritual life in the concrete jungles of modern, neoliberal India." -- Tracy Pintchman * Anthropos *"I found much of value in this book. . . . The writing displays a lively sense of wonder. The autoethnography is deft, and the homage to M. N. Srinivas, as father and anthropologist, very moving." -- Soumhya Venkatesan * Anthropological Quarterly *"A stunning and provocative book.… Srinivas's experienced and eloquent prose gives this book a rare combination of provocativeness and accessibility.… The Cow in the Elevator provides an intensely real and nuanced account of urban life in the twenty-first century." -- Deonni Moodie * The Revealer *Table of ContentsA Note on Translation xi Acknowledgments xiii O Wonderful! xix Introduction. Wonder, Creativity, and Ethical Life in Bangalore 1 Cranes in the Sky 1 Wondering about Wonder 6 Modern Fractures 9 Of Bangalore's Boomtown Bourgeoisie 13 My Guides into Wonder 16 Going Forward 31 1. Adventures in Modern Dwelling 34 A Cow in an Elevator 34 Grounded Wonder 37 And Ungrounded Wonder 39 Back to Earth 41 Memorialized Cartography 43 "Dead-Endu" Ganesha 45 Earthen Prayers and Black Money 48 Moving Marble 51 Building Wonder 56 Interlude: Into the Abyss 58 2. Passionate Journeys: From Aesthetics to Ethics 60 The Wandering Gods 60 Waiting . . . 65 Moral Mobility 69 Gliding Swans and Bucking Horses 70 The Pain of Cleaving 74 And the Angry God 80 Full Tension! 84 Adjustments 86 Life and . . . 91 Ethical Wonders 92 Interlude. Up in the Skyye 95 3. In God We Trust: Economies of Wonder and Philosophies of Debt 99 A Treasure Trove 99 Twinkling Excess 107 The Golden Calf 111 A Promise of Plenitude 114 "Mintingu" and "Minchingu" 119 "Cash-a-carda?" Philosophies of Debt 128 Soiled Money and the Makings of Distrust 131 The Limits of Wonder 133 4. Technologies of Wonder 138 Animatronic Devi 138 Deus Ex Machina 140 The New in Bangalore 142 The Mythical Garuda-Helicopter 143 Drums of Contention 152 Capturing Divine Biometrics 157 Archiving the Divine 159 Technologies of Capture 162 FaceTiming God 164 Wonder of Wonders 169 5. Timeless Imperatives, Obsolescence, and Salvage 172 "Times have Changed" 172 The Untimeliness of Modernity 175 Avelle and Ritu 178 Slipping Away 181 When Wonder Falls 183 Time Lords 187 Dripping Time 188 The Future, The Past, and the Immortal Present 204 Conclusion. A Place for Radical Hope 206 Radical Hope 206 Amazement in Turmeric 210 The Need for Wonder 213 Afterword. The Tenacity of Hope 216 Notes 219 References 247 Index 265

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Book SynopsisPracticing Caste attempts a break from the tradition of caste studies, using versions of phenomenology, structuralism and post-structuralism; and gives a description of touchability and untouchability in terms of a rhetoric and semantics of touch.Table of ContentsForeword by Anupama Rao vii Introduction 1 1. Touch and Its Elements and Kinds 11 2. Touch—An A Priori Approach 37 3. Touch in Its Social and Historical Aspects I 61 4. Touch in Its Social and Historical Aspects II 93 5. Touch and Texts: Ancient and Modern 119 6. (Un)touchability of Things and People 148 7. Society, Sociality, Sociability 170 8. Recapitulation with Variations 190 Coda 205 Notes 209 Bibliography 223 Index 233

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Book SynopsisThe Bodo (or Boros) are one of the indigenous tribal peoples of Assam. During colonial times they resisted Christianization and in recent decades they have been involved both in interethnic violence and separatist insurgencies. Much research has gone into understanding the Boros and their aspirations but an issue has been that earlier accounts of this once-animist people are meagre and date from the colonial period. The rediscovery and publication of the ethnographic material based on fieldwork carried out by Halfdan Siiger among the Boros in 1949-50 is thus hugely important. Siiger's manuscript is unique, offering detailed descriptions of the social and ritual life of the Boros and new insights into the traditions and myths as they were told in the village he studied before the transformation of religious life in recent decades. Thanks to Siiger's diligent translation and interpretation, the manuscript also preserves a number of ritual formulas and songs in the Boro language. Siiger's manuscript is given even greater relevance by the inclusion of more recent material contributed by the editors and other contemporary scholars. In addition, his original photos are augmented by new photos from the village and by rare images from the collections of the National Museum of Denmark.

