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Swami Muni Narayana Prasad studies the doctrinal beliefs of karma and reincarnation from the viewpoint of an advaitin, developing insights from his studies of the Upanisads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Sutras and the works of Narayana Guru.
The atman (soul), in the Eastern belief system, is eternal, immortal. The phenomenon of (physical) death is, thus, nothing but its disembodiment and its reincarnation in a new body. And what determine as atmans choice of a new body is the law of karma the merits and demerits of ones actions in the present life. The notions of karma and reincarnation constitute the fundamental tenets of Indian thinking; though these, like many other doctrinal beliefs, are hard to prove/disprove in purely rationalistic or even empirical terms. Swami Muni Narayana Prasad looks afresh at these age-old doctrinal beliefs from the viewpoint of an Advaitin (non-dualist), developing stimulating insights from his studies of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita the Brahma Sutras and, these besides, the works of his mentor: Narayana Guru. Contextually, among other questions, his book also dwells on Ultimate Reality, Birth and Death, and the Two Paths: Devayana (the path of gods) and Pitriyana (the path of manes), which either the souls take to after death.
Swami Vivekananda speaks of two types of Karma-Yoga: work for work’s sake and work for God’s sake in this volume. Work for work’s sake means that one works selflessly, without worrying about the existence of God or any other metaphysical doctrine. Work for God’s sake is the normal way in which most of the saints have pursued their spiritual journey.
Karma-Yoga, a highly reflective and spiritual volume, is the reproduction of eight illuminating lectures that Swami Vivekananda delivered during December 1895 to January 1896 in New York.
The contents of this volume calls for repeated reading, comprehension, contemplation and is highly useful to be reflected on. Here Swami Vivekananda is speaking of two types of Karma-Yoga: work for work’s sake and work for God’s sake. Work for work’s sake means that one works selflessly, without worrying about the existence of God or any other metaphysical doctrine. Work for God’s sake is the normal way in which most of the saints have pursued their spiritual journey. And it is the suggested way for any spiritual aspirant.
This book reminds and invites us to redefine our approach to work and directs us to absorb the most ideal and desirable way of doing it irrespective of what we are and in what position we are.
Amongst the traditions of the non-dual Kashmir Shavism, Krama and Kula have dominated the attention of the world scholarship. Going by the testimony of Jayaratha, the seminal notions of tantra-prakriya and kula-prakriya have largely determined Abhinavan enunciation of the intra-systemal variety. This monograph addresses all this in necessary detail charting historical evolution together with bringing to light some unpublished minor but useful tracts.
From within the fold of the tantric Shaiva non-dualism of Kashmir, Kula and Krama are the traditions that have fascinated most of the modern Indological scholarship the world over. This monograph, in the first place, attempts to approach the two traditions against the backdrop of their historical and evolutionary growth.
From this presentation emerges the fact that Krama is a living mode of contemplation and thought even today. If one goes by Jayaratha, the seminal processes of Kula-prakriya and Tantra-prakriya have been largely instrumental in formulating Abhinavan exegesis of the intra-systemal diversity. This process-centric approach has gone a long way in defining the tantric meaning, typological classification and distinctive ritual praxis. This aspect was first noticed and underscored by the author in his Krama Trantricism of Kashmir. The problem, since then, has been constantly engaging the mind of the scholars eliciting valuable contributions. The prime motivation for the author has been to utilise this occasion to reassess, in the light of the fresh data, the contextualisation in which Abhinava sought to situate Kula and Krama. This could be considered as the second highlight of the present essay. The third and, perhaps the foremost feature of this monograph lies in bringing to light some minor but significant texts, hitherto unpublished, belonging to the Kula and Krama, namely Chumma-sampradaya by Nishkriyanandanatha, Kaulasutra (Kulasutra) and Shodashasvarakala by Shitikantha, Shaivashtakakosha (fragments) and Jnanakriyadvaya-shataka by anonymous authors. With the printing of these MSS the corpus of the published literature on Krama and Kula has got richer.
This English version attempts to unravel the mystery of death. It shows how a young seeker, calling upon Yama, insists on knowing the secret of all secrets, with specific questions, like: what is death? Why people fear death when they know it to be inevitable?
