Hinduism and the Religious Arts (Religion And The Arts)

Review

"A useful and easy-to-read introduction to a complex subject aimed largely at educational courses. Students and general readers will be grateful to the author for guiding them through the bewildering apparatus of Hindu religious symbols, ritual practices, sacred texts and mythological icons."
- Times Higher Education Supplement

"…a very strong case for the need to study visual expressions of Hindu beliefs …Elgood’s work is a must for academic library collections as well as for historians of religion interested in the unique contributions visual expression can add to an understanding of Hinduism."
--Religion and the Arts

Product Description

The roots between the Hindu religion and the wider culture are deep and uniquely complex. No study of either ancient or contemporary Indian culture can be undertaken without a clear understanding of Hindu visual arts and their sources in religious belief and practice. Defining what is meant by religion - no such term exists in Sanskrit - and what is understood by Hindu ideals of beauty, Heather Elgood provides the best synthesis and critical study of recent scholarship on the topic. In addition, this book offers critical background information for anyone interested in the social and anthropological roots of artistic creativity, as well as the rites, practices and beliefs of the hundreds of millions of Hindus in the world today.

Buy Now

The Encyclopedia of Yoga and Tantra

Review

"Sound, discerning, and endlessly useful. No serious student of Yoga can afford to be without it."—Huston Smith, author of The World’s Religions

"Many books have been written on Yoga, but Feuerstein's is perhaps the best ever published."—Choice

"All Westerners interested in Eastern philosophy and religion will soon wonder how they ever did without this volume at their side."—Jacob Needleman, author of The Heart of Philosophy

Product Description

The ever-increasing popularity of Yoga and related practices makes a desktop reference like this indispensible. With over twenty-five hundred entries and extensive illustrations, it combines comprehensiveness with accessibility. The book is arranged and written in a manner that will inform rather than overwhelm the lay reader, while at the same time offering valuable references for the professional researcher and the historian of religion. This new edition includes information about contemporary Yoga teachers. It also provides fuller descriptions and illustrations of Yoga poses, and features additional cross references.

Buy Now

Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State

Product Description

Clear explanation of the Dzogchen teachings and practices that reawaken and establish us in our true nature.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Buy Now

Shakti and Shakta: Essays and Addresses on the Shakta Tantrashastra (Forgotten Books)

Product Description

This is a set of essays by Woodroffe on Tantra.

About the Author

Sir John Woodroffe (1865 - 1936)
Sir John Woodroffe (1865-1936), also known by his pseudonym Arthur Avalon, was a British Orientalist whose work helped to unleash in the West a deep and wide interest in Hindu philosophy and Yogic practices.

Born on December 15th, 1865 as the eldest son of James Tisdall Woodroffe, Advocate-General of Bengal and his wife Florence, he was educated at Woburn Park School and University College, Oxford, where graduated in jurisprudence and the Bachelor of Civil Law examinations.

In 1890, He moved to India and enrolled as an advocate in Calcutta High Court. He was soon made a Fellow of the Calcutta University and appointed Law Professor of Calcutta University.He was appointed Standing Counsel to the Government of India in 1902 and two years later was raised to the High Court Bench.After serving for eighteen years in the bench, he became Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in 1915.After retiring to England he became Reader in Indian Law at the University of Oxford, and finally moved to France in his retirement, where he died in 1936.

Alongside his judicial duties he studied Sanskrit and Hindu philosophy and was especially interested in the esoteric Hindu Tantric Shakti system. He translated some twenty original Sanskrit texts, and under his pseudonym Arthur Avalon.He published and lectured prolifically and authoritatively on Indian philosophy and a wide range of Yoga and Tantra topics.

His most popular and influential book, a major contribution to the appreciation of Indian philosophy and spirituality, is The Serpent Power - The Secrets of Tantric and Shaktic Yoga (Dover Books), which is the source of many modern Western appropriation

Buy Now

While the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles and Predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind

This is hands down one of the most important books I have ever read. If you are interested in the "end times" and the invisible (to most) forces that permeate this world, then you will be blown away by what is revealed here. Mr. Danielou offers his reader a truely staggering and comprehensive explanation of the Cycles of Time (we are now living in the Twilight of the most dark and dense cycle, the Kali Yuga or the Age of Conflict & Confusion); a profound understanding of how consciousness creates reality (an ancient metaphysical precept, way before any 'new age'); exact symptoms of the Kali Yuga (including 'pre-cooked food will be readily available' - meaning the ancients knew that fast food would be herald a degenerate civilization); and a list of the events that occur as this final cycle of Time brings the inevitable dissolution of the world.

As I have been urging my friends to read this book for years, I have been praying that Inner Traditions would reprint it. While anything that Alain Danielou wrote will open your mind and alter your consciousness, this may have been his most valuable book.

Buy Now