In the summer of 1974, inside a balmy Boulder, Colorado, warehouse that served as the main hall of the fledgling Naropa Institute, some say that a minor miracle occurred: the reawakening of the Gita's living presence, as it unfolded in a series of wisdom teachings led by Ram Dass. With Love, Service, Devotion, and the Ultimate Surrender, you are invited to experience these legendary gatherings.The tale of the warrior Arjuna and his divine friend Krishna serves as metaphor for the recurring dilemmas that we encounter as we spiral into the depths of our spiritual journey. In these sessions, Ram Dass illuminates the Gita’s essential verses with insights spanning many traditions, from Rumi's ecstatic poetry to Basho's koans, from devotional chant to monastic silence, from Sri Ramana's self-inquiry to Saint Paul's devotion to Christ. The destination? A new perspective on the crucial moments of contradiction and questioning that all spiritual seekers must face again and again: If it's all Divine perfection, why bother with the search at all? Is it possible to awaken without a teacher or guru? Why am I experiencing these strange spiritual "gifts”? Will I get lost in their power? If I'm conscious and kind, why not indulge in all of life's pleasures? Since everyone suffers and dies, will my compassion ultimately matter?With irrepressible love and intellect (and a good dose of skillful mischief), this epic meeting with Ram Dass yields new answers with every revisit, like a lifelong friend that comes to meet us at each turning of our journey.Highlights:A 12-hour odyssey with Ram Dass into his timeless Yogas of the Bhagavad Gita Naropa sessionsThree ways to enter the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita• Karma yoga—reincarnation, dharma, service, sadhanas• Jnana yoga—inquiry, the critical mind, the koan• Mind, illusion, and Brahman• Sacrifice and mantra—trappings and benefits of ritual and form• Renunciation and purification—ashtanga yoga, kundalini, the chakras, austerities, the "witness," desire, sexual energy• Devotion and the guru—bhakti ("devotion"), surrender, siddhis ("powers"), Maharajji• Death and dying—What is born, what dies? How do you live in the present moment?

    Although there are hundreds of books on Hinduism, there are only a few which provide a lucid, accessible, yet deeply layered account of the religion’s numerous belief systems, schools of thought, sects, tenets, scriptures, deities, rituals, customs, festivals and philosophies. This book is one of them. In the tradition of classics of the genre like K. M. Sen’s Hinduism and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s The Hindu View of Life, this book captures the essence of Hinduism with brevity, insight and an enviable grasp of the myriad layers and intricacies of one of the world’s greatest religions. It is a book that is especially timely given the rather controversial role that religion has played in countries around the world. The author tells us why Hinduism is a religion that is well-suited to the needs of the world today: ‘In the twenty-first century, Hinduism has many of the attributes of a universal religion—a religion that is personal and individualistic, privileges the individual and does not subordinate one to a collectivity; a religion that grants and respects complete freedom to the believer to find his or her own answers to the true meaning of life; a religion that offers a wide range of choice in religious practice, even in regard to the nature and form of the formless God; a religion that places great emphasis on one’s mind, and values one’s capacity for reflection, intellectual enquiry, and self-study; a religion that distances itself from dogma and holy writ, that is minimally prescriptive and yet offers an abundance of options, spiritual and philosophical texts and social and cultural practices to choose from. In a world where resistance to authority is growing, Hinduism imposes no authorities; in a world of networked individuals, Hinduism proposes no institutional hierarchies; in a world of open-source information-sharing, Hinduism accepts all paths as equally valid; in a world of rapid transformations and accelerating change, Hinduism is adaptable and flexible, which is why it has survived for nearly 4,000 years.The text of The Hindu Way is embellished with over a hundred photographs and illustrations, many of them in colour, on various aspects of the religion. Based on Dr. Tharoor’s extensive writing on the subject, including the bestselling Why I Am a Hindu, this book gives the reader an unrivaled understanding of Hinduism.

    While some of them form part of the main story and are well known, there are some hidden gems scattered throughout the epic that make for insightful reading. This book contains fifty-one of these hidden gems, including the tales of: - Barbarik- Uttanka- Kartikeya- The Battle between Krishna and Arjuna- The Blinding of ShukracharyaAnd many more. Whether you're a casual reader or a die-hard fan of the Mahabharata, you will find in here tales that will delight and amaze you.

