This classic collection of Indian fables and spiritual stories offers an intimate and joyful glimpse at the deep, mythical tradition of India. India is the Home of Fables, which are usually associated western mind with the Greek slave mentioned by Herodotus, by the name of Aesop. Few people realize that these stories, their special form and technique can be traced to very remote sources in India. The same can be said of Gypsy stories all over the world. The Gypsies are forgotten sons and daughters of India, almost all speaking the North-Indian language, Hindi. Ernest Rhys in his introduction to the Fables of Aesop and others justly remarks, "We have to admit that the best fables did not begin with Aesop or in Greece at all. We have, in fact, to go East and look into India and burrow in the 'Tales within tales' of Hitopdesha to get an idea how old the antiquity of the fables actually is."
India is not just a geography or history. It is not only a nation, a country, a mere piece of land. It is something more: it is a metaphor, poetry, something invisible but very tangible. It is vibrating with certain energy fields that no other country can claim. For almost ten thousand years, thousands of people have reached to the ultimate explosion of consciousness. Their vibration is still alive, their impact is in the very air; you just need a certain perceptivity, a certain capacity to receive the invisible that surrounds this strange land. It is strange because it has renounced everything for a single search, the search for the truth. In these pages, we are treated to a spellbinding vision of what Osho calls "the real India," the India that has given birth to enlightened mystics and master musicians, to the inspired poetry of the Upanishads and the breathtaking architecture of the Taj Mahal. We travel through the landscape of India's golden past with Alexander the Great and meet the strange people he met along the way. We are given a front-row seat in the proceedings of the legendary court of the Moghul Emperor Akbar, and an insider's view of the assemblies of Gautama the Buddha and his disciples. In the process, we discover just what it is about India that has made it a magnet for seekers for centuries, and the importance of India's unique contribution to our human search for truth.
The Bhagavad Gita: one of three new editions of the books in Eknath Easwaran's Classics of Indian Spirituality series On this path, effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure. Even a little effort towards spiritual awareness will protec...
A Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet - then spends the rest of his life trying to atone for the violence by hand printing the best prayer flags in India. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death. Nine people, nine lives; each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story. William Dalrymple delves deep into the heart of a nation torn between the relentless onslaught of modernity and the ancient traditions that endure to this day. LONGLISTED FOR THE BBC SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE
Balance your chakras, enhance health and prosperity, and connect with the gods and goddesses through meditative coloring • Contains 42 illustrations by Indian artist and spiritual teacher Harish Johari • Includes chakra imagery to balance your energy body; power yantras to enhance health, prosperity, peace, and love; and illustrations of Hindu gods and goddesses such as Ganesh and Hanuman to remove obstacles and open your heart • Provides meditative statements facing each piece to help focus your intent while coloring Combining authentic Indian art and profound spiritual insight, the Spiritual Traditions of India Coloring Book pairs line illustrations from accomplished traditional Hindu artist and spiritual teacher Harish Johari with meditative statements from his bestselling books. Focusing your mind on the accompanying mantras while you color supports profound relaxation and clarity of thought and allows the spiritual realizations of the mantras to penetrate deeply into your psyche. Containing 42 coloring illustrations, the book includes chakra imagery, power yantras, planets, and scenes of Hindu gods and goddesses, such as Ganesh, Hanuman, Shiva, and Parvati. Coloring the chakras enables you to visualize the energy centers in your own body, enhancing your ability to open the chakras and balance your flow of energy. Coloring the power yantras allows you to align your mind and spirit with the energies of good health, tolerance, prosperity, peace, and love, attracting these virtues to your life. Coloring the planets, gods, and goddesses allows you to connect with these powerful entities, inviting their help and influence in your life. Conveying the timeless wisdom of an ancient lineage passed down from teacher to student for thousands of years, Johari’s words and art reveal the tantric virtues of each yantra, chakra, mudra, celestial body, and deity, such as how Ganesh is the remover of obstacles and how Hanuman enables you to open your heart and experience the unconditional love for your friends, family, and loved ones. The meditative act of coloring these classical Indian images also kindles an appreciation for the sacred geometry embodied within these works of art and their transformative effects on consciousness.
The Religious, the Spiritual, and the Secular presents an account of Auroville, a city in contemporary southeast India, and the vision of founder and well-known guru Sri Aurobindo. Auroville's eventual takeover and the promotion of its goals by the Indian government leads to a thought-provoking discussion of the meaning of "secularism" in India.
