Contents: Editors' preface. Lokayatra - a pilgrimage in two cultures: photos and biographical essay. Bettina Baumer - achievements. I. Sharing of experiences: 1. The divine master: Swami Lakshman Joo (1907-91)/Sarla Kumar. 2. Moments of eternity: the spiritual core of music/Manju Sundaram. 3. A journey to Mount Kailash/Bernard Imhasly. II. Essays: I. Indian philosophy and spirituality: 1. The heart of repose, the repose of the heart: a phenomenological analysis of the concept of Visranti/Arindam Chakrabarti. 2. Bahurupagarbhastotra: an annotated translation/Hemendra Nath Chakravarty. 3. On the Parvana rites according to Abhinavagupta's Tantraloka/Andre Padoux. 4. A note on Santha literature/D.P. Pattanayak. 5. The significance of Tantra Rahasya/Prabha Devi. 6. Gandhi's religious ethics as touchstone/Joseph Prabhu. 7. The origins of man/Baidyanath Saraswati. 8. A commentary on the opening verses of the Tantrasara of Abhinavagupta/Alexis G.J.S. Sanderson. 9. A new theology of bliss: 'Vedantization' of Tantra and 'Tantrization' of Advaita Vedanta in the Lalitatrisatibhasya/Annette Wilke. II. Indian arts and aesthetics: 10. Siva in the nineteenth-century Banaras Lithographs/Anjan Chakraverty. 11. Relevance of textual sources in the study of Temple Art/Devangana Desai. 12. The Goddess of the Island of gems: an early eighteenth-century illustration of the Saundaryalahari by a Mewari Master/Eberhard Fischer. 13. Concept and representation of time in Indian Visual Art/Rai Anand Krishna. 14. The use of primary colours in the Natyasastra/Thomas Kintaert. 15. Beginning of Saiva-Siddhanta and its expanding space in Central India/R.N. Misra. 16. Guhavasi and Devaraja in Cambodia/R. Nagaswamy. 17. Myth of renewal: Citrakara workshop practices in Orissa/Dinanath Pathy. 18. Mountain, myth, monuments/Kapila Vatsyayan. III. Interreligious and intercultural dialogue: 19. Trans-religious studies and existential interpretation/Karl Baier. 20. An ethics of justice in a cross-cultural context/Michael Von Bruck. 21. Interculturation of religious life: a meditation/Francis X. D'Sa. 22. The doctrine of recognition (Pratyabhijna) and interreligious dialogue/John R. Dupuche. 23. The music of the Dharma/Mark Dyczkowski. 24. Dialogue with Buddhism in the west: concerning the interreligious meeting in a secular culture/Johann Figl. 25. Hermann Hesse's encounter with India: an intercultural appraisal/Annakutty V.K. Findeis. 26. Self-knowledge -- space of inwardness/Alois M. Haas. 27. The meaning of nothingness for the mystical path in Johannes Tauler/Emmanuel Jungclaussen. 28. Puja or the exercise of Thankfulness/Rudolf Zur Lippe. 29. Between similarity and contrast: the function of comparisons in interreligious debates/Axel Michaels. 30. To bridge identities/Bithika Mukerji. 31. Does unity of minds lead to religious harmony?/Shivamurthy Shivacharya. 32. The drop of water: an intercultural metaphor/Raimon Panikkar. Index.
"The present volume is a tribute to Dr. Bettina Baumer, an eminent scholar of Indology and religious studies in general and of Kashmir Saivism in particular, and one of the important exponents of interreligious dialogue.
It contains 32 essays which are divided into three sections, representing the main fields of study of Bettina Baumer. The volume will be useful not only to scholars of Indology, Indian philosophy, Indian arts, and religion, but also to anybody interested in an open, critical exchange between India and the west -- or in search of ways out of the fundamental crisis of our time." (jacket)