    After attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst he joined the Peace Corps and taught in Malawi from 1963 to 1965. He also taught in Uganda at Makerere University and in Singapore at the University of Singapore. Although Theroux has also written travel books in general and about various modes of transport, his name is synonymous with the literature of train travel. Theroux's 1975 best-seller, The Great Railway Bazaar, takes the reader through Asia, while his second book about train travel, The Old Patagonian Express (1979), describes his trip from Boston to the tip of South America. His third contribution to the railway travel genre, Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China, won the Thomas Cook Prize for best literary travel book in 1989. His literary output also includes novels, books for children, short stories, articles, and poetry. His novels include Picture Palace (1978), which won the Whitbread Award and The Mosquito Coast (1981), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Theroux is a fellow of both the British Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Geographic Society.Steve McCurry (b.1950) launched his career as a photojournalist when, disguised in native garb, he crossed the Pakistan border into Afghanistan over twenty years ago. His remarkable coverage won him the Robert Capa Gold Medal, which is awarded to photographers who exhibit exceptional courage and enterprise. Famous also for his work in Southeast Asia, McCurry's photographs are beautiful, uplifting and affecting. McCurry is a regular contributor to many international journals including National Geographic magazine and is a member of the prestigious agency Magnu

    Sri Ramakrishna, the spiritual teacher par excellence that he was, however, does not make any effort to make his parables obscure; the morals they convey lie on the surface. Many of his parables are drawn from ordinary domestic and social life, customary with the people who lived arround him. Thus, this collection of the parables published for the first time in separate book form will be of service to all who wish to get some acquaintance with the fundamentals of spiritual life through the interesting medium of parables and stories.

    Sense impulses and biological urges are common to animal and man alike. Sex is one of the prominent, most important and absolutely essential aspects of human, animal as well as plant life. Sex is an integral part of life—human, animal and plant. While this aspect of life is regulated by nature in plants and by instinct in animals, in man it is left to his common-sense, intelligence and his developed reason to control and regulate the same. The vast and ancient scriptures of the world offer human society specific rules and regulations in this respect. With regard to India, as a nation, our forefathers followed the do’s and don’ts of the Dharma Sastras in meticulous detail and this, in large measure, contributed to their health, longevity and spiritual welfare.But alas, in the present-day world, and more particularly among the educated class, in all walks of society and in all age groups, norms of conduct laid down by the scriptures are flouted with so much impunity that we see, all around us, the number of physical, mental and moral wrecks increasing every day. One reason for this sad state of affairs is modern man’s ignorance of his own scriptural treasures.Swami Sivananda came on the Indian scene, in the early thirties, to blast this ignorance of the people by offering the hoary wisdom of the ancients through the media of his simple English writings. It is well known that spiritual treatises apart, the great Master, whose love for mankind knew no bounds, wrote a number of books concerning health, hygiene and medicine. One such book was "Practice of Brahmacharya" which dealt mostly with the subject of celibacy, and where celibacy was not possible, a regulated sex life. This book has been popular with the public.This apart, the Swamiji’s thoughts on the subject of sex and sex sublimation are also to be seen here and there spread over his voluminous writings. In the present volume, all of Swamiji’s thoughts and instructions on the subject of sex and celibacy have been gathered up from "Practice of Brahmacharya" and elsewhere, and thoroughly edited, with a view to offering the public, and especially to the younger generation, a working guide to the vital subject of sex sublimation. This has been done as an act of loving service to modern youth who are often left groping in the dark by an irresponsible society. These days we often hear about "juvenile delinquency," but this juvenile delinquency itself is the result of adult irresponsibility. The youth of the world craves for guidance which is often not forthcoming from the parents, teachers or society.It is hoped that this book of holy Master Swami Sivananda will fill the above-mentioned lacuna and offer the youth of the world the knowledge and guidance which they so richly deserve in a vital area which affects their physical, mental, ethical and spiritual well-being.We pray that the blessings of the holy Master may pour on all those who may chance to go through the following pages and open up a new chapter in their lives. May all be healthy, happy and spiritually blessed. Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu!8th September, 1988.—THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY

