Brief summary of the adhikaranas of Brahamasūtra of Bādarāyaṇa.

"Swami Vivekananda, the nineteenth-century Hindu monk who introduced Vedåanta to the West, is undoubtedly one of modern India's most influential philosophers. Unfortunately, his philosophy has too often been interpreted through reductive hermeneutic lenses. Typically, scholars have viewed him either as a modern-day exponent of âSaçnkara's Advaita Vedåanta or as a "Neo-Vedåantin" influenced more by Western ideas than indigenous Indian traditions. In Swami Vivekananda's Vedåantic Cosmopolitanism, Swami Medhananda rejects both of these prevailing approaches to offer a new interpretation (...) of Vivekananda's philosophy, highlighting its originality, contemporary relevance, and cross-cultural significance. Vivekananda, the book argues, is best understood as a cosmopolitan Vedåantin who developed novel philosophical positions through creative dialectical engagement with both Indian and Western thinkers. Inspired by his guru Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda reconceived Advaita Vedåanta as a nonsectarian, life-affirming philosophy that provides an ontological basis for religious cosmopolitanism and a spiritual ethics of social service. He defended the scientific credentials of religion while criticizing the climate of scientism beginning to develop in the late nineteenth century. He was also one of the first philosophers to defend the evidential value of supersensuous perception on the basis of general epistemic principles. Finally, he adopted innovative cosmopolitan approaches to long-standing philosophical problems. Bringing him into dialogue with a galaxy of contemporary philosophers, Medhananda demonstrates the sophistication and enduring value of Vivekananda's views on the limits of reason, the dynamics of religious faith, and the hard problem of consciousness"--. (shrink)

In the past several decades, numerous scholars have contended that Swami Vivekananda was a Hindu supremacist in the guise of a liberal preacher of the harmony of all religions. Jyotirmaya Sharma follows their lead in his provocative book, A Restatement of Religion: Swami Vivekananda and the Making of Hindu Nationalism (2013). According to Sharma, Vivekananda was “the father and preceptor of Hindutva,” a Hindu chauvinist who favored the existing caste system, denigrated non-Hindu religions, and deviated from his guru (...) Sri Ramakrishna’s more liberal and egalitarian teachings. This article has two main aims. First, I critically examine the central arguments of Sharma’s book and identify serious weaknesses in his methodology and his specific interpretations of Vivekananda’s work. Second, I try to shed new light on Vivekananda’s views on Hinduism, religious diversity, the caste system, and Ramakrishna by building on the existing scholarship, taking into account various facets of his complex thought, and examining the ways that his views evolved in certain respects. I argue that Vivekananda was not a Hindu supremacist but a cosmopolitan patriot who strove to prepare the spiritual foundations for the Indian freedom movement, scathingly criticized the hereditary caste system, and followed Ramakrishna in championing the pluralist doctrine that various religions are equally capable of leading to salvation. (shrink)

A new finding of lecture by Swami Vivekananda.

On the philosophy of the Hindu spiritual leader Swami Abhedananda, 1866-1939, disciple of Ramakrishna, 1836-1886.

This article reexamines Sri Aurobindo’s multifaceted response to the problem of evil in The Life Divine. According to my reconstruction, his response has three key dimensions: first, a skeptical theist refutation of arguments from evil against God’s existence; second, a theodicy of “spiritual evolution,” according to which the experience of suffering is necessary for the soul’s spiritual growth; and third, a panentheistic conception of the Divine Saccidānanda as the sole reality which playfully manifests as everything and everyone in the universe. (...) While a number of scholars have already discussed Aurobindo’s theodicy, I highlight the significance of three aspects of his theodicy that have been largely neglected. First, I emphasize the crucial theodical role of the “psychic entity,” Aurobindo’s term for the evolving, reincarnating soul within each of us. Second, I elucidate the skeptical theist dimension of his theodicy, which previous scholars have overlooked. Third, I argue that Aurobindo’s approach to the problem of evil may have been shaped, in part, by the teachings of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. Along the way, I also reconstruct the subtle chain of reasoning underlying Aurobindo’s various theodical arguments. In the concluding section, I suggest that there are conceptual resources within Aurobindo’s thought for responding to some of the most serious objections scholars have leveled against his theodicy. (shrink)