Man has always been perplexed with the now and hereafter of his worldly existence. The enigma, called life, with all its attendant uncertainties and everyday strifes and irritants, continues to defy experimental/realistic investigation despite all the exciting advances in science. We still age, we still die. We are as mortal as ever. Life remains a mystery. And death remains, in Shakespearean phraseology, the undis-covered country. A masterpiece among the writings of its genre, Katha Upanishad attempts to unravel the mystery of death though, in its totality, it is an insightful exposition of brahmavidya: Knowledge of the Absolute/Supreme Reality. In a well-devised dialectical situation, the Upanishad shows how a young seeker, calling upon Yama, none other than the God of Death himself, insists on knowing the secret of all secrets, with specific questions, like: What is death? Why people fear death when they know it to be inevitable? What happens at death? And what, if anything, continues to exist after death, and how? the questions which the deity answers, amidst widely-ranged wisdom teachings. Swami Muni Narayana Prasad here offers a lucid English version of this time-honoured Upanishad, together with exhaustive commentary, the original Sanskrit text and its Roman transliteration. Written at a time when the profoundly symbolic Vedic yajnas/rituals had degenerated into crass priestcraft, the Katha Upanishad not only has its historical importance, but counts among the landmark writings that have shaped Indias heritage of spirituality and philosophic thought.
The book narrates the history of the Kathaka dance art: its origin, continuous evolution and struggle for existence from ancient to the medieval period. It discusses the influence of Kathakya Acarya, Sage Katha and his sampradaya on Kathaka, besides generic similarities between Rasalila and present-day Kathaka.
The book traces the history of Kathaka from ancient to the medieval period: its origin and continuous evolution in a struggle for existence through a process involving fusion, diffusion and adaptation. It studies its etymological meaning in a painstaking effort which involves a discussion on the influence of Kathakya Acarya, Sage Katha and the generic similarities between Rasalila, Hallisaka, Carcari, Rasa, and present-day Kathaka. It shows that Kathaka has an ancient origin and is an indigenous Indian dance. It deals with the three distinct sections that form the present-day Kathaka. Surveying a host of religious and secular literature including the Natyashastra, the Abhinaya Darpana and the Sangita Ratnakara and referring to sculptural reliefs from temples and illustrations from manuscripts including the Akbar-Nama, it undertakes a detailed and illuminating study of gestures, postures, movements and stances of Kathaka. An attempt to help readers gain a better insight into the Kathaka dance, the volume will interest practitioners and lovers of classical dance forms of India.
This work studies the scientific and technological contents of the Arthasastra. It makes inquisitive analyses to extract the latest scientific essence of observational facts, operational techniques, perceptual awareness of discriminal and classificatory propositions and hypotheses in fields like mineralogy, gemmology, mining, metallurgy, agriculture, architecture, civil engineering and environment, dealt within the treatise.
A Sanskrit treatise of the fourth century bc, Arthashastra is, ostensibly, the world’s oldest surviving document of its genre. Written by Kautilya (also known as Vishnugupta and Chanakya): the astute Brahmin preceptor and prime minister of Chandragupta Maurya, it is now widely recognized as a classic on statecraft, including a discussion of contemporary Indian polity, political theories, administrative mechanisms, war and peace, and a variety of other subjects. Though a lot has already been written on Kautilya’s world view of statecraft, polity and kindred themes, this book is veritably the first ever effort to examine Arthashastra from the standpoint of modern science and technology. Analysing meticulously layers after layers of Kautilya’s complex sutras (aphoristic statements), the author unfolds scientific perceptions, hypotheses, operational techniques and other significant dimensions of several ancient Indian disciplines, like minerology, mining, gemmology, metallurgy, agriculture, town planning, civil engineering, and even environment. Himself a professional geologist, Sunil Sarma has adopted the current normative techniques for the scientific evaluation of Arthashastra, while using all through modern idiom to spell out its scientific content. An unbiased study based on Sarma’s honest, altogether fresh interpretation of Arthasastra’s archaic Sanskrit language and its peculiar scientific terminology, the book will fascinate Indologists, historians of science, and many area-specialists.
Written sometime during 880-920 ad by Rajasekhara: an eminent poet, this first English translation of Kavyamimamsa is a kind of practical treatise for poets: kavisiksa manual highlighting, all possible attributes that go into the making of a good poet and a good poetic composition.
As a body, Sanskrit writings unfold Indias millennia-long, almost unbroken intellectual tradition: not only of philosophy and grammar, but of literary theory as well. The concepts and critical theories, which the Sanskrit poeticians advanced or the issues they sought to address, inhere both universal appeal and validity. And, with certain modifications, these can well live up to the demands of modern literature. In this long and powerful tradition of Sanskrit literary theory that marked a definitive begining with Bharatas Natyashastra (first century ad), Kavyamimamsa is a monumental work. Written sometime during 880-920 ad by Rajashekhara: an eminent poet, dramatist and critic, it is a kind of practical treatise for poets: kavishiksha manual highlighting, as it does, all possible attributes that go into the making of a good poet and a good poetic composition. Among other relevant aspects, Rajashekhara also includes here a systematic exposition of the views/opinions of his predecessors, with illustrations of the literary practices of various times and climes put down after careful empirical observation. Now, when there is a growing scholarly interest in the study of Sanskrit literary theory and how it is positioned vis-a-vis the Western critical tenets, Dr. Sadhana Parashar brings Rajashekharas classic within everyones reach offering the first-ever, complete English translation of Kavyamimamsa, with its original Sanskrit text and comprehensive explanatory notes. For sure, it is invaluable to the scholars of linguistics and literary criticism.