In India: A Sacred Geography, renowned Harvard scholar Diana Eck offers an extraordinary spiritual journey through the pilgrimage places of the world's most religiously vibrant culture and reveals that it is, in fact, through these sacred pilgrimages that India’s very sense of nation has emerged. No matter where one goes in India, one will find a landscape in which mountains, rivers, forests, and villages are elaborately linked to the stories of the gods and heroes of Indian culture. Every place in this vast landscape has its story, and conversely, every story of Hindu myth and legend has its place. Likewise, these places are inextricably tied to one another—not simply in the past, but in the present—through the local, regional, and transregional practices of pilgrimage. India: A Sacred Geography tells the story of the pilgrim’s India. In these pages, Diana Eck takes the reader on an extraordinary spiritual journey through the living landscape of this fascinating country –its mountains, rivers, and seacoasts, its ancient and powerful temples and shrines. Seeking to fully understand the sacred places of pilgrimage from the ground up, with their stories, connections and layers of meaning, she acutely examines Hindu religious ideas and narratives and shows how they have been deeply inscribed in the land itself. Ultimately, Eck shows us that from these networks of pilgrimage places, India’s very sense of region and nation has emerged. This is the astonishing and fascinating picture of a land linked for centuries not by the power of kings and governments, but by the footsteps of pilgrims. India: A Sacred Geography offers a unique perspective on India, both as a complex religious culture and as a nation. Based on her extensive knowledge and her many decades of wide-ranging travel and research, Eck's piercing insights and a sweeping grasp of history ensure that this work will be in demand for many years to come.
Discover the profound wisdom and timeless teachings of one of India’s greatest spiritual guides with "Spiritual Stories as Told by Ramana Maharshi" by V.S. Ramanan. This enlightening collection presents the spiritual narratives and parables shared by Ramana Maharshi, offering deep insights into the nature of self-realization and inner peace. As you immerse yourself in these spiritual tales, you will encounter profound lessons that reveal the essence of Maharshi’s teachings. Each story is a journey into the heart of spirituality, illustrating the path to self-discovery and the eternal quest for enlightenment. But here’s the intriguing question that will inspire you: Can ancient spiritual stories hold the key to understanding the profound truths of our own existence, or are they timeless reflections of universal wisdom? Experience the transformative power of Ramana Maharshi’s teachings through these carefully curated stories, each one designed to guide you on a path of introspection and spiritual growth. The book’s rich narratives and profound messages offer a unique opportunity to connect with the deeper aspects of your own spiritual journey. Are you ready to explore the timeless wisdom of Ramana Maharshi and uncover the secrets of inner peace? Engage with a collection that offers more than just stories; it provides a gateway to spiritual awakening and personal transformation. "Spiritual Stories as Told by Ramana Maharshi" invites you to delve into the heart of spirituality and discover insights that resonate across time and culture. Don’t just read spiritual stories; immerse yourself in teachings that have guided countless seekers towards enlightenment. Will you embark on a journey of self-discovery and spiritual awakening with these profound narratives? Secure your copy of "Spiritual Stories as Told by Ramana Maharshi" today, and let V.S. Ramanan’s presentation of these timeless tales lead you towards a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. This is more than a book; it’s a journey into the essence of spiritual wisdom.
A fascinating look at India’s remarkable impact on Western culture, this eye-opening popular history shows how the ancient philosophy of Vedanta and the mind-body methods of Yoga have profoundly affected the worldview of millions of Americans and radically altered the religious landscape. What exploded in the 1960s, following the Beatles trip to India for an extended stay with their new guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, actually began more than two hundred years earlier, when the United States started importing knowledge--as well as tangy spices and colorful fabrics--from Asia. The first translations of Hindu texts found their way into the libraries of John Adams and Ralph Waldo Emerson. From there the ideas spread to Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and succeeding generations of receptive Americans, who absorbed India’s “science of consciousness” and wove it into the fabric of their lives. Charismatic teachers like Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda came west in waves, prompting leading intellectuals, artists, and scientists such as Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, Allen Ginsberg, J. D. Salinger, John Coltrane, Dean Ornish, and Richard Alpert, aka Ram Dass, to adapt and disseminate what they learned from them. The impact has been enormous, enlarging our current understanding of the mind and body and dramatically changing how we view ourselves and our place in the cosmos. Goldberg paints a compelling picture of this remarkable East-to-West transmission, showing how it accelerated through the decades and eventually moved from the counterculture into our laboratories, libraries, and living rooms. Now physicians and therapists routinely recommend meditation, words like karma and mantra are part of our everyday vocabulary, and Yoga studios are as ubiquitous as Starbuckses. The insights of India’s sages permeate so much of what we think, believe, and do that they have redefined the meaning of life for millions of Americans—and continue to do so every day. Rich in detail and expansive in scope, American Veda shows how we have come to accept and live by the central teaching of Vedic wisdom: “Truth is one, the wise call it by many names.”
