A beautifully realized synthesis of the ancient tradition of Advaita Vedanta and Tantra.

From Shiva's lips to Vishnu's ear, Truth's sacred whispers, crystal clear. Dattatreya, Parashurama's grace, *Tripura Rahasya*, timeless embrace. In hidden realms, a sacred mystery unfolds, *Tripura Rahasya*, ancient wisdom it holds. Three cities of consciousness, veils to unbind, Self-realization's path, seeker's heart aligned. Within the heart's citadel, secrets reside, Goddess Tripura, cosmic dance, divine guide. As arrows pierce illusions, truth's light unfurls, Silent whispers echo, awakening the pearls. Sages seek the essence, beyond form and name, In stillness, they unravel the eternal flame. *Tripura Rahasya*, a map to inner skies, Where Self and universe merge, as dawn's first rise.

This book presents the multi-faceted Hindu deity Dattatreya from his Puranic emergence up to modern times. Dattatreya's Brahmanical portrayal, as well as his even more archaic characterization as a Tantric antinomian figure, combines both Vaisnava Saiva motifs. Over the course of time, Dattatreya has come to embody the roles of the immortal guru, yogin and avatara in a paradigmatic manner. From the sixteenth century Dattatreya's glorious characterization emerged as the incarnation of the trimurti of Brahma, Visnu, and Siva. Although Maharastra is the heartland of Dattatreya devotion, his presence is attested to throughout India and extends beyond the boundaries of Hinduism, being met with in Sufi circles and even in Buddhism and Jainism via Nathism. The scarce attention which most Western scholars of Indian religions have paid to this deity contrasts with its ubiquitousness and social permeability. Devotion to Dattatreya cuts through all social and religious strata of Indian society: among his adepts we find yogis, Brahmans, faqirs, Devi worshippers, untouchables, thieves, and prostitutes. This book explores all primary religious dimensions: myth, doctrine, ritual, philosophy, mysticism, and iconography. The comprehensive result offers a rich fresco of Hindu religion as well as an understanding of Marathi integrative spirituality: precisely this complexity of themes constitutes Dattatreya's uniqueness.

Hinduism is an ancient religion, philosophy and way of life. Unlike other great religions that are based on a small set of books, there are hundreds of texts in Hinduism, most of which are very voluminous. They span not merely centuries, but millennia. And most importantly, these ancient scriptures are all in Sanskrit which many do not know. Therefore for a beginner with an interest in Hinduism it is a daunting task as you don't know where to start such a study. In The Essentials of Hinduism, Trilochan Sastry unpacks all the ancient texts from the Vedas to the epics covering the entire range of scriptures and everything you need to know about them in an easy-to-read and accessible way making it of special interest to Hindus and those from other religions and nations, and even those who are agnostic or atheistic.

Though modern astronomers and astro-phycisists like Stephen Hawking have their doubts about interstellar travel there are countless references to inter-dimesional travel in mostly ancient Indian texts: The 'Kandha Puranam' (nearlly 17 million years ago)mentions that the Asura (Titan) King 'Sooran' ruled over 1008 universes and had 'vimanas' or flying crafts that could in an instant travel all over space cutting across dimensions at tremendous speed,that could hover in mid-air,over water,disappear and re-appear all of a sudden and had a host of stealth-weapons,even 'nuclear-winter' is mentioned for it is said that the entire world was enveloped in darkness caused by Sooran during the war; Lord Muruga possessed the 'Peacock Craft' that could circumvent the '14 worlds' and fly beyond in a micro-second and his "missile with the lengthy flame"(nedunchudar Vel) was 'voice-activated' and re-useable and was so powerful that it blew up into smitherns the 'Kraunja' mountain which even our modern day nuclear weapons cannot do according to scientists; The Ramayana(1.7 million years ago) mentions that Emperor Ravana's 'Pushpaka vimana' which he captured from 'Kubera' the Lord of riches in heaven could host "as many passengers as it takes",there were stun-weapons and stealth-technology; In the Mahabharata war(3500 b.c.) nuclear weapons like the 'brahmastra' were used and there is mention of numerous flying crafts of the Lords (Angels) of Asuras (Titans) and Rakshasas (Demons) who all travelled to and fro from the upper and lower worlds; The 'Sri Linga Purana' mentions that Lord Brahma's 'Swan Craft' flew and transcended the seven upper worlds while Lord Vishnu's 'Boar Craft' 'tunnelled' though the seven lower worlds and went even beyond 'Baathala' the lowest plane which all reminds us of blackholes being portals and shortcuts to parallell universes which is being theoretically proved today!; More than 2500 years ago the Japanese Royal Family's ancestors met with the 'Sun God' who landed on Mount Fuji and were presented with a sword and an orb which are still in the Imperial Palace in Japan; The native Indian's forefathers living on 'sun Island' on lake Titicaca in South America were visited by the Sun God; The Dogon tribes of Mali have a tradition that their forefathers had sailed on a great ship that flew down form Sirius the star,but what is interesting is that they don spacesuit-like gear and celebrate their home-coming once every fifty two years which is when sirius comes in direct alignment with our world!

