-
Advaitic Mysticism o...
Advaitic Mysticism of Sankara
by: A. RamamurtyThis book for the first time tries to understand the mystical dimension of Advaita. It is an attempt to understand comprehensively the meaning and significance of brahmanubhava or Brahman realization or experience as presented by Sankara in his writings. An attempt is also made to understand the significance of Advaitic mysticism by comparing it with Christian and Islamic mysticisms.
₹630.00
ISBN: 9788124606797
Year Of Publication: 2013
Edition: 1st
Pages : x, 294p.
Bibliographic Details : index
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 23 cm.
Weight: 600
Brahman, according to the Upanishads and Shankara, the major exponent of the philosophy of the Upanishads known as Advaita, is not a metaphysical postulate meant to explain what is empirically experienced or the word. Brahman is absolutely real and is the inner reality or essence or self of all that is there, including ones self. Therefore it is known directly and immediately as the real or true nature of ones self. In the context of human reality Brahman is known as Atman, the true reality or nature of ones self. Direct and unmediated experience or realization of Brahman or brahmanubhava is the consummation of mans spiritual life as well as the supreme fulfilment of human existence.
This is an attempt to understand comprehensively, and in depth the meaning and significance of brahmanubhava as presented and discussed by Shankara in his commentaries on the Upanishads, Brama-Sutras and the Bhagavad-Gita, and in his other minor works, like Vivekacudamani, Aparokshanubhuti and Upadesha-Sahasri. Shankara is also known for his logical acumen and analytical approach to problems of philosophy. However, the mystical dimension of his philosophy which is also the reason for the lasting relevance and significance of his philosophy has not received the attention it deserves. May be this is the first of its kind in understanding and presenting systematically the Advaitic mysticism of Shankara in all its aspects. It is entirely based on the works of Shankara.
An attempt is also made in this book to understand the significance of Advaitic mysticism of Shankara in the light of its comparison with that of St. John of the Cross and Jalalud-Din Rumi, classical representatives of Christian and Islamic mysticisms.
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Point of Departure
Brahman knowledge
Sence perception
Inference
Reasoning
Smriti
Shrutis
Anubhava
2. Description of Brahmanubhava
Transcends subjectobject duality
Immediate and direct
Ineffable
and yogic experience
and swoon
and deep sleep
and death
experience Brahman is to realize
Ones Self
Brahman realization is to attain identity with all
Self-Brahman realization is the same as
all-Brahman realization
negative in significance
is moksha or liberation
is not limited to turiya
Significance of Brahmanubhava
3. Behaviour of a Brahmagyani
Brahmagyani and his behaviour
Brahmanubhava and the behaviour of a Brahmagyani
4. The Way to Brahmanubhava
Bhramanubhava is uncaused
No means to attain Brahmanubhava
Means to remove ignorance
Shudras and Bhramanubhava
5. The Place of Faith, Emotions and Reasoning in Brahmanubhava
Faith
Unfaith
Emotions
Place of heart in Self-realization
Independent type of reasoning
Reasoning based on Shruti
Examples of independent-type and Shruti-based reasoning
Place of reason in Brahmanubhava
Methods of reasoning
6. The Object of Brahmanubhava
Has Brahmanubhava an object?
Some Upanishadic illustrations
Brahman as an object of experience
Brahman as Experience or as realized
Difference between Brahman as an object of experience and Brahman as realized
7. The Validity of Brahmanubhava
The validity of Shruti knowledge
Analyses of scriptural sentences on Self-Brahman identity
Shruti as a source of valid knowledge
How to determine the validity of Shruti knowledge?
Validity of Brahmanubhava
How to determine the validity of Brahmanubhava?