This article argues that the Indian philosopher-mystic Sri Aurobindo espoused a sophisticated form of cosmopsychism that has great contemporary relevance. After first discussing Aurobindo’s prescient reflections on the “central problem of consciousness” and his arguments against materialist reductionism, I explain how he developed a panentheistic philosophy of “realistic Adwaita” on the basis of his own spiritual experiences and his intensive study of the Vedāntic scriptures. He derived from this realistic Advaita philosophy a highly original doctrine of evolutionary cosmopsychism, according to (...) which the Divine Saccidānanda is “involved” in everything in the universe and gradually manifests itself at each stage of the evolutionary process from matter to life to mind, and ultimately, to Supermind—the final stage that is yet to come, upon the attainment of which we will attain knowledge of our true divine nature as Saccidānanda. I then reconstruct Aurobindo’s novel solution to the individuation problem, according to which the Divine Saccidānanda individuates into various distinct consciousnesses by playfully limiting itself through a process of “exclusive concentration.” Finally, I highlight the continued relevance of Aurobindo’s evolutionary cosmopsychism by bringing him into conversation with Itay Shani, a contemporary proponent of cosmopsychism. (shrink)

The ideal of a universal religion -- Principles and practices of Vedanta -- Self-realization through knowledge -- Self-realization through control of mind -- Self-realization through selfless work -- Self-realization through love of God -- Great teachers of the world.

Having been raised as a Catholic and educated in the West, then trained as a monk in India since the 1980s, Canadian author Swami Muktananda of Rishikesh is uniquely positioned to bring the Eastern tradition of Vedanta to Western spiritual seekers. In Awakening to the Infinite, he answers the eternal, fundamental question posed by philosophical seekers, "Who am I?" with straightforward simplicity. Knowing who you are and adopting a spiritual outlook, he counsels, can help solve problems in daily life (...) to do with relationships, work, children, sexuality, illness, and social injustice. In answering the question "Who am I?," Swami Muktananda of Rishikesh draws on the ancient teachings of advaita or nonduality, the truth that there is no division between ourselves and others at a fundamental level. The book is drawn from the many conversations he has throughout the year meeting with individuals from different backgrounds, cultures, and walks of life, as well as public talks and question and answer sessions. Covering subjects ranging from the spiritual path to everyday problems, Muktananda addresses questions with simplicity and compassion, from the standpoint of someone who is anchored in the infinite but fully in touch with the world. His teaching follows the words of Christ and the Old Testament as well as those of the sages of India, who all proclaim a universal truth that transcends all religions: 'You are not the body; you are not the mind; you are the immortal, divine Self. Realize this and be free.'. (shrink)

BackgroundCognitive deficits are one of the core features of major depressive disorder that play crucial role in functional recovery. Studies have explored cognitive deficits in MDD, however, given inconsistent results, especially in mild-moderate MDD. Recently, studies have explored music as cognitive ability in various clinical conditions. In MDD, large focus has been on evaluating emotion deficits and just a handful on music cognition. With growing evidence on use of music based intervention to target cognitive deficits, it is imperative to explore (...) nature of music cognitive ability in MDD.AimTo examine musical and neuro-cognitive deficits in patients with mild-moderate MDD.MethodsPatients diagnosed with mild or moderate MDD and matched healthy controls were evaluated on selected tests from NIMHANS Neuropsychological test battery and Montreal battery for evaluation of amusia.ResultsMDD group performed significantly lower than HC on working memory, verbal learning and retention. Three indices were computed for a comprehensive evaluation. Groups did not differ significantly in any of the indices- focused attention, executive function, learning and memory as well as on music cognition. Focused attention and memory index predicted music cognition in HC and the combined group. Attention alone contributed to 62.1% of variance in music cognition. Similarly, music cognition significantly predicted focused attention.ConclusionIndividuals with mild-moderate MDD show significant deficits in working memory, verbal learning and memory, however, not in music cognition. There exists a significant relationship between music cognition and attention, which could be implicated in use of music interventions to ameliorate cognitive deficits. Limitations of study include small sample size and heterogeneity. Future studies on larger cohort examining musical emotion perception and neurocognition is imperative to have deeper understanding of this debilitating condition. (shrink)

