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The Scope Of This Work Is Much Wider Than What It Indicates By The Title `Cult Of Siva`. It Is A Comparative Study Of Buddhism, Vaishnavism And Saivism With Particulars Reference To Tribal And Folk Religious Behaviour. The Author Has Reputed Many Established Facts And Has Given New Interpretations To Saiv, Rudra, Indra, Amba, Durga, Jagannatha, Kalinga, Udra, Bedi Etc. In A Very Convincing Way.
This is a full account of Siva's Dance of Bliss, which has become a popular symbol in the West for Hinduism and Eastern Mysticism. Siva is one of the two main gods of Hinduism, and his worshippers comprise half of all Hindus. Siva's Dance of Bliss is based on a remarkable Sanskrit poem written by Umapati Sivacarya, Saiva theologian and temple priest in Cidambaram, South India, in the fourteenth century. Starting with the bronze image of Nataraja, King of Dancers, thereafter the Cidambaram temple, its myth and its priests are viewed in the light of the poem. Umapati's Saiva theology is discussed in relation to his life and also in relation to Vedanta and yoga. The iconography and mythology of the Goddess and of other forms of Siva provide necessary perspective. Art from Cidambaram and neighbouring sites illuminates the text.
A fascinating tour of particle physics from Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman. At the root of particle physics is an invincible sense of curiosity. Leon Lederman embraces this spirit of inquiry as he moves from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations to Einstein and beyond to chart this unique arm of scientific study. His survey concludes with the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe, quarks and all--it's the dogged pursuit of this almost mystical entity that inspires Lederman's witty and accessible history.
Shiva and Dionysus are the Hindu and Greek gods of magical power, intoxication, ecstatic sexuality, and transcendence who initiate us into communion with the creative forces of life. Revealing the earliest sources of the traditions of Shiva and Dionysus, Alain Danielou reconstructs the fabric of our ancient relationship with creation, vividly relating practices that were observed from the Indus Valley to the coasts of Portugal at least six thousand years ago.
An extensive examination of the underpinnings of the Shaivite Tradition • Reveals the influence of Shaivism on the Western world • Discusses Shaivism’s understanding of sacred sexuality • Presents the connections between Vedic poetry and metaphysics In Shiva and the Primordial Tradition, Alain Daniélou explores the relationship between Shaivism and the Western world. Shaivite philosophy does not oppose theology, cosmology, and science because it recognizes that their common aim is to seek to understand and explain the nature of the world. In the Western world, the idea of bridging the divide between science and religion is just beginning to touch the edges of mainstream thought. This rare collection of the late author’s writings contains several never-before-published articles and offers an in-depth look at the many facets of the Samkhya, the cosmologic doctrines of the Shaivite tradition. Daniélou provides important revelations on subjects such as the science of dreams, the role of poetry and sexuality in the sacred, the personality of the great Shankara, and the Shaivite influence on the Scythians and the Parthians (and by extension, the Hellenic world in general). Providing a convincing argument in favor of the polytheistic approach, he explains that monotheism is merely the deification of individualism--the separation of humanity from nature--and that by acknowledging the sacred in everything, we can recognize the imprint of the primordial tradition.
Popular Hinduism is shaped, above all, by worship of a multitude of powerful divine beings--a superabundance indicated by the proverbial total of 330 million gods and goddesses. The fluid relationship between these beings and humans is a central theme of this rich and accessible study of popular Hinduism in the context of the society of contemporary India. Lucidly organized and skillfully written, The Camphor Flame brings clarity to an immensely complicated subject. C. J. Fuller combines ethnographic case studies with comparative anthropological analysis and draws on textual and historical scholarship as well. The book's new afterword brings the study up-to-date by examining the relationship between popular Hinduism and contemporary Hindu nationalism.
Polls show that 45% of the American public believes that humans were created about 10,000 years ago and that evolution is non existent. Another 25% believes that changes in the natural world are directed by a supernatural being with a particular goal in mind. This thinking clashes frontally with scientific findings obtained in the past 150 years. A large portion of the general public espouses the views of creationists and their descendants, and ignores or is unaware of scientific advances. Critical thinking about the natural world within a scientific framework is lacking in the USA and many parts of the world. This manuscript provides a multidisciplinary explanation and defense for the science of evolution (not just Darwinism) as it is being challenged by arguments for "intelligent design" and other creation myths. It draws in the life, physical, and social sciences, and recent studies of human evolution that rely much on the idea of change over time, which is evolution writ large. It puts the evolution/ID issue into international perspective by including opinions held in world religions other than Christianity. It is clearly written and also can easily be used as a guide for those with some science background. The authors make a convincing case that other books do not achieve this as much as they do in this work. The book is written for a whole spectrum of educated people including teachers and teachers in training who are interested in the broad issues of the origins of the universe, life, and humans, and who may not quite grasp the potential magnitude of the negative influence on all of science education of people embracing creationist and ID thinking. This includes high school teachers and people on boards of education and in municipal governments--anyone involved in education. It could be used also in college courses such as "contemporary social issues" and "Science and Society" -- sometimes team taught by sociologists and scientists. The authors show that when they are teleological, dogmatic, or politically inspired, religious and creation myths threaten scientific efforts. The book does not require any extensive knowledge of science. The principle of change over time pervades all of science, from cosmology, to the search for the origin for life, to human physical and cultural evolution. The book educates readers on scientific matters that overwhelmingly support the idea of evolution, not only in the living world, but also in physical and social science. It explains too how evolution -- physical and biological -- is a random, unguided process whose roots can be already found in quantum physics.