Written sometime during 880-920 ad by Rajasekhara: an eminent poet, this first English translation of Kavyamimamsa is a kind of practical treatise for poets: kavisiksa manual highlighting, all possible attributes that go into the making of a good poet and a good poetic composition.
As a body, Sanskrit writings unfold Indias millennia-long, almost unbroken intellectual tradition: not only of philosophy and grammar, but of literary theory as well. The concepts and critical theories, which the Sanskrit poeticians advanced or the issues they sought to address, inhere both universal appeal and validity. And, with certain modifications, these can well live up to the demands of modern literature. In this long and powerful tradition of Sanskrit literary theory that marked a definitive begining with Bharatas Natyashastra (first century ad), Kavyamimamsa is a monumental work. Written sometime during 880-920 ad by Rajashekhara: an eminent poet, dramatist and critic, it is a kind of practical treatise for poets: kavishiksha manual highlighting, as it does, all possible attributes that go into the making of a good poet and a good poetic composition. Among other relevant aspects, Rajashekhara also includes here a systematic exposition of the views/opinions of his predecessors, with illustrations of the literary practices of various times and climes put down after careful empirical observation. Now, when there is a growing scholarly interest in the study of Sanskrit literary theory and how it is positioned vis-a-vis the Western critical tenets, Dr. Sadhana Parashar brings Rajashekharas classic within everyones reach offering the first-ever, complete English translation of Kavyamimamsa, with its original Sanskrit text and comprehensive explanatory notes. For sure, it is invaluable to the scholars of linguistics and literary criticism.
Swami Muni Narayana Prasad renders a superbly novel analysis of this Upanisad in the backdrop of recent developments in various scientific disciplines and attempts to show that mysticism is a corollary to scientific investigation.
Kenopanishad is one of the major Upanishads containing the quintessence of the teachings of the ancient Indian seers. It represents their spiritual quest to apprehend the nature of the Ultimate Being and comprises the yearning for the wisdom that explains the relation of human life to the world and the reality. The beauty of this Upanishad is greatly enhanced by the dialogue between the disciple and the preceptor, through which it continues its quest. Swami Muni Narayana Prasad, the renowned scholar on the Upanishadic tradition, renders a superbly novel analysis of this difficult text in the light of the modern mans need for value and spiritual security making a strikingly beautiful synthesis between the ancient and the modern. Presenting the teachings of Kenopanishad in the backdrop of the recent developments in the area of physics, chemistry, biology and psychology is no mean task and constitutes the exclusiveness of this book. The disciplines of science in the pursuit of the basic truth stumble at some invisible and unconceptualisable Reality, which may be another name for mysticism. Through very cogent arguments the author has successfully vindicated that mysticism is a corollary to scientific investigation and not opposed to it. The authors prolonged association with the Upanishadic thought along with the insight he received from the works of his preceptors Narayana Guru and Nataraja Guru makes the commentaries of this text stimulating and unique. The original Sanskrit text along with the Roman transliteration and English paraphrasing enhance the value of this monumental commentary.
The book presents stylistic perspectives on the music of nineteen modern and contemporary Khayàla vocalists representing five important legacies (Gharànàs) which have guided vocal music for about 200 years in India. The book makes complex musicological concepts accessible to even non-academic readers.
Khayala Vocalism: Continuity Within Change presents stylistic perspectives on the music of nineteen modern and contemporary Khayala vocalists, representing various legacies which have guided vocal music for about 200 years. The book is the result of over five years of research, involving the painstaking analysis of over 500 recordings spanning almost a hundred years of Khayala vocalism. The nineteen vocalists are classified into five stylistic legacies, based on their history of tutelage and the stylistic tendencies evident in their music: Agra legacy, Gwalior-Agra confluence, Jaipur-Atrauli legacy, Kairana legacy, and Patiala legacy. Written by an author of impeccable credentials as a musician, researcher and writer, the book contains seven sections. While the first section serves as an introduction to the Khayala genre and to the various Gharanas, the last presents an annexure containing the various Khayala forms, a glossary of non-English terms rendered in italics, and an index. The intervening five sections deal with the history and stylistics of the five legacies and the music of the vocalists belonging to them. The book makes complex musicological concepts accessible to non-academic readers and contributes significantly to widening the understanding of contemporary trends in Khayala vocalism.
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