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Hindus make a clear distinction between morality and spirituality, for their aim is not merely to become perfect human beings but to become one with the personal God through love in union with him or to become identified with the universal Spirit of the Absolute. They propose, besides morality, higher paths of spiritual wisdom and love of God. The book deals with the religious quest of Hinduism, the seers and God-men as founders of Hindu spirituality, faith in the guru, the ideal of the spiritual person (sadhu), Hindu hospitality and tolerance, the Hindu way to peace, the experience of God through love and union, and finally, the Hindu meaning of death and eschatology.

Neo-Hindutva explores the recent proliferation and evolution of Hindu nationalism – the assertive majoritarian, right-wing ideology that is transforming contemporary India. This volume develops and expands on the idea of ‘neo-Hindutva’ –– Hindu nationalist ideology which is evolving and shifting in new, surprising, and significant ways, requiring a reassessment and reframing of prevailing understandings. The contributors identify and explain the ways in which Hindu nationalism increasingly permeates into new spaces: organisational, territorial, conceptual, rhetorical. The scope of the chapters reflect the diversity of contemporary Hindutva – both in India and beyond – which appears simultaneously brazen but concealed, nebulous and mainstreamed, militant yet normalised. They cover a wide range of topics and places in which one can locate new forms of Hindu nationalism: courts of law, the Northeast, the diaspora, Adivasi (tribal) communities, a powerful yoga guru, and the Internet. The volume also includes an in-depth interview with Christophe Jaffrelot and a postscript by Deepa Reddy. Helping readers to make sense of contemporary Hindutva, Neo-Hindutva is ideal for scholars of India, Hinduism, Nationalism, and Asian Studies more generally. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary South Asia.

his reprint of the third and final edition of this classic work will be welcomed by all readers who want to understand Hinduism as it was and in many ways still is. This book is very valuable for the immense amount of information it gives... For what might be regarded as the workaday world of Hinduism... Information which no student can do without. Nirad C Chauduri, Hinduism (Oxford University Press).

This volume presents for the first time a complete English translation of all 99 Tamil Letters gathered and translated into German by the early Lutheran Pietist missionaries to India, namely Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg (1682-1719) and his colleague Johann Ernst Grundler (1677-1720). They attempted to help their European readers to engage with what Tamil people said of themselves, their history, literature, religions, women, children, agriculture and the like. The missionaries disclosed their theological and missiological intentions to the Tamils. The Tamils, in turn, did not accept them uncritically. They sent written responses to their inquiries in which they disclosed their deepest loyalties and practical priorities that gave them meaning, purpose, and satisfaction. The missionaries believed that the more European readers would familiarize themselves with the worldviews and customs of the Tamil peoples, the more appreciation, care, and concern they would have for their own religious institutions and cultural symbols. This kind of cross-cultural impact has very few paral-lels in the 18th century. These Tamil Letters are now nearly 300 years old; yet they have retained their authentic freshness. Modern readers can still discern, though faintly, Tamil voices and interactions with Europeans and European attitudes towards the Tamils. Even today, this kind of Hindu-Christian self-disclosure, in an atmosphere of mutual trust and friendship, may have relevance for the ways in which we try to promote better understanding between people of different faith communities living and working in our own neighborhoods. The Tamil Letters are given in translation with rich annotations and explanations.

I wrote this book for the reason listed in the title, to call and welcome my fellow americans to Hinduism. I feel like the message of Hinduism is one that is sorely needed in these times. In this book I’m not going to try to explain everything about Hinduism, there are a million very fine books that already do that and they’re written by scholars much more qualified than me to do that. What I’m aiming to do is to introduce you to Hindu dharma and present the case as to why you should look into it and seriously consider embracing it. I feel like a lot of people out there are genuinely interested in Hinduism but don’t know what to do about it. Or maybe they’re practicing some kind of Hindu..ish spirituality at home in private but are nervous or shy for some reason about going to the temple or taking their Hinduishness to the next level. If you feel like I’m talking about you right now, I wrote this book for you. Maybe you’re pagan/heathen and you’re interested in Hinduism too because of Paganism’s ancient connection to Hinduism. This book is for you too. I try to answer basic questions people have about Hinduism and address misconceptions people might have. I also give advice on spiritual practice. I’m not an english major, I write in the common tongue, like I speak so I feel like this book is probably going to be really easy to understand and it’s going to be a lot like having a deep spiritual conversation with your uncle or good friend. If you’re a fellow seeker on the spiritual path, this book is for you. Namaste and enjoy.

