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The Quest for Consci...
The Quest for Consciousness
Indian and Cross-Cultural Perspectives Volume 1 by: Munmun Chakraborty , Adarasupally NatarajuThe book addresses the main theme of the nature of consciousness from a wide-ranging stances and have also taken a step towards establishing a platform for an intense and critical study of Indian theories of consciousness
₹1,125.00
ISBN: 9788124612262
Year Of Publication: 2024
Edition: 1st
Pages : xiv, 370
Bibliographic Details : Contributors, Index
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Foreword By : Ram-Prasad Chakravarthi
Size: 22 cm
Weight: 658 grams
The book provides a platform to discuss and examine the subtle and complex issues related to the nature of consciousness, self, mental states and subjectivity from Indian and cross-cultural perspectives. It explores contemporary problems of consciousness and tries to find solutions from Indian philosophical traditions. The purpose is to understand how far the views and approaches of classical and contemporary Indian thinkers are relevant in contemporary consciousness studies. The book argues that great thinkers of Vedānta, Tantra, Sāṁkhya and Buddhism have done enormous works which can be explored, examined and enhanced even today for a better comprehension of the subjectivity and conscious experience.
The chapters of this present volume have thoroughly explored and examined many classical Indian theories of consciousness. Keeping in view the objectives of this volume, the contributors have made an effective effort to reflect critically on Indian theories to answer the contemporary problems. There are chapters discussing and examining the standpoints of Indian thinkers like Abhinavagupta, Utpala, Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Swāmī Vidyāraṇya, Nāgārjuna, Gautama and many more. On the other hand, there are chapters engaged in reappraising the philosophical positions of Kant, Hegel, Sartre, Chalmers, Searle, Dennett and other contemporary thinkers. The chapters of this volume have addressed the main theme from a wide-ranging stances and have also taken a step towards establishing a platform for an intense and critical study of Indian theories of consciousness.
The book is extremely beneficial for students and scholars interested in classical Indian philosophy and contemporary consciousness studies. It inspires more researchers to ponder upon the concept of consciousness and subjectivity from multiple dimensions.
Foreword v
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1. Ahaṁ, Subjectivity and the Ego: Engaging the 13
Philosophy of Abhinavagupta
– Sthaneshwar Timalsina
2. Two Ways of Understanding Consciousness: 49
Naturalism vs. Non-Naturalism
– Ramesh C. Pradhan
3. The Concept of Ātman in Nyāya–Vaiśeṣika 67
– Raghunath Ghosh
4. Notion of Absolute Consciousness (Whatever is is of the 79
as well as in the Absolute Śaṅkara, Kant and Hegel)
– Raghwendra Pratap Singh
5. Consciousness: What It Is and How It Is to Be Realized 107
(A Study in Tripura Rahasya)
– Shakuntala
6. On Sartre’s Theory of Consciousness: A Phenomeno- 119
logical Approach in “the Transcendence of the Ego”
and “Being and Nothingness”
– Akoijam Thoibisana
7. The Problem of Alienation and Its Overcoming in Hegel 151
– Arup Jyoti Sarma
8. Transcendence of Subjectivity: A Contemporary 167
Exploration of Epistemological Social Self in
Neohumanism of P.R. Sarkar
– Sindhu Poudyal
9. The Idea of Self and Mahāyāna Buddhism: A Special 185
Reference to Nāgārjna’s Mādhyamaka
– Saumya Kanti Biswas
10. The Problematic Mind, Meditation and the Deep203
Structure of Consciousness: A Buddhist Perspective
– Hari Shankar Prasad
11. Physical Brain’s Self-Awareness of Itself as 229
Physical: A Zombie Who Knows that It Is Not
the Real Ego or the I
– P. Milan Khangamcha
12. Dhyāna Bhāṣā or the Language of Meditative 285
Reflection: Understanding the “Existence” or “Sat”
– Adarasupally Nataraju
13. Consciousness, Subjectivity and Self: A Study with 303
Special Reference to Pañcadaśī
– A. Nataraju and Munmun Chakraborty
Contributors 319
Index 321
“The Quest for Consciousness”
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Sale!Visistadvaita’s Critique of the Advaita Hermenqutics ₹450.00
Vedānta is the very heart of Indian philosophy. The various schools of Vedānta have been explored under diverse categories including ontological and epistemological, but they are a storehouse of so much more. “Hermeneutics” in simple words can be the theory of interpretation and this book has studied the critique of the Advaita hermeneutics by Rāmānujācārya based on Vedic statements like tat tvam asi, tadaikāta bahu syāma, neha nānāsti kiñcana and many others in his book Vedārthasaṁgraha which mirrors a complete vision of the Upaniṣads. Rāmānujācārya has shown how the Śruti statements can be seen in a coherent manner resolving the conflicts of bheda and abheda. The nature of a word and its various śaktis, followed by how successful are words in describing the concepts of sat, cit and ānanda, are also discussed here.
