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Abhinavagupta’s Hermeneutics of the Absolute Anuttaraprakriya
This study by Bettina Baumer is important and welcome because it deals with what may well be considered as the very core-metaphysically and mystically-of Abhinavagupta's teaching, and of what he still can tell and teach us. Its importance is, of course and foremost, due to the fact that it deals with a work by Abhinavagupta who-as Bettina Baumer forcefully says in her introduction-is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable.
The Yoga of Netra Tantra
The inspiration for taking up the study of the Netra Tantra and its Yoga is entirely due to my guru, Swami Lakshman Joo (1907-91), who allowed me access to the tradition of Trika or non-dualist Kashmir Saivism. My gratitude to him is unbounded and has been guiding me in every endeavour of studying and practising this great spiritual tradition, when can contribute tremendously with a practical way to experience it.
Interstate Relations in Northern India Circa 800-1200 CE
Mysticism in Shaivism and Christianity
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 world's major traditions: Hinduism and Christianity.
Eighty-Four Asanas in Yoga
Physical postures are the most important and often the only constituent of modern Yoga. Many practitioners believe that the postures derive from an ancient original set of eighty-four asanas. This book, for the first time, traces traditions of eighty-four postures by examining original materials, including drawings, descriptions in older Indic texts and modern publications which reflect contemporary traditions.
Science and Spirituality
Dimensions of Panini Grammar
The Touch of Sakti
The Kashmirian Saiva tradition, especially in its non-dualistic form, is perhaps the richest philosophical one in India. It is among the few that have survived to our days. It has even spread (if in not always very valid versions) to the Western world. A study such as this one, on the particularly interesting subject of saktisparsa, cannot therefore but be welcome.
Tantra Mantra Yantra in Dance
The Indian perspective has always been holistic and all-inclusive : thought and activity in different fields, at different levels, have been interlinked to produce what has been timeless. Indian arts is a classic example of such amalgamation : it interlinks aspects of art, philosophy, mythology, religion, and mysticism. This book is an attempt to unravel such links with specific reference to the Kathaka dance form.
The Musician and His Art
In this book, the author relentlessly pursues his intellectual aims by borrowing ideas from a wide range of disciplines : sociology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, acoustics, aesthetics, demography, economics, marketing finance, psycho-analysis, mythology, philosophy and even mathematics. Despite its diverse intellectual canvas, the book retains the essential ''Indian-ness'' of the author's argument, and simultaneously addresses an international readership.
Saundaryalahari of Sankaracarya
The Saundaryalahari has fascinated and puzzled generations of scholars and laypersons; subject to continuing study and debate, till today, such details as the authorship of the 100 verses named the Saundaryalahari remain a matter of contention, particularly among scholars.
Nataraja Guru worked on the translation and commentary of the Saundaryalahari for a period of three and a half years, it is his last work and comes at the end of a life dedicated to the pursuit of the Absolute and those familiar with his work will recognize in it a kind of summing up of his life and teachings.
Decolonizing Indian Studies
The present Indian academic self-understanding of its history and culture is largely Western in origin. This Western intellectual enterprise, however, went hand in hand with a Western political enterprise, i.e the colonzation of India. This raises the question : To what extent, if any, did the two developments influence each other ? It also raises another question : To what extent did West's cultural presuppositions influence its understanding of Indian civilization.