Hinduism is currently followed by one-fifth of humankind. Far from a monolithic theistic tradition, the religion comprises thousands of gods, a complex caste system, and hundreds of languages and dialects. Such internal plurality inspires vastly ranging rites and practices amongst Hinduism's hundreds of millions of adherents. It is therefore not surprising that scholars have been hesitant to define universal Hindu beliefs and practices. In this book, Axel Michaels breaks this trend. He examines the traditions, beliefs, and rituals Hindus hold in common through the lens of what he deems its "identificatory habitus," a cohesive force that binds Hindu religions together and fortifies them against foreign influences. Thus, in his analysis, Michaels not only locates Hinduism's profoundly differentiating qualities, but also provides the framework for an analysis of its social and religious coherence. Michaels blends his insightful arguments and probing questions with introductions to major historical epochs, ample textual sources as well as detailed analyses of major life-cycle rituals, the caste system, forms of spiritualism, devotionalism, ritualism, and heroism. Along the way he points out that Hinduism has endured and repeatedly resisted the missionary zeal and universalist claims of Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists. He also contrasts traditional Hinduism with the religions of the West, "where the self is preferred to the not-self, and where freedom in the world is more important than liberation from the world." Engaging and accessible, this book will appeal to laypersons and scholars alike as the most comprehensive introduction to Hinduism yet published. Not only is Hinduism refreshingly new in its methodological approach, but it also presents a broad range of meticulous scholarship in a clear, readable style, integrating Indology, religious studies, philosophy, anthropological theory and fieldwork, and sweeping analyses of Hindu texts.

A popular and critical success when it first appeared in France, Yoga and the Hindu Tradition has freed Yoga from the common misconceptions of the recent Yoga vogue. Jean Varenne, the distinguished French Orientalist, presents the theory of classical Yoga, in all its richness, as a method—a concrete way to reach the Absolute through spiritual exercises—which makes possible the transition from existence to essence. This excellent translation, including line drawings and charts, a glossary of technical terms, and a complete translation of the Yoga Darshana Upanishad, begins with a brief description of the metaphysical and religious history on which Yoga is based. Varenne discusses the theoretical conception of Yoga as the search for liberating knowledge, concluding with a brief indication of the physical practices and extra Yogic themes such as Kundalini and Tantrism. It is the author's hope that "those who read [this book] will come to realize that it is in fact dishonest to reduce Yoga to some sort of physical training, or to just an occult doctrine; it is a 'world view' a Weltanschauung that comprehends reality in its totality." "The straightforward, well-organized presentation makes the book itself a microcosm of what Varenne singles out as a dominant feature of classical Hindu thought—a bringing of the complex and multitudinous into a unity."—Judith Guttman, Yoga Journal

Hinduism is a vastly complex phenomenon, a world religion with a history of over three thousand years. It has produced men and women who have made outstanding contributions across the range of civilised human behaviour, and played a crucial part in the rise of two other great religions - Buddhism and Sikhism. Julius Lipner was born and raised in India and is able to draw on his own experience of Hindu beliefs and practices to explain what it means to be Hindu in a changing world. Hindus examines the religion as a plural phenomenon - that is, as a family of religions rather than a monolithic entity. The approach is thematic, and the author considers various topicssuch as the status of women - in more than one place and from more than one angle. He also tells and sometimes analyses Hindu stories, stressing the narrative quality of Hindu religion and giving us an insight into the nature of the Hindu phenomenon itself. Hindus will be valuable on more than one level: as a source of instruction, as a basis for discussion, seminars and further study, even as a challenge for further research. It provides a new perspective on what it means to live as a Hindu and enables readers to appreciate this great and marvellous religious phenomenon, its extraordinary richness, and the way it encompasses the diversity of human experience.

The term hindu is referred to the religious life of the people of India, and Spirituality understood as wisdom about the way back into the ground of pluralism of religious forms. These two volumes are strucrtured along the division between the classical and the postclassical.Twenty seven scholars from around the world shed light on the spiritual beauty of Hinduisms poetry art and temples, festivals and music, as well as the contributions of modern pioneers such as Swami Vivekananda Sri Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi and others.

For 30 years the author, a French missionary, lived among the Hindus, adopting their dress and customs and studying their social and religious institutions. The English government found this account of the results of his observations valuable enough to translate and publish it for the use of officials and oriental students.

After an existence of over 5000 years, the Hinduism the oldest religion on earth continues to brace the casteism in form of a monster.