This book is an initial effort in the hermeneutic studies of Indian texts, which have been kept limited to the scope of philosophy, theology or religion alone. Many more linguistic treasures can be found here. -
Sale!An Introduction to Vedanta ₹495.00
Vedanta holds an unparalleled and unique place among the six systems of Indian philosophy. Though the Vedas are the fountainhead of Indian philosophical systems, Vedanta incorporates the philosophical thoughts resplendent in the Upanishads, the Brahmasutras, the Bhagavatgita, and in the commentaries on all these texts.
An Introduction to Vedanta introduces the Vedanta philosophy in brief and talks about its cardinal issues like self-control and the meaning of worship, maya and its gunas, upadhi, the theory of cycle, subtle bodies, the role of meditation, samadhi and its four major obstacles, Brahman realization and the state of a jivanmukta and his relation with Brahman and the world. -
Sale!Mind and Cognition An Interdisciplinary Sharing ₹3,600.00
“Knowing one’s tradition is important; but only when tradition is not presented as fossilised but as continuous with our present-day living. In most places we do not make enough effort to show the link between the classical philosophical thoughts and the contemporary world view. We need to show that we can still meaningfully interact with the classical philosophical systems”, writes Amita Chatterjee in her seminal essay “In Search of Counterpoints”. This volume is dedicated in her honour. “Knowing one’s tradition is important; but only when tradition is not presented as fossilised but as continuous with our present-day living. In most places we do not make enough effort to show the link between the classical philosophical thoughts and the contemporary world view. We need to show that we can still meaningfully interact with the classical philosophical systems”, writes Amita Chatterjee in her seminal essay “In Search of Counterpoints”. This volume is dedicated in her honour. Chatterjee belongs to a genre of philosophers, who have as part of their cultural heritage, like Raghunath Siromani and Immanuel Kant. Chatterjee, in addition to breaking cultural boundaries, desired to break boundaries that have kept professional disciplines apart. She deeply believes that there are certain basic questions that are questions not for any specific discipline. These questions, she thinks, could not be answered by remaining within one single discipline. It is no surprise that she was the founder of the first Cognitive Science Centre in India. Responding to her multifaceted academic talent, forty academics from diverse disciplines and from all over the world have contributed papers to this volume. The major areas of Chatterjee’s interest that feature in this volume are: (i) Fusion Philosophy, (ii) Mind and Cognition, (iii) Mind and Perception, (iv) Mind and Language, (v) Logic and Vagueness, (vi) Logic, (vii) Indian Philosophy, and (viii) Philosophy, Society and Popular Culture. Chatterjee’s intellectual autobiography and her responses to each of the papers are parts of this volume.
ISBN 9788124609514 (vol. 1)
ISBN 9788124609521 (vol. 2)
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Sale!Kundalini ₹540.00
“Tantra, an exposition of Sri-vidya, is a thread of Vedic tantu. This ray of the light of consciousness folds upon itself as a coil (kundala) forming the coiled energies of the conscious universe, thus becoming kundalini.
This book looks at Tantra from a different perspective against the common view of it being more associated with its carnal/sexual nature. Tantra is the “art of celibacy”. Human beings are a wave in the ocean of Consciousness and this wave passes through our psycho-physiological complex compound, forming the personal kundalini. All sensations in human body are manifestations of the presence of kuõóalinã. Our desires are the signals released by the kundalini. Different psycho-physical apparatuses are plugged into it like electric plugs in different socket.
This volume, while portraying kundalini from its psycho-physical and spiritual implications and impacts, tries to alleviate some misconceptions about the nature of cakras — the consciousness centres. It deals at length with the phenomena of higher levels of spiritual evolution — “raising the kundalini” and “opening the cakras” — helping one drop all mental habit patterns to achieve “liberation”.
This book is a “must read” for the practitioners of Yoga and all who want to take their spiritual life to a new realm. “ -
Sale!Sapiens and Sthitaprajna ₹720.00
Sapiens and Sthitaprajna studies the concept of a wise person in the Stoic Seneca and in the Bhagavadgita. Although the Gita and Seneca’s writings were composed at least two centuries apart and a continent apart, they have much in common in recommending a well-lived life. This book describes how in both a wise person is endowed with both virtue and wisdom, is moral, makes right judgements and takes responsibility for actions. A wise and virtuous person always enjoys happiness, as happiness consists in knowing that one has done the right thing at the right time.
Both Seneca and the Gita demand intellectual rigour and wisdom for leading a virtuous and effective life. They provide guidelines for how to become and be wise. Both systems demand a sage to be emotionally sound and devoid of passions. This leads to mental peace and balance, and ultimately tranquillity and happiness. While surveying these similarities, this study also finds differences in their ways of application of these ideas. The metaphysics of the Gita obliges the sage to practise meditation, while the Stoics require a sage to be a rational person committed to analysing and intellectualizing any situation.
This comparative study will be of interest to students of both Ancient Western and Ancient Indian Philosophy. Practitioners of Stoicism and followers of the Gita should find the presence of closely-related ideas in a very different tradition of interest while perhaps finding somewhat different prescriptions a spur to action.
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