First composed by the Maharishi Vyasa in verse, it has come down the centuries in the timeless oral tradition of guru and sishya, profoundly influencing the history, culture, and art of not only the Indian subcontinent but most of south-east Asia. At 100,000 couplets, it is seven times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey combined: far and away the greatest recorded epic known to man.The Mahabharata is the very Book of Life: in its variety, majesty and, also, in its violence and tragedy. It has been said that nothing exists that cannot be found within the pages of this awesome legend. The epic describes a great war of some 5000 years ago, and the events that led to it. The war on Kurukshetra sees ten million warriors slain, brings the dwapara yuga to an end, and ushers in a new and sinister age: this present kali yuga, modern times.At the heart of the Mahabharata nestles the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of God. Senayor ubhayor madhye, between two teeming armies, Krishna expounds the eternal dharma to his warrior of light, Arjuna. At one level, all the restless action of the Mahabharata is a quest for the Gita and its sacred stillness. After the carnage, it is the Gita that survives, immortal lotus floating upon the dark waters of desolation: the final secret!With its magnificent cast of characters, human, demonic, and divine, and its riveting narrative, the Mahabharata continues to enchant readers and scholars the world over. This new rendering brings the epic to the contemporary reader in sparkling modern prose. It brings alive all the excitement, magic, and grandeur of the original - for our times.

    The Little Book of Hindu Deities is chock-full of monsters, demons, noble warriors, and divine divas. Find out why Ganesha has an elephant’s head (his father cut his off!); why Kali, the goddess of time, is known as the “Black One” (she’s a bit goth); and what “Hare Krishna” really means.“Throw another ingredient in the American spirituality blender. Pop culture is veering into Hinduism.”—USA Today

    Sankara the great interpreter of Vedanta, not only gave the world his commentaries on the Upanishads,the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Geeta,but also many primary texts which introduce the seeker into the joys of Vedanta.One of the greatest texts he has written as an introduction to Vedanta,is the Vivekachoodamani, meaning "The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination". A careful study of these verses with the full freedom to inquire will give any student a correct understanding of the entire theory of Vedanta and the reader can,even without a very serious study of the scriptures,start the daily practices with tremendous benefit. The book's popularity is such that it has run into six reprints and with a total of 17,000 copies printed in the past twenty years.

    This book is not to be picked up,read through and put away.The verses are full of Divine nectar which will quench the thirst of any earnest seeker who repeatedly reflects on their meaning and in right earnest,attempts to implement the teaching. In this fascinating scripture,through stories and analogies,the entire spectrum of spiritual pursuit and attainment is laid out in clear terms.Every sadhaka,serious about attaining the supreme goal of life,should apply him or herself to the teachings of the Tripura Rahasya.

    They manifest the Divine Word in human speech. They reflect into human language the language of the Gods, the Divine powers that have created us and which rule over us. There are four Vedas, each consisting of four parts. The primary portion is the mantra or hymn section (samhita). To this are appended ritualistic teachings (brahmana) and theological sections (aranyaka). Finally philosophical sections (upanishads) are included. The hymn sections are the oldest. The others were added at a later date and each explains some aspect of the hymns or follows one line of interpreting them. The Vedas were compiled around the time of Krishna (c. 3500 B.C.), and even at that time were hardly understood. Hence they are very ancient and only in recent times has their spiritual import, like that of the other mystery teachings of the ancient world, begun to be rediscovered or appreciated even in India. Like the Egyptian teachings they are veiled, symbolic and subtle and require a special vision to understand and use properly. This book contains selected discourses of the Paramcharya rendered into English from Tamil by the late N.S.S.Rajan.Originally published in the year 1988 it has run into seven editions till date.

    The Visionary State weaves text and image into a compelling narrative of religion, architecture, and consciousness in California, from neopaganism to televangelism, UFO cults to austere Zen Buddhism. Acclaimed culture critic Erik Davis brings together the immigrant and homegrown religious influences that have been part of the region's character from its earliest days, drawing connections between seemingly unlike traditions and celebrating the diversity of California's spiritual composition. Michael Rauner's evocative photographs depict the sites and structures where these traditions have taken root and flourished. The Visionary State is a landmark look at what is likely the most varied locale for religious activity anywhere.

    Legends, backgrounds on Devi, a Shakta Purana. Devi is Kali anad Durga, Mother of the Universe. an abridged literary rendering of the Bhagavatam, retells all major legends and stories.

