The Vedanta Way to Peace and Happiness

by Swami Adiswarananda

Overview

Examines in detail the tenets of Vedanta, its relationship to other spiritual paths and its applications for your own spiritual journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683364443
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	06/01/2004
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Swami Adiswarananda (1925–2007), former senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order of India, was Minister and Spiritual Leader of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York.

Editorial Reviews

This latest offering by Swami Adiswarananda, the current leader of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, is a competent but didactic exposition of the Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism as practiced in India and the West. The compendium contains teachings handed down from the popular Raj-era reformer Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna's successor, through several generations of leaders. As an introduction to Vedanta, this volume incorporates key precepts and sources, citing scripture (the Vedas, Upanishads and epics) and excerpting commentary from predecessors. This makes for a thorough but unwieldy exposition of already dense themes central to non-dualism: the problems of good and evil, determinism and free will; and concepts such as maya (ignorance and illusion), shruti (testimony of the scriptures) and gunas (modifications of matter). The glossary should help readers follow philosophical and technical terms. Novices may appreciate the book's pragmatic approach in discussing meditation, although some American readers will be put off by the insistence on a traditional guru. Because Vedanta shares much of its basic vocabulary with yoga and Buddhism, this book may appeal to practitioners of those philosophies as well as to Vedantists. Although Adiswarananda has a great deal to say about the nature and relevance of Brahma, the all-pervasive divinity, his turgid prose ensures that this section's appeal will remain confined to aspiring Vedantists. (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Vedanta, a kind of essentialized successor to Hinduism, and once a highly fashionable religious path, has been somewhat in abeyance of late; two recent publications suggest that its stock may once again be on the rise. Adiswarananda, leader of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, has written a guide to Vedanta that emphasizes meditative practice, mystical apperception of the Deity, and loyalty to a correct spiritual leader as key to an effective approach to Vedanta. Shafts of Light is a kind of anthology of aphorisms drawn from the writings and conversations of Ashokananda, who established Vedanta centers in Berkeley, Sacramento, and San Francisco. Like his successors, he emphasizes the dualistic nature of Vedanta, which celebrates purity and eschews the "gross body": "The true Self is the light effulgent." While Vedanta itself may be a tough sell in the materialistic United States, these works form an able introduction. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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