    A Brahman Congress leader suggests that a Dalit chief minister be raped and paid compensation. In his 1916 paper Castes in India , the 25-year-old Ambedkar offered the insight that the caste system thrives by its control of women, and that caste is a product of sustained endogamy. Since then, till the time he piloted the Hindu Code Bill, seeking to radicalise women s rights in the 1950s, Ambedkar deployed a range of arguments to make his case against Brahmanism and its twin, patriarchy. While Ambedkar s original insights have been neglected by sociologists, political theorists and even feminists, they have been kept alive, celebrated and memorialised by Dalit musical troupes and booklets in Maharashtra. Sharmila Rege, in this compelling selection of Ambedkar s writings on the theme of Brahmanical patriarchy, illuminates for us his unprecedented sociological observations. Rege demonstrates how and why Ambedkar laid the base for what was, properly speaking, a feminist take on caste.

    Since 1994, the sound of his voice singing traditional Indian chants with a Western flavor has brought the spiritual experience of chanting to audiences all over the world. He has previously shared some of his spiritual journey through talks and workshops, but now he offers a unique book-and-CD combination that explores his fascinating path and creates an opportunity for just about anyone to experience chanting in a unique and special way.Chants of a Lifetime includes photos from Krishna Das’s years in India and also from his life as a kirtan leader—and the CD that is offered exclusively in the book consists of a number of “private” chanting sessions with the author. Instead of just being performances of chants for listening, the recordings make it seem as if Krishna Das himself is present for a one-on-one chanting session. The idea is for the listener to explore his or her own practice of chanting and develop a deepening connection with the entire chanting experience.

    It is about food, feeding and love. Braiding the stories of three spirited rishikas—Katyayani the Large, Maitreyi the Fig and Gargi the Weaver—it explores the fears and hungers that underpin all human interactions.

    Included are three thorough sections on health and energy levels, postures, and a survey of yoga's history.

    She poignantly shares the price she’s paid for following Jesus.New Age teachings are based on concepts that sound almost irresistible. But as Doreen discovered, they come with a hidden price: your eternal destiny. Here is a riveting, personal confessional of how a former false prophet learned to trust God after nearly wasting a lifetime being independent and willful—trying to predict and control the future—and how Jesus saved her soul from deception and opened her eyes to His truth.Deceived No More can help you learn how to discern dangerous teachings so you can detect and avoid deception. Topics include:How to spot New Age teachings, and why they’re dangerousBiblical ways to deal with persecution, spiritual warfare, and other post-conversion issuesHow to witness to a New Ager

    18 Days is the story of three generations of super-warriors, meeting for the final battle of their age, a climactic war that concludes the age of the gods and begins the age of man. Collecting the first story arc from the series. "This is not a Lord of the Rings or a Star Wars where the good guys win because they are right. The good guys in 18 Days are forced to cheat and lie and break rules to win. Although it has fantastic, mythic trappings, this is a very modern story of realpolitik and the failure of ideals in the face of harsh truth." – Grant Morrison

    The two meet on eHarmony and begin a sometimes daunting but ultimately inspiring journey of interfaith relationship and marriage. Trent's compelling vignettes, refreshingly honest and at times hilarious, offer readers a glimpse into the challenges of bringing together two vastly different spiritual paths into one household. This book includes chapters on an Indian ashram honeymoon, vegetarianism, Sabbath keeping, prayer and grief, plus other challenges of interfaith relationships.

    Originally published in India in 1971, The Way to God reveals the essence of Gandhi's ideas on faith, love, meditation, service, self-control, and prayer. A simple guide to daily religious practice, it is relevant to readers of every faith.

    This Novel is written by Krishna Dharabasi. It plots the story of ancient epic Mahabharat with some changes that are not included in that epic. However the character Radha is very famous for the love relationship with Krishna in Hindu religion, she has been left far behind in the story of Mahabharat.Dharabasi starts his own story of Radha where the epic has left her. The plot of Radha resembles with the situation of Nepal at the time of its publiation. In Radha, Mr. Dharabasi tried to picture the scenario of Nepal at the time of People’s war of Maoist.Radha is a metaphysial novels which starts with real situation and takes the reader to the world of fiction. Such Novels concerned with explaining the features of reality that exist beyond the physical world and our immediate senses. In Nepalese litrature, such novels are termed as “Lila Lekhan”. Mr. Dharabsi is famous for Lila lekhan and radha is one of his fine writing.