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This contain books of almost every religion.
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Sri Vijnana Bhairava Tantra The Ascent (Swami Satyananda Saraswati)
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The theme of Vijnana Bhairava Tantra is dharana, or concentration, a subject most relevant today. This new translation & commentary of a classical tantric text sheds much light on the practice of dharana, which until now has been revealed only by peripheral explanations. This text comprises 112 different dharanas, or techniques of concentration, which can easily be incorporated into one’s daily life. Although dharana is a praccice for an adept, whose mind is steady & controlled, the techningues contained within this book provide a way even for the aspirant with a distracted mind to gradually develop concentration & meditaion. This work is the result of an in-depth study of dharana in relation to the tantric view of meditation, substantiated by the personal experience of the author. Included is a detailed introduction followed by the original Sanskrit slokas, with transliteration, translation & extensive commentary. Introduction:- The loftiest dictum pronounced by the sages & seers of the upanishadic & vedic era was Adam Brahmasmi, “I am that.” Their search was within; they explored the vast dimensions that constitute the inner life. Mentally they dissected the body & discovered its subtle essence to be the senses. Through meditation on the senses they discovered the corridors & avenues of the mind. By reflecting on the mind they realized the potential energy that was dormant within. By awakening that energy they discovered consciousness, & by uniting the inherent energy with the individual consciousness they realized that they were indeed intimately connected to & a part of the cosmic consciousness. This was realized by the tantrics long time ago, even before the vedic era. The entire spectrum of vedic & tantric philosophy is based on this realization; whether Shaivism, Vaishnavism or Shaktism, the subject is exploring the substance that man is composed of. Several hundred thousand years later, the unified field theory which physicists talk uncannily points in the same direction. According to this theory, the entire creation is one composite whole & all of life, whether animate or inanimate, manifest or unmanifest, is intimately connected. In other words, whatever you think, feel, say or do spreads like ripples into unending space, merging & colliding with ripples from other sources. This is a very dynamic idea, which lends universality to each & every human being & gives life an importance & status that goes far beyond one’s imagination & expectation. Through the dark ages of history, the average man has found himself severely limited whenever he has tried to delve into areas of life that extend beyond what the senses can see, hear, taste, touch & smell. The range of human perception is limited to this dimension.
300/=Swami Vivekananda The monarch of Monks {by Dushyanta Pandya}
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Swami Vivekanand, whose pre-monastic name Narendranath Dutt, was one of the most famous & influential social reformers of the 19th century. A redoubtable spiritual leader, he was an exponent of Vedanta. He was the most eminent disciple of Ramakrisna Math as well as Ramakrishna Mission. This book provides deep insight into the life & achievements of Swami Vivekanada. Describing his family background & early life, it presents a detailed account of how he came into contact with Sri Ramakrishna, the moulding of his life as a monk, Ramakrishna’s illness & death, the building of the Math, his teaching, & his foreign tours to spread the message of peace & universal brotherhood as well as the philosophy of Vedanta, with special reference to his lecture at the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago. The Great Deliverer:- A man in a hapless condition, says an Indian saying, leaves the world & becomes a sadhu – a monk. When Narendranath Datta, a “brilliant graduate of Calcutta University took the vaws of sannyasa,” the condition of his family could not have been worse. His father, who was a leading advocate of Kolkata, the capital of the British Empire then, & who was living like a lord, died all of a sudden in 1884. And the pomp & show all vanished as if engulfed by a severe earthquake. A family of younger brothers, sisters & mother had to be supported. But Narendra, then only twenty three years of age, chose the path of a sannyasin instead of that of a householder. Haridas Desai, then Diwan of Junagadh state in Gujarat, with whon Swami Vivekanada had come to be closely attached, happened to visit Swamiji’s house in Kalkata & after seeing the dire straits Bhuvaneshvari Devi, the Swamiji’s mother & other relatives were living in, wrote a letter to Swamiji in America disapproving the latter’s choice of life of a sannyasin. The Diwanji was like a father to Swamiji, & the Diwanji’s remonstrance, howsoever mind it might have been, touched Swamiji to the quick & he appears to have been very much by it. His letter from Chicago, dated 29th January, 1894, to Dear Diwanji Saheb’ (C.W.vol VIII p. 297 Mayawti Mem. Ed., 1989) makes it clear to the whole world:”… “Without my giving up the world, the great mission which Ramakrishna Paramhansa, my great Master, came to preach would not see the light…’’ These world of Swamiji in the letter to one whom he respected like his father, mark out very clealy Vivekanand’s choice of the path of life, his goal in life. And that choice he had made when he was just twenty three years old. He had come in contact with his guru during 1881-1882 & after his meeting with Shri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar, he had left the place with a very old impression about the person who was to mould him, guide him & declare him to be his first apostle. Once the guru had simply shocked Naren-the future Vibekananda-and other present in his room by suddenly declaring that Naren was eighteen times more intelligent, more capable, & spiritually greater than Keshub Sen. And Keshub Sen, was the leader of his Brahmo Samaj, a sincere seeker, a brilliant orator & a powerful writer. This sudden burst of Shri Ramakrishna had shocked everyone present there, Naren the most.
