Compiled from the author's highly praised two-volume work, The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, this insightful and compact book transcends the centuries of dogma and misunderstanding that have obscured the original teachings of Jesus, showing that he taught a unifying path by which seekers of all faiths can enter the kingdom of God.

    This booklet contains the prophetic and epochal lectures delivered by Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, in 1893

    I am with you at all times.”Clothed in spotless white… the image of simplicity and gentleness, Anandamayi Ma was one of the most influential spiritual teachers of our time. Her devotees ranged from prime ministers to renowned saints to humble villagers.Although virtually uneducated, Ma spoke with the authority of direct experience and mesmerised all with her ethereal beauty, sweetness and grace. A free spirit, she wandered all over the country showering her love and tender care on everyone. Across India, several ashrams, established and dedicated in her name, today serve as sanctuaries for spiritual seekers.Wherever she went, miracles followed in her wake. From suddenly appearing at the bedside of a dying woman… to breathing life into an ant crushed thoughtlessly underfoot, everything was manifested effortlessly and graciously through Ma. Her samadhi at Kankhal near Haridwar, radiates peace and showers blessings on devotees who come to pay their respects from all over the world.This short biography, written by a "dikshit" – a direct disciple of Ma, seeks to acquaint you with the sacred persona, inspired wisdom and the divine life of Anandamayi Ma. Its highlight is a chapter on new incidents that have come to light and never before been published in any biography of Ma.

    Anandamayi Ma has inspired millions of individuals of diverse faiths and circumstances from Prime Ministers, artists, and industrialists to shopkeepers, beggars and monks including Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Jawarharlal Nehru, Former Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the Queen Mother of Greece, and the Former President of India, Ragendra Prasad.

    However, a powerful counterforce within the American Academy is systematically undermining core icons and ideals of Indic Culture and thought. For instance, scholars of this counterforce have disparaged the Bhagavad Gita as “a dishonest book”; declared Ganesha’s trunk a “limp phallus”; classified Devi as the “mother with a penis” and Shiva as “a notorious womanizer” who incites violence in India; pronounced Sri Ramakrishna a pedophile who sexually molested the young Swami Vivekananda; condemned Indian mothers as being less loving of their children than white women; and interpreted the bindi as a drop of menstrual fluid and the “ha” in sacred mantras as a woman’s sound during orgasm.Are these isolated instances of ignorance or links in an institutionalized pattern of bias driven by certain civilizational worldviews?Are these academic pronouncements based on evidence, and how carefully is this evidence cross-examined? How do these images of India and Indians created in the American Academy influence public perceptions through the media, the education system, policymakers and popular culture?Adopting a politically impartial stance, this book, the product of an intensive multi-year research project, uncovers the invisible networks behind this Hinduphobia, narrates the Indian Diaspora’s challenges to such scholarship, and documents how those who dared to speak up have been branded as “dangerous”. The book hopes to provoke serious debate. For example:How do Hinduphobic works resemble earlier American literature depicting non-whites as dangerous savages needing to be civilized by the West?Are India’s internal social problems going to be managed by foreign interventions in the name of human rights?How do power imbalances and systemic biases affect the objectivity and quality of scholarship?What are the rights of practitioner-experts in “talking back” to academicians?What is the role of India’s intellectuals, policymakers and universities in fashioning an authentic and enduring response?

    K. Mullarpattan, Maharaj’s interpreter for the longest time. These tapes contained recordings of some of Maharaj’s talks with seekers, held during the last two years of his life.They capture afresh the essence and flavour of the teachings of this world-renowned Master of Advaita – the Hindu philosophy of Non-duality. These dialogues find a new relevance for our times. For, in one of these talks, Maharaj made a special reference to his earlier book I Am That and said, “That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today. As a matter of fact, this should also have been recorded and published as it is in greater detail, and is emphasizing different aspects.”More than 25 years later, that wish of Nisargadatta Maharaj is being fulfilled with the publication of these talks in Beyond Freedom. This is a book all devotees of Maharaj will want to read with ardent fervour and enthusiasm.

    Religious, in the denigration of Hindu icons:2. Psychological; -e.g. in the foisting of a fraudulent version of our history;3. Physical- e.g. the Islamic terrorist-driven ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir and nBangladesh, and the money-induced conversion of Hindus to Christianity;4. Cultural- e.g. through globalisation of tastes, dress and interpersonal morality that are determind in the Anglo-saxon white Christian world ("The West").

    World-renowned recording artist Krishna Das gives readers a rare treat: commentary, instruction, and a CD exploring the classic Hindu poem Hanuman Chaleesa.

    Each talk, originally addressed to a global audience as a traditional greeting to the new year in the period 1995–1999, offers guidance—both practical and philosophical—for progressing on the spiritual path in today's world and living a noble and purposeful life. The book teaches with illustrative stories and anecdotes and urges all people to make the best use of their lives, to discover the divinity in their own hearts, and to let the joy of the divine suffuse the world.

    Though constituting a small portion of the total Upanishadic literature, they yet contain a lucid exposition of all the essential ideas of this immortal literature.The spiritual insights of the Upanishads are an exception to the tyranny of time. Subsequent scientific advances have not only affected their truth-value but have, on the contrary, only helped to reveal the rational basis of their insights and enhanced their spiritual appeal. This is no wonder, because these insights are the products of an equally scientific investigation into a different field of experience, namely, the world of man’s inner life.

    He decides to save it and hides it away—but can death be cheated?This haunting parable of love and destiny is illustrated in the delicate and ornamental Patachitra tradition of Orissa, eastern India.Radhashyam Raut is a young painter, trained in the traditional art of Patachitra mural paintings of Orissa, where he lives and works.

    Visitors to an emerald-green island off the coast of Mumbai are reminded of these dramatic episodes by the work of skilful, dedicated sculptors, who lived more than 1,300 years ago! Their carvings have survived in the caves of Elephanta, despite the ravages of time and vandals and destroying armies.

    In the Upanishads, we find the finest flowering of the Indian metaphysical and speculative thought. They are utterances of seers who spoke out of the fullness of their illumined experience. Upanishad is derived from upa (near), ni (down) and sad (to sit). Hence, the term implies the pupils, intent on learning, sitting near the teacher to acquire knowledge and truth. There are over 200 Upanishads but the traditional number is 108. Of them, only 10 are the principal Upanishads: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashan, Mundaka, Mandukya, Tattiriya, Aitareya, Chhandogya and Brihadaranyaka. This book is a forerunner in introducing these primary Upanishads to the uninitiated.

    Cover art by Dana Lynne Andersen.

    It contains the original text in Devanagari and word-for-word English rendering followed by a running translation and notes based on Shankara’s commentary. The clear and modern language of this translation conveys the inner meaning of India’s timeless and practical scripture while enabling easy comprehension even for the beginners.