The Veiling Brilliance


Book Description

Immediately, the seer Medhas challenges King Suratha and the merchant Samachi, saying that nothing in this world is as it seems to be and that what they don't know is the cause of their grief. Gifted with unfailing wisdom, the holy man is at once provocative, unpredictable, and loving as he takes his two new disciples on the journey of a lifetime-a journey to the heart of reality to self-discovery. This story of betrayal and loss, inner conflict, and the way to peace probes ever deeper into to the mystery of human existence and leads to the question, Who am I? Amid the deconstruction od everyday personality and the perplexing world, an astonishing new sense of self begins to shine through. Suratha's and Samadhi's struggles are everyone's struggles, and their growing understanding, nurtured by the irrepressible holy man, reveals the wisdom that resides deep in every human heart. The Veiling Brilliance is a compelling story, but more than that, it is a manual for living the empowers through a transformative vision of life in all its sacredness, where the commonplace becomes miraculous. Inspired by the Devimahatmya, the Sanskirt classic of Goddess-centered Hinduism, The Veiling Brilliance is an imaginative and eloquent novel that reinterprets for today's reader the psychological and spiritual wisdom of India's ancient Vedas and Tantras. At its core, The Veiling Brilliance is a book for seekers of direct, simple answer's to life's perennial questions and a book for those who wish to hear the hidden wisdom of the holy man's teaching simply, directly, and eloquently. Book jacket.




Buddhist Saints in India


Book Description

The issue of saints is a difficult and complicated problem in Buddhology. In this magisterial work, Ray offers the first comprehensive examination of the figure of the Buddhist saint in a wide range of Indian Buddhist evidence. Drawing on an extensive variety of sources, Ray seeks to identify the "classical type" of the Buddhist saint, as it provides the presupposition for, and informs, the different major Buddhist saintly types and subtypes. Discussing the nature, dynamics, and history of Buddhist hagiography, he surveys the ascetic codes, conventions and traditions of Buddhist saints, and the cults both of living saints and of those who have "passed beyond." Ray traces the role of the saints in Indian Buddhist history, examining the beginnings of Buddhism and the origin of Mahayana Buddhism.




In Praise of the Goddess


Book Description

About 16 centuries ago, an unknown Indian author or authors gathered together the diverse threads of already ancient traditions and wove them into a verbal tapestry that today is still the central text for worshippers of the Hindu Devi, the Divine Mother. This spiritual classic, the Devimahatmya, addresses the perennial questions of the nature of the universe, humankind, and divinity. How are they related, how do we live in a world torn between good and evil, and how do we find lasting satisfaction and inner peace? These questions and their answers form the substance of the Devimahatmya. Its narrative of a dispossessed king, a merchant betrayed by the family he loves, and a seer whose teaching leads beyond existential suffering sets the stage for a trilogy of myths concerning the all-powerful Divine Mother, Durga, and the fierce battles she wages against throngs of demonic foes. In these allegories, her adversaries represent our all-too-human impulses toward power, possessions, and pleasure. The battlefields symbolize the field of human consciousness on which our lives' dramas play out in joy and sorrow, in wisdom and folly. The Devimahatmya speaks to us across the ages of the experiences and beliefs of our ancient ancestors. We sense their enchantment at nature's bounty and their terror before its destructive fury, their recognition of the good and evil in the human heart, and their understanding that everything in our experience is the expression of a greater reality, personified as the Divine Mother.




The Life of Buddha


Book Description

Authoriative account of the life of Buddha utilizing information never presented in a western form.




The Buddha and His Dhamma


Book Description




Indian Philosophy of Language


Book Description

What can the philosophy of language learn from the classical Indian philosophical tradition? As recently as twenty or thirty years ago this question simply would not have arisen. If a practitioner of analytic philosophy of language of that time had any view of Indian philosophy at all, it was most likely to be the stereotyped picture of a gaggle of navel gazing mystics making vaguely Bradley-esque pronouncements on the oneness of the one that was one once. Much work has been done in the intervening years to overthrow that stereotype. Thanks to the efforts of such scholars as J. N. Mohanty, B. K. Matilal, and Karl Potter, philoso phers working in the analytic tradition have begun to discover something of the range and the rigor of classical Indian work in epistemolgy and metaphysics. Thus for instance, at least some recent discussions of personal identity reflect an awareness that the Indian Buddhist tradition might prove an important source of insights into the ramifications of a reductionist approach to personal identity. In philosophy of language, though, things have not improved all that much. While the old stereotype may no longer prevail among its practitioners, I suspect that they would not view classical Indian philoso phy as an important source of insights into issues in their field. Nor are they to be faulted for this.




Postcolonial Plays


Book Description

This collection of contemporary postcolonial plays demonstrates the extraordinary vitality of a body of work that is currently influencing the shape of contemporary world theatre. This anthology encompasses both internationally admired 'classics' and previously unpublished texts, all dealing with imperialism and its aftermath. It includes work from Canada, the Carribean, South and West Africa, Southeast Asia, India, New Zealand and Australia. A general introduction outlines major themes in postcolonial plays. Introductions to individual plays include information on authors as well as overviews of cultural contexts, major ideas and performance history. Dramaturgical techniques in the plays draw on Western theatre as well as local performance traditions and include agit-prop dialogue, musical routines, storytelling, ritual incantation, epic narration, dance, multimedia presentation and puppetry. The plays dramatize diverse issues, such as: *globalization * political corruption * race and class relations *slavery *gender and sexuality *media representation *nationalism







New Eye on Research


Book Description

The book is for undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD research scholars who are pursuing their courses. They can find various modern topics related with English language and Literature; it helps them to enhance their knowledge and capabilities to think upon a research topic properly and accurately. It covers the topic like Dalitism, Feminism, gynocentricism, Black Art Movement and so on along with various Diasporic topics.




The Life of the Buddha


Book Description

Among the numerous lives of the Buddha, this volume may well claim a place of its own. Composed entirely from texts of the Pali Canon, the oldest authentic record, it portrays an image of the Buddha which is vivid, warm, and moving. Chapters on the Buddha's personality and doctrine are especially illuminating, and the translation is marked by lucidity and dignity throughout.