320/=THE PRESENCE OF SIVA (STELLA KRAMRISCH)
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One of the three Great Gods of Hinduism, Siva is a living god. The most sacred & most ancient book of India, the Rg Veda, evokes his presence in its hymns. Vedic myths, ritual, & even astronomy testify to his existence from the dawn of time. In a lively meditation of Svia—based on original Sanskrit texts, many heretofore not translated—Stella kramrisch ponders the metaphysics, ontology, & myths of Siva from the Vedas to the Puranas. Who is Siva? The author asks. Who is this god being comprises & transcends everything? None of the paire of opposites, nor the sum of his uncounted names, defines him. From the dawn of creation, the Wild God, whose ancient name is Rudra, is Consciousness. He is the Great Yogi, the guardian of the absolute. His actions are the themes of the myths in which his nature unfolds. By retelling & interweaving the many myths that continue to convey Siva’s presence as a living god in India today, Professor Kramrisch unfolds the paradoxes in Siva’s nature & thus in the nature of consciousness itself. The magnificent sculptures at Elephanta, illustrated at the end of the book, capture in another medium the presence of the god. This book took shape over over about ten years & I am grateful to those who read various drafts of the manuscript, edited the English, & checked the references to Sanskrit texts. Paul Todd Makler, Dorothy Norman, & Svatantra Kumar Pidara gave their unstinting help during the earlier phases. Guy Welbon made valuable suggestions concerning the substance of the texe; Darrel Sewell added constructive comments to the Appendix. Susan Oleksiw painstakingly revised in its final form the language & accuracy of the manuscript with regard to its sources. To her in particular, to all those who helped, & to the authorities of the Philadelphia Museum of Art who facilitated my work, I am indebted forever. (MOTILAL BANARSIDASS)
795/=THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI {EDWIN F. BRYANT}
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THE HISTORY OF YOGA:- Everyone by now has heard of yoga, &, indeed, with millions of Americans in some form or fashion practicing asana, the physical aspect of yoga, the teaching & practice of yoga, at least in the aspect of techniques of body poses & stretches, are now thoroughly mainstream activities on the Western cultural landacape. Yoga has popularly been translated as “union with the divine” & may refer to a number of different spiritual systems. The Bhagavad Gita, for example, discusses a number of practiecs that have been termed yoga in popular literaure: karma-yoga (buddhi-yoga), the path of action; jnana-yoga (sankhya-yoga), the path of knowledge; bhakti-yoga, the path of devotion; & dhyana-yoga, the path of silent meditation (which is the subject of Patanjali’s text), & terms such as tantra-yoga, siddha-yoga, nada-yoga, & so forth are now common in alternative spiritualities in the West. Typically, however, when the word yoga is used by itself without any qualification, it refers to the path of meditation, particularly as outlined in the Yoga Sutras—the Aphorisms on Yoga—and the term yoga, a practitioner of this type of meditational yoga.
Rs 599/=THE DEVI GITA [THE SONG OF THE GODDESS:] A Translation. Annotation, & Commentary (C. Mackenzie Brown)
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Introduction:- The Devi Gita, or Song of the Goddess, presents a grand vision of the universe created, pervaded, & protected by a supremely powerful, all-knowing, & wholly compassionate divine female. She is Maha-Devi of Great Goddess, known to her most to her most devoted followers as the auspicious Mother-of-the-World (jagad-ambika, jagan-matr). Unlike the ferocious & horrific Hindu goddesses such as Kali & Durga, the World-Mother of the Devi Gita is benign & beautiful, though some of her lesser manifestations may take on terrifying forms. And unlike other beneficent female divinities such as Parvati & Laksmi, she is subject to no male consort. This World-Mother is formally addressed as Bhuvanesvari, the “Ruler of the Universe.” She resides in her celestial paradise known as Manidvipa, the Jeweled Island, situated at the topmost point of the universe. From there, ever wakeful & alert, she observes the troubles of the world, eager to intervene on behalf of her devotees. While resting in her island home, she reclines on a sacred throne or couch of remarkable design, composed of five pretas, ghosts or corpse. The four legs are the lifeless bodies of Brahma, Visun, Rudra, & Isana (the latter two being forms or aspects of Siva), & the seat is the stretched-out corpse of Sadasiva (the eternal Siva). This conception of Bhuvanesvari seated on her Panca-Pretasana (Seat of Five Corpese), marvelously illustrated in Figure 10.1, page 286, reveals her supreme sovereignty, especially over masculine pretensions to cosmic power. Brahma, Visnu, & Siva are the three male deities traditionally associated with creating, & destroying the universe. But here, as elements of Bhuvanesvari’s throne, they represent her latent cosmic energies, unconscious & inert, residing under her feet until aroused by her desire. While lounging on this couch at the beginning of creation, the Goddess splits herself into two for the sake of her own pleasure or sport—one half of her body becoming Mahesvara (Siva). In such manner she dramatically demonstrates her superiority to all the male gods. The Great Goddess is both wholly transcendent & fully immanent: beyond space & time, she is yet embodied within all existent beings; without form as pure, infinite consciousness (cit), she yet dwells each month in the sacred shrine of Kamakhya in Assam during her menses. She is the universal, cosmic energy known as Sakti, & the psychophysical, guiding force designated as the Kundalini (Serpent Power) resident within each individual. She is eternal, without origin or birth, yet she is born in this world in age after age, to support those who seek her assistance. Precisely to provide comfort & guidance to her devotees, she presents herself in the Devi Gita to reveal the leading both to worldly happiness & to the supreme spiritual goals: dwelling in her Jeweled Island & mergence into her own perfect being.
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