8. Empirical Experience and Brahmanubhava
Nature and validity of empirical experience
Empirical experience and Brahmanubhava
9. Comparisons and Conclusions
St. John of the Cross
Jalalud-Din Rumi
Comparisons
Concept of God
Concept of the self
Relation between the self/soul and God or highest reality
Means to attain God
The concept of Advaita
Critical understanding of Brahmanubhava
Bibliography
Index
-
Sale!Advaita (PB) ₹252.00
For over a millennium, Shankaras advaitism: non-dualism, has been exposed to extensive discussion, debate, and even polemic. In modern times, it has often been viewed as a system of metaphysical thought, involving a set of several subtle, though interrelated, doctrines which all have the Upanishads at their base. But, wittingly or unwittingly, modern theoreticians/scholars tend to gloss over Shankaras acumen as a philosophical analyst though his interpretations of the Upanishadic writings have indisputably shown his uncommon, rather unrivalled, genius for logic and meticulous philosophical analysis. Professor Ramamurtys work is, thus, a departure from run-of-the-mill studies attempting, as it does, an indepth conceptual analysis of advaita vedanta. The book does not just present advaita as a system of metaphysical thought. It is essentially an off-beat effort seeking to philosophically analyse the concepts of Atman, Brahman, and the World which not only count among the fundamental concepts in the philosophic thought of the Upanishads, but also help capture the true meaning, profoundity, richness and beauty of Shankaras advaita itself. Also, in the specific contexts of Shankaras philosophy vis-a-vis the Upanishadic texts, Professor Ramamurty tries to explore, perhaps for the first time, the meaning and functions of language and the problem that stem from it. Highlighting Shankaras advaitism: his insistence on the oneness of Brahman, the book offers a unique philosophic representation of the Upanishadic vision, which the scholars of classical Indian philosophy and discerning readers would love to share alike.
-
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)
-
Sale!Navya Nyaya Philosophy of Language ₹360.00
This book represents the philosophy of language in Navya-Nyaya, based upon an analysis of the “Verbal Suffix Chapter” (Akhyatavada) of Gangesha’s Tattvacintamani. Since this chapter elaborates what kind of verbal understanding is generated and discusses related issues, the book demonstrates the main features of that philosophy of language and serves as a good introduction to that. The analysis mainly deals with Gangesha, but in some cases it refers to Raghunatha. Since the book is an attempt to pursue philological exactness and philosophical analysis, it is hoped to interest not only Sanskrit scholars, but also philosophers in general.
The book consists of four lectures. Lecture I clarifies Gangesha’s view of the meaning of the suffixes of a finite verb, which (meaning) is greatly disputed among the Navya-Nyaya philosophers, the Mimamsa philosophers, and the Grammarians. Lecture II investigates how Gangesha determines the meaning of words and illustrates that his method bears upon ontological categories of Vaisheshika. Lecture III deals with Gangesha’s “Five Definitions of Invariable Concomitance Section” (Vyaptipancaka) and elucidates the relation between meaning and the logical structure of the definitions. The lecture also provides diagrams as a tool to represent the structure. Lecture IV explains the realistic standpoint of Navya-Nyaya by clarifying the concept of the counterpositive (pratiyogin) of absence (abhava), or a thing whose existence is negated, focusing on empty terms or non-factual expressions such as “a round triangle”, “the present King of France”, “a rabbit’s horn”, and so forth. The lecture delineates how Udayana, Gangesha, and Raghunatha observed and, as the time passed, did realism thoroughly in language analysis. -
Sale!First Five Brahmasūtras (विज्ञानभिक्षोः ब्रह्मसूत्रपञ्चचसूत्रीभाष्यम्) ₹990.00
This is an annotated English translation of Vijñānabhikṣu’s commentaries on the first five Brahmasūtra (BS) of Bādarāyaṇa called the Vijñānāmṛtabhāṣya (VijBh). This is a pioneering work as no translation of the VijBh has been done so far. Bhikṣu is perhaps the only known Vedānta scholar who has argued for Brahman along with his prakṛti-śakti being the cause of the world. He calls his Advaita philosophy as Avibhāga-Advaita and sets himself against Śaṅkara’s Advaita which argues for Brahman alone being the material and efficient cause of the world. Bhikṣu is also an unique Advaita scholar as he interprets Vedānta using Sāṁkhya/Yoga principles. One of the reasons for choosing to comment on only the first five sūtras was because the VijBh is a huge work and also because Bhikṣu’s Avibhāga-Advaita can easily be understood from his commentaries on these first five sūtras of the BS. Even though the real reason for Bhikṣu’s commentary on the fifth sūtra (BS I.1.5) should be clear to anyone familiar with Vedānta’s objection to prakṛti being the cause of the world, it needed to be seen as to how Bhikṣu, as a committed Sāṁkhya-Yoga-Vedāntācārya, defends prakṛti’s role in being the cause. Just as writing commentaries on the first four sūtras of Śaṅkara’s BSBh done by some eminent scholars present the main features of Śaṅkara’s Advaita, the commentaries on the first five sūtras of the BS by Bhikṣu could adequately present Bhikṣu’s Avibhāga-Advaita Vedānta.
