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Debating Culture (PB...
Debating Culture (PB)
by: Anirban GangulyThis book talks about the vision of our cultural thought-leaders like Ananda Coomaraswamy, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita, John Woodroffe, Syamaprasad Mookerjee and K.M. Munshi in making India a culturally strong nation. They remind us of our unique past and time-tested virtues and values, and the criticality of sustaining them while being modern in many ways
$20.00
ISBN: 9788124607046
Year Of Publication: 2013
Edition: 1st
Pages : x, 158p.
Bibliographic Details : Bibliography; Index
Language : English
Binding : Paperback
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 23 cm.
Weight: 400 gm.
Barring the political agenda, the vital forces associated with India’s nationalist movement were moral, literary and artistic. Many cultural protagonists were vocal in saying that the regeneration of our society could happen through the revival of our arts and culture, not by politics and economics alone. This impulse was quite visible in cultural thought-leaders like Ananda Coomaraswamy, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita, John Woodroffe, Syamaprasad Mookerjee, K.M. Munshi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Rabindranath Tagore made a strong case for developing a complete and moving orb of Indian culture.
This book delves deep into the vision of these thought-leaders in making India a culturally strong nation, and warns us in different ways against becoming insularly modern. These personalities remind us of our unique past and time-tested virtues and values, and the criticality of sustaining them while being modern in many ways. They exult in our past and call upon us to be the torch-bearers of this legacy.
This volume, while doing an in-depth study of these Indian cultural activists, laments on the lackadaisical attitude of the leaders of Independent India in maintaining and promoting our art forms and long-revered culture. A renewed effort in rejuvenating our culture is the need of the hour, especially when its moorings seem to be loosening and its symbols diluting. It is an irony to call for the recognition of Indian culture in India!
Foreword
Acknowledgement
Introduction
Part I
1. Vivekananda: A Fascination with Culture
2. Ananda Coomaraswamy: A Case for Cultural Nationalism
3. Sri Aurobindo: Indian Culture and External Influence
4. Sister Nivedita: Interpreting Indian Culture
5. John Woodroffe: Defending Indian Culture
Part II
6. K.M. Munshi: Reintegrating Indian Culture
7. Syama Prasad Mookerjee: Reforging Indias Cultural Links
8. Jawaharlal Nehru: Indias Culture and Her National Life
9. Culture: The Continuing Debate
Epilogue: Indian Culture: Signposts for the Future
Bibliography
Index
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Reflections on Indian Thought $34.00
This anthology, consisting of fourteen essays, deals with a variety of themes that are of central importance for an authentic appreciation of the philosophical core of the Indian culture. The readers will find here illuminating discussions on various issues that bear witness to the critical thinking and deep reflection on the part of the author that have enabled her to carefully expose the subtle internal divergences that nourish the Indian conceptual world.
Based on arduous and painstaking research, these essays focus on a range of topics. There are several essays on multiple aspects of the large themes of time and consciousness, penetrating analysis showing how in the ancient discourse ideas of klesha (affliction), abhyasa (practice) and karuna (compassion) as well as on women and values are dealt with. There are also deliberations on the themes of religious diversity and the need for an encounter of world religions along with the attempt to explore India’s self-image. All these have contemporary relevance, as these essays clearly bring out the distinctive character of a living culture. -
First Five Brahmasūtras (विज्ञानभिक्षोः ब्रह्मसूत्रपञ्चचसूत्रीभाष्यम्) $40.00
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.
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An Introduction to Vedanta $22.00
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. -
Kundalini $24.00
“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. “ -
Action, Freedom and Responsibility $30.00
This book, a work on human doing, analyses and applies three central aspects of human life – Action, Freedom and Responsibility – in the wide spectrum of the Philosophy of Mind. Reflections on these issues and their interconnections have a significant effect on the Philosophy of Value and application of ethical theories in practical life. This book even reconstructs the conceptual connection between action and freedom, on the one hand, and that between freedom and responsibility, on the other.
It also puts the concepts of freedom and determinism to critical test and reinterprets them from different angles and perspectives. The conventional doctrine of karma, based on the teachings of the Bhagavadgātā, is relieved from its usual deterministic presentation and a logically reasonable explanation is offered.
Human actions and human agency are central concepts in the philosophy of mind and action. Free will and responsibility constitute the bedrock of the moral life of the human agents and the book pinpoints that freedom is meant to undertake the goal-oriented actions. It is, therefore, focused on the enquiry into the various aspects of philosophy of mind, as well as the philosophy of value.