Started in 1958, Sanathana Sarathi is a monthly magazine devoted to Sathya (Truth), Dharma (Righteousness), Shanti (Peace) and Prema (Love) - the four cardinal principles of Bhagawan Baba's philosophy. It is published from Prasanthi Nilayam (the Abode of Highest Peace) and acts as a mouthpiece of Baba's Ashram as it speaks of the important events that take place in His sacred Abode, besides carrying Divine Messages conveyed through Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The word meaning of Sanathana Sarathi is the 'Eternal Charioteer'. It signifies the presence of the Lord in every being as the atma guiding their lives like a charioteer. It implies that he who places his life, the body being likened to a chariot, in an attitude of surrender in the hands of the Lord, will be taken care of by the Lord even as a charioteer would take the occupant of his chariot safely to its destination. The magazine is an instrument to disseminate spiritual knowledge for the moral, physical and mental uplift of humanity without any discrimination as the subject matter discussed therein is always of common interest and of universal appeal. The fifteen Vahinis - streams of sacredness - known as the Vahini Series comprising annotation and interpretation of the Upanishads and other scriptures, Itihasas like the Ramayana, the Bhagavatha and the Mahabharata, and authentic explanations on Dhyana, Dharma, Prema, etc., have been serially published in this magazine as and when they emanated from the Divine pen of Bhagawan Baba. This magazine is published in almost all Indian languages, English and Telugu from Prasanthi Nilayam and others from respective regions. Every year Sanathana Sarathi comes out with a special issue in November commemorating the Divine Birthday. The English and Telugu magazines are posted on the 10th and 23rd respectively, of every month, from Prasanthi Nilayam. This magazine has wide, ever increasing circulation in India as well as abroad, as the study of it brings the reader closer to the philosophy of the Avatar in simple understandable language THUS SPAKE SAI... Discoursing during the launch of Sanathana Sarathi... From this day, our Sanathana Sarathi will lead to victory the cohorts of truth - the Vedas, the Sastras and similar scriptures of all faiths, against the forces of the ego such as injustice, falsehood, immorality and cruelty. This is the reason why it has emerged. This Sarathi will fight in order to establish world prosperity. It is bound to sound the paean of triumph when universal Ananda is achieved.

"Intro to Sakta thought, Hindu mysticism, India."

This book on the Tripurārahasya, a South Indian Sanskrit work which occupies a unique place in the Śākta literature, is a study of the Śrīvidyā and Śākta traditions in the context of South Indian intellectual history in the late middle ages. Associated with the religious tradition known as Śrīvidyā and devoted to the cult of the Goddess Tripurā, the text was probably composed between the 13th and the 16th century CE. The analysis of its narrative parts addresses questions about the relationships between Tantric and Purāṇic goddesses. The discussion of its philosophical and theological teachings tackles problems related to the relationships between Sākta and Śaiva traditions. The stylistic devices adopted by the author(s) of the work deal uniquely with doctrinal and ritual elements of the Śrīvidyā through the medium of a literary and poetic language. This stylistic peculiarity distinguishes the Tripurārahasya from many other Tantric texts, characterized by a more technical language. The book is intended for researchers in the field of Asian Studies, Indology, Philosophical, Theological or Religious Studies, Hindu Studies, Tantric Studies and South Asian Religion and Philosophy, in particular those interested in Śākta and Śaiva philosophic-religious traditions.