Quest for Serenity i...
Quest for Serenity in World Religions
by: Arvind SharmaThis book describes the search for serenity as found in what are conventionally referred to as the world religions and identifies a similarity in the pattern which seems to underlie these approaches, thereby extending the application of the comparative method to religious psychology.
$20.00
ISBN: 9788124604205
Year Of Publication: 2007
Edition: 1st
Pages : viii, 80
Bibliographic Details : Bibliography; Index
Language : English
Binding : Paperback
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 22
Weight: 150
Every religion, even ideology, needs to provide its followers with ways of coping with the vicissitudes of life, especially when personal tragedy tears a gaping hole in the fabric of meaning. This book describes the search for serenity as found in what are conventionally referred to as the world religions and identifies a similarity in the pattern which seems to underlie these approaches, thereby extending the application of the comparative method to religious psychology.
1. The Quest for Serenity in Hinduism
2. The Quest for Serenity in Buddhism
3. The Quest for Serenity in Confucianism
4. The Quest for Serenity in Taoism
5. The Quest for Serenity in Judaism
6. The Quest for Serenity in Christianity
7. The Quest for Serenity in Islam
8. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

- Science and Spirituality by: Bettina Sharada Bäumer $40.00
A dialogue between science and spirituality is a necessity in our times where both, differences and mutual enrichment of the two great fields of human approach to reality, are taking place. This volume addresses this need from the perspective of different areas of science and spiritual traditions. The starting point is the intention of the founder of the IIAS, Dr S. Radhakrishnan, who saw that “both the practice of science and experience of spirituality are intimately related to being human”. Although much thought has gone into their relationship, the present volume intends to broaden and deepen the possibility of a harmonious integration, necessary to overcome the present-day crisis of humanity.
From the side of science, the contributors come from the fields of physics, plant biology, neuroscience, psychology, ecology and philosophy of science; and from the side of spirituality, following traditions and spiritual masters are represented: PÀtaðjala Yoga, Trika Œaivism of Kashmir, VedÀnta, Buddhism, Christianity, Theosophy, and Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda and J. Krishnamurti. The deliberations included topics such as Awareness in plants, Neuroplasticity and Habit, appropriate use of terms such as “Consciousness” and “Energy” in different contexts, clarifying several issues concerning the on-going dialogue. The contributing scholars have built “bridges of understanding”, thus encouraging the reader to proceed further in this quest. - Brahman and the World by: Ashokanath Battacharya Sastri $20.00
“The Vedānta has been rightly called the Finest Fruit of Indian Thought and the Upaniṣads as the Finer Flowers. Vedānta grows out of the teachings of the Upaniṣads and passes into the various systems in the writings of Śaṅkara, Bhāskara, Rāmānuja, Madhva and Vallabha, the great founders of Advaita, Bhedābheda, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaitādvaita and Śuddhādvaita, respectively. However, there is a perception among Orientalists that while the Upaniṣads favour the Monistic doctrine, Bādarāyaṇa’s Brahmasūtra fundamentally opposes it on some of the most crucial points.
The book thus delves deep into the philosophies of both Bādarāyaṇa and Śaṅkara in enunciating the essential features of Brahman and Its association with the world. It thus discusses topics such as what sort of cause Brahman is?, and what sort of material causality is to be ascribed to It? It also addresses the conflicting views on the nature of Brahman like that of Vivarttavāda and of Rāmānuja’s Saguṇa-Brahman.
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 sūtrakāra himself lent his support to each of the inter-conflicting schools of Vedānta. This book should, therefore, benefit all who are devoted to the philosophic teachings of Advaita Vedānta and its preceptors.” - An Intergrated Science of the Absolute (2 Vols. Set) by: Nataraja Guru $80.00
It is not just the magnum opus, but a truly monumental effort of a scientist-philosopher who has spent a whole lifetime to formulate a unitive science, wherein all disciplines of human questing could find a common ground a science where modern science and ancient spiritual wisdom could meet and merge like two opposite poles of a magnet. As a direct disciple of one of the great rishis of the modern age, Nataraja Guru discovers this common ground in Brahma-vidya, which he calls the Integrated Science of the Absolute, and which has, at its base, his Gurus Dars?ana Mala.
A string of hundred Sanskrit verses, composed by the mystic-poet, Narayana Guru (18541928), the Darsana Mala is the very epitome of all visions of truth inspired by his remarkable acquisitions of Upanisadic thought and, yet far more, by his own tapas (mystical discipline). Reproducing these highly significative verses in Roman script, along with English translations, word meanings, and extensive commentaries, Nataraja Guru not only spells out his mentors Visions of the Absolute in contemporary idiom, but also shows how these visions are fully validated by modern science.
Eclectic synthesis of varied scientific disciplines into a systematic whole is not all that Nataraja Guru accomplishes here. Rather, his book (now in third edition) is an attempt to reintroduce Brahma-vidya as the one Master Science that embraces every branch of science, every human interest. - Sapiens and Sthitaprajna by: Ashwini A. Mokashi $32.00
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. - Seven Quartets of Becoming by: Debashish Banerji $40.00
Groomed in a modern academic tradition and post-Enlightenment ideals of creative freedom and social critique, Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) turned his attention to yoga and the limits of consciousness in its ability to relate to and transform nature. In the process, he documented scrupulously his experiments and experiences based on a synergistic existential framework of practice.
Debashish Banerji correlates the approach to yoga Sri Aurobindo took in his diaries with his later writings, to derive a description of human subjectivity and its powers. Banerji constellates Sri Aurobindo’s approach with transpersonal psychology and contemporary lineages of phenomenology and ontology, to develop a transformative yoga psychology redefining the boundaries and possibilities of the human and opening up lines of self-practice towards a wholeness of being and becoming.
Both scholar and Yogi, Aurobindo (1872-1950) carefully documented the unfolding of spiritual consciousness starting shortly after his deep revelatory experiences while in prison in 1908. His observations were recently published in a two volume set, The Record of Yoga. Debashish Banerji has analyzed this work and offers a detailed, clear, systematic and inspirational interpretation of how the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo may be understood and practiced.
Þ From the `Foreword’ of
Prof. Christopher Key Chapple
Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, (USA)