A book on the Advaita tradition

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

One problem with our understanding of Advaita Vedanta is its place

in the Hindu tradition. This is a tradition which has always

emphasized the living word: as spoken by an individual teacher to an

individual disciple. And there is something of a conflict here with

the modern West, which has increasingly emphasized the written word:

as recorded in material documents that are produced and maintained

by organized institutions in society.

 

In the modern West and among Westernized Indians today, this bias

towards the written word is so strong that the very idea of

'history' has come to be identified with our written records. Those

times which we find described through written accounts are thus

called 'historic'; and those earlier times of which we have only

spoken accounts are called 'prehistoric'.

 

The Hindu tradition takes a very much broader and deeper view of its

own history. In this view, history most definitely includes the

Vedic 'shruti' texts, which are essentially spoken teachings that

have been passed on through a succession of living individuals.

Thus, knowledge is conceived to be passed down alive, through those

successful individuals who achieve that knowledge for themselves.

 

How then could the Hindu tradition be conceived today, from its own

point of view, as passing down a living knowledge that continues

from an ancient past into the modern world?

 

This is a question which I have been trying to address in a book

called 'Ways to Truth - A View of the Hindu Tradition'. The view

that's taken here is an Advaita one, referring both to Shri

Shankara's Advaita Vedanta and to Bhartrihari's linguistic

philosophy in the 'Vakya-padiya'.

 

The book is currently available for free download at:

http://www.advaitin.net/Ananda/WaysToTruth.pdf

 

However, the book is also being prepared for a paper-printed

publication and the publisher may soon insist on some restrictions

about downloading it. I am trying to persuade the publisher that

it's best to allow a free download, but I don't know how far the

persuasion will be successful.

 

Should anyone download the book and have some critical or analytic

comments about it, I would be happy to hear them. If the comments

are strictly about Advaita, within the guidelines of our Advaitin

e-group, they may be sent through a message here. But any comments

that are at all off-topic must be sent only to my e-mail address.

 

Shri Ram Chandran has asked me to explain that in addition to this

book, there are also other books and articles on related topics at

the same web page:

http://www.advaitin.net/Ananda/

 

Ananda

[Guest guest]

advaitin , Ananda Wood <awood wrote:

>

> Namaste,

>

> The book is currently available for free download at:

> http://www.advaitin.net/Ananda/WaysToTruth.pdf

>

>

> Should anyone download the book and have some critical or analytic

> comments about it, I would be happy to hear them. If the comments

> are strictly about Advaita, within the guidelines of our Advaitin

> e-group, they may be sent through a message here. But any comments

> that are at all off-topic must be sent only to my e-mail address.

>

>

> Ananda

>

 

Sri Ananda Ji,

 

I have downloaded and started reading the book. I just finished Part

1 - Learning from the Past.

 

It is a fantastic reading and kept me enganged. Thank you very much

for exposing us to this book. As the title suggests, anyone

interested in knowing the truth should read this.

 

After finishing the book, if I have any comments and confusions, I

will post it here.

 

Thank you very much

 

Sudesh

[Guest guest]

advaitin , Ananda Wood <awood

> Namaste,

> Respected Sir,

I Tried to open the following URL to download to view it to send my

opinion about it.

http://www.advaitin.net//Ananda/

But it could not be opened in my P.C. I do not understand where the

defect lies.

HARI OHM

bagawan_sastry

>