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Book SynopsisIn literature and popular imagination, the Bauls of India and Bangladesh are characterized as musical mystics: orange-clad nomads of both Hindu and Muslim backgrounds who wander the countryside and entertain with their passionate singing and unusual behavior. Although Bauls claim to value women over men, little is known about the individual views and experiences of Baul women. Based on ethnographic research, this book explores the everyday lives of Baul women. Knight demonstrates that Baul women respond to the conflicting expectations imposed on them in various ways, sometimes adopting and other times subverting local gendered norms to craft meaningful lives. More so than their male counterparts, Baul women feel encumbered by norms. But rather than seeing Baul women''s normative behavior as indicative of their conformity to gendered roles (and, therefore, failures as Bauls), Knight argues that these women creatively draw on societal expectations to transcend their social limits and create new paths.Trade ReviewThe dominant tropes imagined for the Baul tradition of eastern India and Bangladesh are constructed around male models: the wandering mistrel carrying his ektara instrument who engages in esoteric ritual practices. Lisa Knight's sensitive ethnography, however, fills in the significant lacunae of the lives and practices of Baul women. She artfully analyzes the ways in which these women bridge the contradictory expectations of Baul traditions as 'wanderers' and those of the non-Baul communities as respectable, settled Bengali householders. This study will significantly impact the ways in which readers understand Baul traditions, asceticism, boundaries of religious identities, and women's agency and performance in South Asia. * Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, author of In Amma's Healing Room: Gender & Vernacular Islam in South India. *Table of ContentsNote on Diacritics, Transliteration, and Names ; List of Maps and Figures ; Part 1: Multiple Sites ; 1. Finding Baul Women ; 2. "Real Bauls Live under Trees:" Imaginings and the Marginalization of Baul Women ; 3. "I've Done Nothing Wrong:" Feminine Respectibility and Baul Expectations ; Part 2: Negotiations ; 4. Negotiating between Paradigms of the Good Baul and the Good Woman ; 5. "Do Not Neglect This Golden Body of Yours:" Personal and Social Transformation through Baul Songs ; 6. Renouncing Expectations ; Concluding Thoughts ; Glossry ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisThe study of Hinduism is fragmented among many disciplines. Early academic study of Hinduism was overwhelmingly a study of texts, and while a strong philological tradition continues to characterise much work on Hinduism (in particular in Indology), very different materials and questions animate debates among anthropologists, sociologists, historians, philosophers, and others. The result is that Hindu institutions such as temples are understood quite differently by those who focus on their political, economic, religious, or aesthetic dimensions. Valuable contributions are also beginning to appear in emergent fields as diverse as cognitive science and constructive Hindu theology. While many works in these fields are published in Europe or North America, significant work appears in journals and books published in India which remain hard to access elsewhere. The collection is fully indexed and supplemented with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the gathered materials in their historical and intellectual context.

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This book provides a rigorously researched, critically comparative introduction to yoga. Is This Yoga? Concepts, Histories, and the Complexities of Contemporary Practice recognizes the importance of contemporary understandings of yoga and, at the same time, provides historical context and complexity to modern and pre-modern definitions of yogic ideas and practices. Approaching yoga as a vast web of concepts, traditions, social interests, and embodied practices, it raises questions of knowledge, identity, and power across time and space, including the dynamics of East and West. The text is divided into three main sections: thematic concepts; histories; and topics in modern practice.This accessible guide is essential reading for undergraduate students approaching the topic for the first time, as well as yoga teachers, teacher training programs, casual and devoted practitioners, and interested non-practitioners.

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Book SynopsisWe often feel powerless in our lives. We have many desires, but are limited in our ability to transform those wishes into tangible results. We are confused about our desires and unsure of what will really make us happy. ETERNAL DHARMA distils the essence of 5,000 years of spiritual wisdom, teaching us about the very nature of reality and how we can live powerful, effective and fulfilled lives. It teaches and inspires us to take powerful action and reach enlightenment and pure, transcendental love. Vishnu Swami, who became the youngest Swami in Vedic monasticism at the extraordinary age of 23, takes the ancient Eastern knowledge of Veda and guides you through a journey of understanding, empowering you to maximise your power and effectiveness and manifest your fullest spiritual potential in everything you do. ETERNAL DHARMA clearly shows you how to align yourself with the natural flow of existence and gives you powerful ways to:Gain clarity on all spiritual and religious pathsAccess Universal Power for maximum effectivenessLearn about the subtle and physical domains to achieve a totally new relationship with realityLearn to become enlightened - free from all the pain and suffering of this world

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Book SynopsisThinking in Asana is an exploration of three popular lineages of modern postural yoga - Viniyoga, Iyengar Yoga, and Ashtanga Yoga. The book describes in detail the different styles of yoga practice advocated within the three lineages, and traces the influence of this practice on the corresponding yoga philosophies. While Viniyoga, Iyengar Yoga, and Ashtanga Yoga name the yoga of Patanjali as the source of their teachings, the interpretations of Patanjali's system differ significantly between the three lineages. A careful examination suggests that these differences can be accounted for by referring to the differences in the kinds of movement experienced during yoga practice. Linguistic theories of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson provide methodological groundwork for such examination. By deconstructing the experience of movement specific to modern postural yoga practice, and by juxtaposing it to a linguistic analysis of a textual corpus, Thinking in Asana argues that there is a systematic relation between how yoga is practiced and how yoga philosophy is understood. In doing so, the book not only gives a detailed, insightful look at modern postural yoga in practice and theory, but it also emphasises the role of movement in human meaning-making activity.

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