"This important book fills a gap in our knowledge.... Highly recommended."Â -- Library Journal "... highly recommended... " -- Choice "With admirable clarity and remarkable brevity, Jackson surveys the history of the movement and raises... important issues... " -- The Journal of American History An important history of the Ramakrishna movement, the very first and in many ways the most important Asian religious group to appear in the United States.

This comprehensive and accessible reference work serves Isherwood scholars who need quick access to people, places, novels, stories, essays and plays, introduces Isherwood to those who know little of him, expands the knowledge of the literate general reader, and refreshes teachers of literature with Isherwood details. Entries on Isherwood's most influential friends, including W.H. Auden, Aldous Huxley and Stephen Spender, are significant. Included are all of the monumental "roles" Isherwood exemplified during his life--writer, rebel, gay-activist hero, and proud exponent of the Eastern philosophy known as Vedanta.

The book published by Advaita Ashrama, a Publication House of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, contains thirty-nine articles by the scholarly author compiled mostly from his published articles in journals. These have been divided into three parts: Part I - Holy Mother - the author's writings on various aspects of Sri Sarada Devi's (the spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna) personality. Part II - Ideas - the author's thoughts on Religion, Religious Organisations and Spiritual Life, and Part III - Disciplines - Various means for the practice of religion and spirituality.

This classic work of research published by Advaita Ashrama, a Publication centre of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, India, brings under a single volume around 600 persons inspired by the ideals of Sri Ramakrishna and his disciples. Notable personalities whose connection with the Vedanta Movement in the West is delineated include Aldous Huxley, Arnold Toynbee, Albert Einstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, Mark Twain, J D Salinger and Joseph Campbell among others. For the scholars it is a mine of information presented precisely, and for the devotees of Ramakrishna, it is an inspiring account of western admiration for Ramakrishna and his disciples. (Pdf version).

A Spiritual Bloomsbury is an exploration of how three English writers—Edward Carpenter, E.M. Forster, and Christopher Isherwood—sought to come to terms with their homosexuality by engagement with Hinduism. Copley reveals how these writers came to terms with their inner conflicts and were led in the direction of Hinduism by friendship or the influence of gurus. Tackling the themes of the guru-disciple relationship, their quarrel with Christianity, relationships with their mothers and the problematic feminine, the tensions between sexuality and society, and the attraction of Hindu mysticism; this fascinating work seeks to reveal whether Hinduism offered the answers and fulfillment these writers ultimately sought. Also included is a diary narrating Copley's quest to track down Carpenter's and Isherwood's Vendantism and Forster's Krishna cult on a journey to India.

Philosophical issues such as reality and appearance, God and world, self and not-self, rebirth and immortality, free will and determination, mysticism, etc., have been examined by eastern and western philosophers as far back as the sages of Upanishads (700 BCE) in the East, and Plato (400 BCE) in the West. However, there was no significant communication among the philosophers of the East and West perhaps until the eighteenth century. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was one of the first among the great western philosophers to recognize the value of Indian philosophies. Despite the lack of communication there are striking similarities of concepts and issues addressed by Indian and western philosophies. Also interesting is how similar are the mystical versions of different religions of the East and West. The author, Dr. Arun Chatterjee, has attempted to bring out the similarities and differences in various chapters of this book dealing with different topics. Among Indian philosophies the focus is on Vedanta philosophy and the views of Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950). The views of Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) also are presented. Other Indian philosophies such as Sankhya and Buddhism are discussed briefly. Among western religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are discussed.

This handbook brings together a distinguished team of scholars from philosophy, theology, and religious studies to provide the first in-depth discussion of Vedanta and the many different systems of thought that make up this tradition of Indian philosophy. Emphasizing the historical development of Vedantic thought, it includes chapters on numerous classical Vedantic philosophies as well as the modern Vedantic views of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, and Romain Rolland. The volume offers careful hermeneutic analyses of how Vedantic texts have been interpreted, and it addresses key issues and debates in Vedanta, including religious diversity, the nature of God, and the possibility of embodied liberation. Venturing into cross-philosophical and cross-cultural territory, it also brings Vedanta into dialogue with Saiva Nondualism as well as contemporary Western analytic philosophy. Highlighting current scholarly controversies and charting new paths of inquiry, this is an indispensable research guide for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of Vedanta and Indian philosophy.

Explores the relationship between the philosophical underpinnings of Advaita Vedanta, Zen Buddhism And The experiential journey of spiritual practitioners.