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Title: Advaita Vedanta : A Philosophical Reconstruction by Eliot Deutsch ISBN: 0-8248-0271-3 Publisher: University of Hawaii Press Pub. Date: December, 1980 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent brief introduction to Advaita Vedanta.
Comment: For anyone who may have become curious about Advaita Vedanta, and who is looking for a good introduction to what many feel is one of the greatest philosophical achievements of either the East or West, there could be no better guide than this book.
Eliot Deutsch, professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii and for many years editor of the prestigious journal, 'Philosophy East and West,' writes in a wonderfully lucid and straightforward style, and clearly admires his subject as being of universal philosophical interest.
In his short book of just 120 pages, he skilfully introduces us to the basic ideas of this complex system (Brahman, Levels of Being, Brahman and the World, Self, Karma, Epistemology, Ethics, Moksa and Jnana Yoga), while taking care to avoid overwhelming the reader with too much detail.
Advaita, we learn, is a non-dualistic system, expounded primarily by Sankara (ca. 788-820), the main concern of which is to show that all boundaries and distinctions are unreal, that reality is not made up of parts, and that "in essence it is not-different from the Self" (p.3). There is, in other words, only the Self, Brahman, or the One, a state "which is ultimately a name for the timeless plenitude of being" (p.9).
If this seems difficult, think of a movie screen. Any scene projected upon the screen will seem to hold a multiplicity of clearly defined and separate objects: a man, a woman, a child, a dog, a table, chairs, walls, windows, etc. We know, however, that the picture is one. Now consider what is present at the moment in your own field of vision. It too 'seems' to contain a multiplicity of 'objects'...
In reading this book I was impressed, not only by the clarity of the author's style and by his lucid treatment of the subject, but also by the fact that, although his approach to the subject is that of a philosopher, he clearly respects Vedanta as being both a way of spiritual realization as well as a system of thought, a religion as well as technical philosophy.
Eliot Deutsch, in short, has given us a book which is fair-minded, scholarly, and extremely well-written. It is also well-documented and has an excellent bibliography. Those who might wish to further deepen their understanding of Vedanta might consider looking at 'A Duet of One - The Ashtavakra Gita Dialogue' (Advaita Press: CA, 1989. ISBN: 0929448111), a fine translation by Ramesh S. Balsekar of an amazing and beautiful short early Advaita text which deserves to be better known.
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Title: Vedanta: Heart of Hinduism by Hans Torwesten, John Phillips ISBN: 0802132626 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: April, 1992 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy by David R. Loy ISBN: 1573923591 Publisher: Humanity Books Pub. Date: January, 1999 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
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Title: The Heart of Awareness : A Translation of the Ashtavakra Gita by Thomas Byrom ISBN: 1570628971 Publisher: Shambhala Pub. Date: 13 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination by Swami Prabhavananda , Christopher Isherwood, Swami Prabhavananda ISBN: 0874810388 Publisher: Vedanta Press & Bookshop Pub. Date: June, 1970 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Duet of One: The Ashtavakra Gita Dialogue by Ramesh S. Balsekar ISBN: 0929448111 Publisher: Advaita Pr Pub. Date: August, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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