Contents: Preface. Introduction. Linguistics: 1. Development of mathematics from Sanskrit/M.P. Chaudhary. 2. Sanskrit, an efficient linguistic code/Narayan R. Joshi. Epic: 3. Mahabharata: the Dharma's drama/Indira Y. Junghare. 4. The sacred tree of existence in Mahabharata/K. Sankarnarayan. 5. Uniqueness of Valmiki Ramayana/Tenneti C. Rao. 6. Antiquity of Ramayana/Ramen Nandi. Religion: 7. A critical review of Paul Courtright's "Ganesa, Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings"/Vishal Agarwal and Karthik Kalavai Venkataramani. 8. Teaching Hinduism : "The authenticity of representation in pluralistic world"/Joseph Schaller. 9. The Taboo of belief: anthropological methods and the study of religion/Julia A. Jean. Philosophy: 10. Advaita as non-dual idealism/Benjamin T. Root. 11. Ipseity, atman and consciousness/Vinod D. Deshmukh. 12. Turiya: the fourth state of consciousness and step model of self-consciousness/Vinod D. Deshmukh. 13. From unity to multiplicity: threshold division as Vedic and fourfold as western/Jack Engstrom. 14. Quantum potentiality and importance of consciousness in the universe/Lothar Schafer. 15. Concept of time in Indian heritage/S. Ram Mohan. 16. What the Upanisads have to teach us in the 21st century?/Francis X. Clonney, S.J. 17. A summary of the author's theory of foundations of reality and spirituality, with applications to Vedic statements/Jagdish N. Srivastava. 18. Unravelling uncertainty: an Advaitic paradigm/Raju Chidambaram. 19. The Indian cultural heritage and its contribution to the world/V.D. Misra. Modern concepts: 20. The communion of saints : models of holiness in a world of conflict/Thomas A. Forsthoefel. 21. The Hindu vision as framework for religious pluralism in the 21st century/Varadaraja V. Raman. 22. Scientific analysis of correlation between natural factors and annual festivals around the globe/Bal Ram Singh and Kalyan Chakravarthi. Index.
"This presentation of Vedic and Upanisadic ideas of understanding and Ahimsa addresses some of the most urgent global problems in today's world. The scholarly articles elaborate on principles of Ahimsa as practised by the Buddhist and Jain traditions and by Mahatma Gandhi. Here scholars from India and other parts of Asia as well as the west explore the scientific and systematic nature of life of the Vedic people. They examine aspects relating to linguistics, the Indian epic literature, and Advaita, and study many individual topics like state of consciousness in Indian philosophy and concept of time in Indian heritage. They delve into the meaning and message of the Upanisads as extremely relevant to us in the present century. A study examines festivals to determine the correlation between annual festivals and natural factors and conducts a scientific analysis that establishes a relation between lunar phases and human physiology, and more generally the relation between calendar and culture.
The thought-provoking articles present insights into the vision of Dharmic traditions for nourishing mutual appreciation and respect among religious traditions. They also reveal the abuses and distortions that the tradition has suffered from within over the ages, and call for a scientific analysis of human traditions so that their time-tested values can prove relevant to the present day." (jacket)
