-
Three Acharyas and N...
Three Acharyas and Narayana Guru
The Ongoing Revaluation of Vedanta by: Swami Muni Narayana PrasadThe book speaks about the philosophy of Narayana Guru as guidance to study and compare the philosophies of the acaryas, particularly those of Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva. It also explores the concepts of avidya and maya, atomicity of the self, consciousness and the self, tat tvam asi, karma and reincarnation and the ultimate liberation.
$44.00
ISBN: 9788124605950
Year Of Publication: 2011
Edition: 1st
Pages : xii, 449p.
Bibliographic Details : Appendix; Glossary; Bibliography; Index
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 23
Weight: 800
Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva are considered the three acaryas of South India who commented on the three basic texts of Vedanta, that is, the Upanishads, the Brahma-Sutras and the Bhagavad-Gita, and therefrom originated the three major schools within the Vedanta fold — Advaita, Vishishtha advaita and Dvaita respectively. This volume is concerned with the philosophy of the famous saint-teacher Narayana Guru and his perspectives on the philosophies of the three acaryas.
The book uses the philosophy of Narayana Guru as the guide to study and compare the philosophies of the acaryas. It begins with the life sketches of the three acaryas and discusses their philosophies, especially the various specific viewpoints they maintained and the points on which they disagreed. It explores the ideas of the acaryas on avidya and maya, atomicity of the self, consciousness and the self, tat tvam asi, karma and reincarnation and the ultimate liberation. It also scrutinises their use of terms like that of atha which literally means now then. It examines the perception of Narayana Guru vis-a-vis the particular philosophical positions in a unified manner. It also contains the full text, transliteration and translation of the original Vedanta-Sutras of Narayana Guru.
The volume will interest students and scholars who are engaged in advanced studies on the philosophy of Vedanta, and persons keen on acquainting themselves with the philosophy of Narayana Guru.
Preface
Part 1
The Lives and Teachings of the
Three âcàryas and Narayana Guru
1. Preliminaries
The Brahma-Sutras and its Commentaries
The Sutra Style
After Badarayana
Shankara and His Followers
Ramanuja and His Followers
Madhva and His Followers
2. The Lives of the Three Acaryas and Narayana Guru
The Life of Shankara (ce 788-820)
The Life of Ramanuja (ce 1017-1137)
The Life of Madhva (ce 1238-1317)
A Few Historical Notes
The Life of Narayana Guru (ce 1854-1928)
3. The Philosophy of Shankara
A Summary of Shankaras Philosophy
4. The Philosophy of Ramanuja
Souls or Cit
Ramanujas Three Kinds of Souls
How do souls become bound?
Inert Matter or Acit
God or Ishvara
5. The Philosophy of Madhva
Reality
The Cosmic System
Creation
Souls
Bondage
Innate Difference
Brahman
Spiritual Practices
Devotion (Bhakti)
Liberation (Mukti)
Comparativeness of Innate Bliss
Part 2
Ideas of the Three Acaryas Unitively Revisualised
6. Avidya and Maya
Avidya according to Shankara
Different Levels of Unreality
Maya and Brahman as Causes
Neither Existent nor Non-Existent
The Theory of Five Sheaths
Looking into the Taittiriya Upanishad
Looking into the Sarvasara Upanishad
Looking into the Gaudapada Karika
Looking into the Vivekacudamani
Conditioning and Deconditioning of Consciousness
Looking into the Pancadashi
Difference in the Epistemological Context
Ramanujas Seven Objections
Avidya in the Ramanuja School
Similarities
Avidya in the Madhva School
The Enigma Acceptable to All
Avidya and Maya for Narayana Guru
7. The Word Atha
8. The Atomicity of the Self
9. Brahman : The Lower and the Higher
Shankara
Ramanuja
Madhva
Narayana Guru
Ineffability
A Way Out
The Dialectical Way of Narayana Guru
10. Consciousness and the Self
Ramanuja
Madhva
Narayana Guru
11. Tat Tvam Asi
12. Karma and Reincarnation
Karma and Reincarnation According to the Acaryas
Artabhagas Doubt and the Mystery of Karma
What is Karma and Who does It?
Karma and Brahman
What is Birth and Death?
Death, a Part of the Life Cycle
The Two Paths
A Third Path
The Paths of Jnanis and Ajnanis
In the Katha Upanishad
In the Bhagavad-Gita
The Case of Yoga-Bhrashta
As Part of the Perishable
One Ishvara Alone Continues
In the Brahma-Sutras
Birth Determined by Karma
Good and Evil Actions
A Summary Review of Karma and Reincarnation
13. Final Release
Liberation According to Shankara
Liberation According to Ramanuja
Liberation According to Madhva
Madhvas Concept of Released Souls
Svarupananda-Taratamya According to Madhva
Liberation in Narayana Gurus Philosophy
Conclusion
Appendix
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
-
Abhinavaguptas Hermeneutics of the Absolute $60.00
The Paratrishika Vivarana by the great Kashmiri philosopher and mystic Abhinavagupta is an extensive commentary on the Paratrishika Tantra, and it is one of the most profound texts, not only of non-dualist Kashmir Shaivism, but of Indian philosophy and mysticism in general. The present work attempts to make this difficult text accessible, by culling out the important themes and offering an interpretation. The main focus is on the understanding of the Absolute (Anuttara) and the ways to realize it. The central theme of mantra also leads to a mysticism of language with its philosophical implications. All these reflections and practices are inscribed in the theory that everything is related to the totality, every part contains the whole of reality (sarvam sarvatmakam). It is this holistic vision of Abhinavagupta, based on the Tantras, which makes this work so relevant in our times of fragmented aspects of life and knowledge in search of integration. No doubt, in the view of the Tantra and of Abhinavagupta, language and mantra provide the key.
This fascinating book is an important contribution to studies and interpretations on Kashmir Shaivism, its spirituality and philosophy, and on Abhinavagupta in particular. -
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. “ -
Brahman and the World $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.” -
Visistadvaita’s Critique of the Advaita Hermenqutics $20.00
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. -
Wittgensteinian Realms of Religious Beliefs, Values and Metaphysics $143.00
All that cannot be expressed in language, for early Wittgenstein, belong to the realm of Unsayable or Showable. Such a realm consists of religious beliefs, ethical values, aesthetics, metaphysics, solipsism, love, death among other aspects of life which language is incapable of depicting successfully. Later Wittgenstein did not insist on the inexpressibility of these realms as each of them has their own distinct form of life. In this background this anthology is an attempt to explore various facets of these aspects of Wittgensteinian philosophy through various elucidations and interpretations. It is classified into three sections, viz. “Religious Beliefs, Wittgensteinian Fideism, Religious Pluralism, and Cultural Debates”, “Absolute Value, Ethics, Aesthetics, Architecture” and “Subjectivism, Solipsism, Metaphysics, and Hermeneutics”. It aims at bringing out the current development in the field as found in the debates and discussions on Wittgensteinian philosophy in the contemporary philosophical world.
