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Mysticism in Shaivis...
Mysticism in Shaivism and Christianity
by: Bettina Sharada BäumerSetting out a spiritual dialogue between Saiva and Christian mysticism, the book articulates world-views of the mystical traditions of Saiva-Siddhanta, Kashmir Saivism, Meister Eckhart, Hadewijch, Julian of Norwich, St. Ignatius Loyola and of the Eastern Christianity.
₹1,125.00
ISBN: 9788124600962
Year Of Publication: 2018
Edition: 3rd
Pages : xviii, 365
Bibliographic Details : Appendix
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 23 cm.
Weight: 600
If mysticism is hard to define, what is it then? Or, why have mystics often spoken about what they have realized notwithstanding the unspeakability of a spiritual experience? And, yet more significantly, how can a meeting point of different religious traditions be discovered at the mystical level? Focussing on these and other related questions, eminent scholars from varying religious traditions here explore the nature of mystical experience in two of the worlds major traditions: Hinduism and Christianity. Neither a comparative study of religious traditions, nor an attempt to develop an overall mystical theology, the book sets out a spiritual dialogue between Shaiva and Christian mysticism: a dialogue wherein the participants articulate worldviews of the mystical traditions of Shaiva Siddhanta, Kashmir Shaivism, Meister Eckhart, Hadewijch, Julian of Norwich, St. Ignatius Loyola, and of the Eastern Christianity. And, without taking any a priori intellectual position, each author here evolves his/her own tradition-specific perspective on mysticism letting the comparisons, if any, to surface in the dialogue itself. A spiritual dialogue, like the one this multi-author work embodies, holds a key to an insightful understanding between different people, cultures and faiths more specially in todays world riven, as it is, by fundamentalist forces and endless religious conflicts. The book will be a valuable acquisition for the scholars and spiritually interested readers alike.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
— Bettina Baumer
What is Mysticism?
— Alois M. Haas
Source of all Bliss : Mysticism of Shaiva and an Insight into its Samnyasa Tradition
— Swami Nityananda Giri
The Mysticism of Jesus the Christ
— Raimon Panikkar
Divine Recognition: Pratyabhijna
— H.N. Chakravarty
On Letting God Be God : Meister Eckhart and the Lure of the Desrt
— Sr. Brigitte
Shambhavopaya : The Divine Way in Kashmir Shaivism
— B. N. Pandit
Unknowing and Personalism : In the Theological Tradition of the Christian East
— Serge Descy
Shaktipata: Grace in Kashmir Shaivism
— Jankinath Kaul Kamal
Hadewijch of Antwerp and Hadewijch II : Mysticism of Being in the Thirteenth Century in Belgium
— Odette Baumer-Despeigne
Enclosed in God: The Joyful Surprise of One-Ing : The Experience of Julian of Norwich
— C. Murray Rogers
The Active Mysticism of St Ignatius Loyola
— George Gispert-Sauch
Aesthetics of Mysticism or Mysticism of Aesthetics? : The Approach; of Kashmir Shaivism
— Bettina Baumer
Appendix
About the Contributors
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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. -
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Jim Wilson is an adventurer: mountaineering; Antarctic exploration; adventure films with Sir Edmund Hillary (on one of which he drove a jet boat up Mother Ganga from ocean to sky); climbing and school building with Sir Edmund in the Everest region of Nepal; and sailing to Pacific islands in a small yacht. These physical adventures provide an exciting backdrop to this book.
But Jim is also a religious adventurer. He relates in depth, with clarity and humour, his long journey in search of a satisfying way of understanding and experiencing the true nature of his self, and of his place in this mysterious universe. Studying Western philosophy and theology moved him away from intense involvement in the liberal Christianity of his parents. So he looked to India, inexhaustible source of inspiration. For two years he studied Indian philosophy and religion at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Then he taught for 23 years in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, returning many times to India and Nepal.
Though profoundly moved by the religions he studied and taught about, he was unable to accept the metaphysical beliefs underpinning them. Increasingly, though, he became fascinated by modern scientific discoveries about the universe, and about our planet and the evolution of life on it. So he wove together elements from religious and scientific traditions. In particular, he took Adi Shankara’s Advaita, also known as spiritual monism, and applied it to the physical universe, adding in also feelings and attitudes from New Zealand’s indigenous Maori religion. He now believes that the centre of his being is the physical energy of the universe, with which, therefore, he is at one. He finds this deeply satisfying in understanding, and emotionally and morally experiencing, his place on this planet and in the universe. Because it owes so much to spiritual monism he calls it physical monism, or physical Advaita. -
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So is this a travelogue? Or are these musings in a journal? Yes, but also much more. Charmed by her chatty narration, spiced with irony and humour, you are gently led to contemplations on life and living, changes wrought by globalization, man-woman relationships, cultural differences, loss of identities, fear as an inherent part of the human psyche and the burgeoning objects of enjoyment versus the diminishing capacity to enjoy.
Before you know it, you realise that HellaNaura’s deep reflections have awakened in you a need to integrate some spiritual viewpoints into your busy modern life. Why? Because her experiences and many joys, in spite of several difficulties, are a proof that a ‘spiritual’ outlook is an effective antidote to the crafty seduction by material and sensual gratifications. And, as she notes, even parts of Ladakhi society – formerly happy, prosperous and woven tightly together with warmth and intimacy – seem to be succumbing to its lures.
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This book proposes to take up the question of Universal Causation to examine thoroughly as how far it is right to regard Brahman as the Universal Cause and how far strakra himself lent his support to each of the inter-conflicting schools of Vednta. This book should, therefore, benefit all who are devoted to the philosophic teachings of Advaita Vednta and its preceptors.
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Mankind, when it gave expression to its first dawning of religious thoughts, wove a fabric of myths and theories about religion, the warp of which ran through from earliest historical times to our own days as threads of the warp of philosophies and theories about sex, male, female, love, passion, lust, desire, procreation, offspring, etc. The succeeding ages and civilizations wove into its warp the woof of the individual religions, myths and fables of gods and goddesses, so that the whole fabric of beliefs became refined as mankind itself advanced.
Sex and Sex Worship is the result of a long-time, arduous study of the concept of sex and the worship of phallus in various civilizations and in the development of different religions, modern and old, over a period of many millennia. The book makes one grasp a lot of topics associated with sex and sex symbols such as nature of sex and reproduction, status of women, cosmo-gonies, sex in man and animal, sexual relationship of gods and goddesses, virgin worship, phallic festivals, among many, while making it clear that the worship of generative organs was rather a use of representations of phallus and yoni as symbols for certain religious ideas which were embodied in nature worship.
It also vividly talks about the concept of sex and sex organs in art and ethics, sculpture, art anatomy, etc. The contents in toto lead one to the myriad aspects and concerns associated with sex and phallic worship. It is a must read for a scholar and a common man alike.