In this paper, we propose a person verification scheme using a novel combination of palmprint and speech. The crucial aspect of biometric based verification lies in its use of features in verification. Thus, in this paper, we propose two novel feature extraction methods for palmprint verification. The proposed methods are based on the Gaussian mixture model followed by subspace based approaches such as ICA I and ICA II, called independent component analysis I mixture model and independent component analysis II mixture (...) model for palmprint verification. The speech verification system uses sphericity based measurement for person verification. The proposed multimodal biometric system uses a fairly large database of 150 users. The robustness of the proposed methods is validated by introducing six different types of noises on palmprint images and Gaussian white noise with two different signal-to-noise ratios on speech samples. Then, fusion of palmprint and speech are carried out at match score level using the weighted SUM rule for both clean and noisy conditions. Finally, we compare the results of combined biometric with the results of individual biometric and also the results of the proposed methods against conventional subspace methods. (shrink)

Né à Calcutta, Swâmi Vivekânanda (1863-1902) fut fasciné dans sa jeunesse par la modernité occidentale. Sa rencontre avec le grand mystique Râmakrishna changea le cours de sa vie. Il devint son principal disciple et après la mort du maître, il renonça au monde pour parcourir l'Inde en ermite errant. Sa participation au premier Congrès mondial des religions fut pour lui le départ d'une intense activité missionnaire qui introduisit la philosophie védantique en Amérique. Dans cet ouvrage de référence, il décrit et (...) analyse trois formes majeures de yoga : le Karma-Yoga, ou " yoga de l'action désintéressée ", le plus répandu en Occident ; le Bhakti-Yoga, ou " yoga de la dévotion " à une divinité, particulièrement populaire en Inde ; et le Râja-Yoga, " le roi des yogas ", discipline ascétique totale que seuls quelques rares initiés maîtrisent sans danger. (shrink)

This article suggests that one of the key developments in Indian business following liberalization has been the increase in the number, diversity and activism of its stakeholders. This has presented managers with several ambiguous problems and tricky ethical dilemmas. Managers need to develop new competencies to cope, especially enhanced self-awareness, an ethical orientation, and the ability to think through, make judgments on and implement action after consideration of multiple (stakeholder) perspectives. Management education in India is yet to respond effectively to (...) the new competency requirements. There is need to introduce changes in the curriculum to inculcate these competencies. In this context, the suitability of the GVV approach to teaching ethics is reviewed. The evidence from the initial experiences of using the GVV approach in India, while anecdotal, has been positive. (shrink)

Since its inception over 200 years ago, Swaminarayan Hinduism has flourished into a transnational movement described as one of the fastest growing Hindu groups in the world. Despite being one of the largest and most visible Hindu traditions both in India and the West, surprisingly little is known about what the Swaminarayan fellowship believes.

A reproduction of the original book VEDANTA IN PRACTICE by Swami Paramananda first published in 1909. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. (...) We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. (shrink)

Commentary by Swami Tejomayananda. In this short and beautiful composition, Adi Sankara, the Master, has condensed the essence of Vedanta in just 31 verses, which are very useful to all serious seekers.

Section 1. Looking into the past -- section 2. Looking into the present and the future -- section 3. Vivekananda's personality -- section 4. Vivekananda's teachings -- section 5. Vivekananda's ideas.

This article suggests that one of the key developments in Indian business following liberalization has been the increase in the number, diversity and activism of its stakeholders. This has presented managers with several ambiguous problems and tricky ethical dilemmas. Managers need to develop new competencies to cope, especially enhanced self-awareness, an ethical orientation, and the ability to think through, make judgments on and implement action after consideration of multiple perspectives. Management education in India is yet to respond effectively to the (...) new competency requirements. There is need to introduce changes in the curriculum to inculcate these competencies. In this context, the suitability of the GVV approach to teaching ethics is reviewed. The evidence from the initial experiences of using the GVV approach in India, while anecdotal, has been positive. (shrink)

Includes text in Sanskrit with English translation and commentary.