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Vedanta is a philosophical system expressed in the Veda, a very important collection of Indian scriptures. Vedanta forms the philosophical basis for Hinduism, but its teaching is more essentially rational and universal, so it offers answers to most, if not all, of the questions found in any philosophical enquiry - be it Eastern or Western. All students of philosophy will relate to the concepts of selfhood, nature, karma and liberation. Here are views and answers to the most important questions. How is self identified? What are the causes and effects in nature? Are our actions determined? What is freedom for a human being? What happens after death?
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I think anyone who wonders what Eastern thought might have of value to Westerners today will want to have this book. Brian Hodgkinson(and you'd never guess, since the publishers omit any biodata in this edition) is uniquely equipped to answer this question. He has been for many years a teacher of Western philosophy, and also has translated the Bhagavad Gita from the Sanskrit, as well as reading other essential texts in Sanskrit. So he can relate such as Blackstone, Bracton, Camus, Descartes, Gladwell, Kant, Wittgenstein, Marx, Sartre, and Shakespeare (with particular attention given to Wittgenstein), to the profundities of thousands of years of Hindu thought. So he can deal with the 'great themes' of human thought such as knowledge and ignorance, the self, consciousness, liberation, time, mind, language, and much else, from the two halves of world thought.
All in all, a modest monument of scholarship for which I, and I think many other people, will be grateful : it's pretty much unique as a lifetime's work by one who obviously 'wanted to know' for himself and then wrote it down...
All in all, a modest monument of scholarship for which I, and I think many other people, will be grateful : it's pretty much unique as a lifetime's work by one who obviously 'wanted to know' for himself and then wrote it down...
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very well written book, both informative and readable. It covers considerable ground but, it should be noted, it is not solely related to Advaita - it also touches on dvaita and vishiShTAdvaita and there is a significant treatment of bhartRRihari's theory of language.
The connection with the School of Economic Science (School of Practical Philosophy) is obvious - from the influence of Plato and the importance of Sanskrit through to the quotes from Shantanand Saraswati and the particular books that are referenced and recommended. This means that correspondingly more emphasis is given to karma yoga and practical aspects of Vedanta and less to j~nAna yoga and the metaphysical truth of advaita. For example there is an entire chapter on nature and the guNa-s and another on time and the yuga-s, yet ajAtivAda is not mentioned at all. Similarly, the `elements' of the universe are explained at length but the fact that all of this is mithyA is not (indeed it is not at all clear that the author understands this concept).
He also tends to be over-literal with respect to the various prakriyA-s in advaita methodology and consequently pushes the metaphors beyond the point at which they cease to be useful. The attempts to reconcile Plato's philosophy with advaita cannot ultimately succeed. And he does tend to dwell on aspects that are ultimately irrelevant, such as conflicts between the various creation theories and evolution.
Nevertheless, there are some very clear descriptions of some aspects of advaita, such as upAdhi-s and sat; the section on karma yoga is very good indeed, as is that on the mind and reincarnation.
Overall, there is much to recommend this book for someone wishing to read generally on the subject of Vedanta and how the various philosophies relate to those of the West (the author is a teacher in Western philosophy). I actually enjoyed reading it, which is quite noteworthy for a book of this type. As long as it is realised that some of those aspects more directly relating to advaita may be hazy or misleading, I would certainly endorse it.
Dennis Waite, author of "Back to the Truth: 5000 Years of Advaita"
The connection with the School of Economic Science (School of Practical Philosophy) is obvious - from the influence of Plato and the importance of Sanskrit through to the quotes from Shantanand Saraswati and the particular books that are referenced and recommended. This means that correspondingly more emphasis is given to karma yoga and practical aspects of Vedanta and less to j~nAna yoga and the metaphysical truth of advaita. For example there is an entire chapter on nature and the guNa-s and another on time and the yuga-s, yet ajAtivAda is not mentioned at all. Similarly, the `elements' of the universe are explained at length but the fact that all of this is mithyA is not (indeed it is not at all clear that the author understands this concept).
He also tends to be over-literal with respect to the various prakriyA-s in advaita methodology and consequently pushes the metaphors beyond the point at which they cease to be useful. The attempts to reconcile Plato's philosophy with advaita cannot ultimately succeed. And he does tend to dwell on aspects that are ultimately irrelevant, such as conflicts between the various creation theories and evolution.
Nevertheless, there are some very clear descriptions of some aspects of advaita, such as upAdhi-s and sat; the section on karma yoga is very good indeed, as is that on the mind and reincarnation.
Overall, there is much to recommend this book for someone wishing to read generally on the subject of Vedanta and how the various philosophies relate to those of the West (the author is a teacher in Western philosophy). I actually enjoyed reading it, which is quite noteworthy for a book of this type. As long as it is realised that some of those aspects more directly relating to advaita may be hazy or misleading, I would certainly endorse it.
Dennis Waite, author of "Back to the Truth: 5000 Years of Advaita"
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having studied yoga and its philosophy on various yoga courses I felt I needed a general overview of the term 'Vedanta' - the ancient wisdom of Indian philosophy. This book certainly laid some foundations but also filled in some gaps in my understanding of the essence of Vedanta up to now. Although I do think it helpful to read around on such a topic as each author's take reveals something new to the reader.
The chapters on Knowledge and Ignorance (Ch 2),'The Self' (Ch 3) and 'Consciousness' (Ch 4) were particularly good. I admit to being rather perplexed about the content of the chapter on 'Language' (Ch 10) and 'Law and Society' (Ch 11) and felt that I'd need to read elsewhere to really understand what the author was saying in these chapters.
There's an excellent glossary of Sanskrit Terms at the end of the book. The index is also very cleverly divided up under main themes which I found very helpful.
Overall Brian Hodgkinson gives the reader a thorough intellectual overview of what Vedanta means. What's needed next is practice to taste its essence.
The chapters on Knowledge and Ignorance (Ch 2),'The Self' (Ch 3) and 'Consciousness' (Ch 4) were particularly good. I admit to being rather perplexed about the content of the chapter on 'Language' (Ch 10) and 'Law and Society' (Ch 11) and felt that I'd need to read elsewhere to really understand what the author was saying in these chapters.
There's an excellent glossary of Sanskrit Terms at the end of the book. The index is also very cleverly divided up under main themes which I found very helpful.
Overall Brian Hodgkinson gives the reader a thorough intellectual overview of what Vedanta means. What's needed next is practice to taste its essence.
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