    His love for humanity gave him the mandate for his message, and his innate purity gave him an irresistible power that nobody could match. The same love that was born as Buddha, the Compassionate One, once again assumed human form as Vivekananda. --from the IntroductionAt the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, a young Hindu monk caused a sensation. At the utterance of his simple opening words--"Sisters and Brothers of America"--the audience broke into spontaneous applause for Swami Vivekananda. What followed was a stunning speech about the validity and unity of all religions. In just a little over a century, Vivekananda's message has spread throughout the world.In this book for spiritual seekers of all faiths and backgrounds, and for all who yearn for solutions to the ideological conflicts that threaten our world, Swami Adiswarananda presents a selection of Vivekananda's most profound and inspiring lectures and an intimate glimpse of his life through newspaper reports from the time, personal reminiscences from disciples and others close to him, and impressions of his life and message from world leaders. A chapter by Swami Nikhilananda, founder of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, offers a fascinating view of Vivekananda's spiritual mission to America--a mission that brought the ideals of spiritual freedom and spiritual democracy to the forefront of Western religious thought.

    In 1978, Savitri Devi recorded ten hours of interviews on her life, her thought, and her experiences in the National Socialist movement both before and after World War II. These interviews are an ideal introduction to this brilliant and controversial thinker. Now, for the first time, the edited transcripts of these hard to find recordings are available to readers. This volume is published in commemoration of Savitri Devi’s 100th birthday, 30 September 2005.“I embraced Hinduism because it was the only religion in the world that is compatible with National Socialism. And the dream of my life is to integrate Hitlerism into the old Aryan tradition, to show that it is really a resurgence of the original tradition. It’s not Indian, not European, but Indo-European. It comes from back to those days when the Aryans were one people near the North Pole. The Hyperborean tradition.”“It suddenly dawned on me, sometime in April 1929 . . . and in Palestine of all places, that this foreign German leader who wanted all Germans in one state and wanted the abolition of the treaties of Versailles and Saint Germain, really wanted more than that, much more. And much more meaning: the freedom of Europe, the freedom of the Aryan race, from any kind of Jewish spiritual overlordship. He’s the one who’s going to free us from that. Well if he’s that, then he’s not only the Germans’ leader, he’s my leader too. Mein Führer. And from that day, I felt, not that I was becoming a National Socialist—I never became one—but that I had always been one, without knowing it. That’s what I felt. And I started thinking of going to Germany and joining the movement. It was the movement of liberation.”“What I like about National Socialism is the idea of perfection. The idea that man should be perfect. There is a perfect type of each race. Every race should strive to its own perfect type. National Socialism is an Aryan racialism, but you could transpose it. I can very well imagine a non-Aryan, say a Japanese, having the same ideas as ours. . . . And that’s why if to be a religion, the basic principles of the doctrine have to be universal, I can say National Socialism is a religion.”“I love all animals, especially felines. . . . The only creature that I cannot love is the stupid, average two-legged mammal who doesn’t think for himself. He’s supposed to think. He’s supposed to look upwards. Man in Greek is called anthropos. Now if you decompose the word anthropos, it means ‘the one who looks above.’ If he doesn’t look above, he’s no anthropos. He’s no man. And the majority of people who call themselves men, they are not men according to the Greek etymology of the word. A man is supposed to think.”“I’m for a multi-racial world in which each race keeps to itself, in harmony with the other races. Like in a garden, you have flowerbeds of roses and flowerbeds of carnations and irises and different other flowers. They don’t intermarry. They stay separate, and each one has its beauty. . . . I’m against colonialism for the reason that colonialism infects the master as well as the slave. It even infects the master more.”

    Original.

    Throughout the 416 pages, the reader will come to learn some of the history of this timeless Master, His teachings, and His predictions. Also included are stories of people that He touched with His love, of people He healed, and of lives He transformed. The book contains 16 beautiful color photographs of Babaji along with many black and white photos. This book is intended for every serious seeker on the spiritual path.

    It was written by Pandurang Vaman Kane, an Indologist. The first volume of the work was published in 1930 and the last one in 1962

    Tantrism is non-dualistic as it holds the existence of one Reality, the Consciousness. This one Reality, the Consciousness, is manifesting itself in the various forms of knower and known. According to Tantrism the whole process of creation and dissolution occurs within the nature of consciousness. In the same way he has propounded 'Rasaadvaita darshana' the Non-dualistic philosophy of Aesthetics. The Rasa, the aesthetic experience, lies in the consciousness, is experienced by the consciousness, and in a way , it itself is experiencing state of consciousness. As in Tantric metaphysics, one tattva, Siva manifests itself in the forms of other tattvas, so the one Rasa, the Santa assumes the forms of other rasas and finally dissolves in itself.the present book traces and explains the connecting points, the running threads, between Abhinavagupta's Tantric philosophy of Reality and Aesthetic philosophy logically, philosophically and critically.