(Part 3) Top products from r/hinduism

So in most Hindu traditions, the worldview is panentheistic to some degree, meaning the universes are a part of Brahman, but Brahman is beyond the universe (or universes or multiverse). While it is true for most Hindu traditions that the different deities are aspects of Brahman, this applies to everything in the universe, so humans, animals, plants, and other objects are also aspects of Brahman.

Now some different Hindu traditions believe that Brahman is equivalent to a specific deity, and other deities, along with the rest of the universes, are different aspect of the supreme deity (Vaishnavas believe Vishnu/Krishna is Brahman, Shaktas believe it's the Goddess, etc). The worldview is also animistic to some extent because we have the concept of river goddesses (Ganga River), sacred mountains (Mt. Kailash), tree spirits (Yakshinis), and others.

Now, while on a deeper level, everything is a part of Brahman, that doesn't mean on the ground level we treat everything as if it is Brahman. Just because your coworker, mother, and spouse are all Brahman on a deeper level doesn't mean they're interchangeable on the ground level. They're still "distinct" people. The same applies to deities. Traditionally, the different deities weren't just interchangeable metaphorical aspects of Brahman, but they were "distinct" beings.

Now this worldview completely contradicts Abrahamic monotheism, specifically in mainstream Christianity and Islam (Judaism I can't speak too much about). In mainstream Christianity and Islam, there's a complete separation between God and the universe. The idea that the universe is a part of God and that there's divinity in the universe is heretical for most Christians and Muslims.

Now to get on to the other traditions,

Romans

There's a book called The Christians as the Romans Saw Them by Robert Louis Wilken, which is about early Roman Pagan-Christian interactions. The Romans tried to make a similar argument that modern Hindus make, that the Romans believed in a supreme deity and that other deities are different manifestations of that supreme deity, but the Christians weren't buying it, saying that's not real monotheism.

https://www.amazon.com/Christians-Romans-Saw-Them/dp/0300098391

Greeks

The Greeks also had their own conceptions of panentheism. Neoplatonists like Plotinus and Iamblichus had the concept of "The Ineffable One", which is basically the Hindu Brahman, and the varying Greek deities are emanations of the One.

Here's a blog by someone who identifies as a Julian Hellenist who explains his positions with sources. https://hellenicfaith.com/the-one/

There's another book called Plato's Gods by Gerd Van Riel, which goes into detail about Plato's metaphysics. A lot of monotheists and atheists have respect for Plato, but many of them are unaware about Plato mentioning the importance of being devoted to the gods.

https://www.amazon.com/Ashgate-Studies-History-Philosophical-Theology-ebook/dp/B00E8GOO3Q/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1

Egyptians

With Egyptians, I'm finding some contradictory info. A few sites are talking about the concept of Netjer, which is basically Brahman. Basically, the different deities, although different aspects of Netjer, are individual beings with their own consciousness. There are other sites that talk about Amun-Re being the source of all the deities.

There's also the animistic aspects of ancient Egyptian traditions, so you have wind gods like Shu, sun gods like Ra, Anuket who is the goddess of the Nile River, Hapi who is the god of the flooding of the Nile River, etc.

Celts

I can't find too much information about panentheism and Celtic traditions because most of the information about Celtic traditions come from Christian monks. However, there is a lot of the animistic aspects, where you have the spirits/gods of lakes, rivers, springs, trees, etc. There's also the concept of faeries in Celtic mythology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_animism

Yoruba

The Olodumare is considered the supreme being similar to Brahman, where the different Orisha (deities) are manifestations of Olodumare, and the goal is to eventually become one with Olodumare.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_religion

Native American

I can't find too much detailed information about the different Native American worldviews. There is the concept of the Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit) of the Lakota people, and the Wakan Tanka is supposed to reside within everything in the universe.

The Navajo seem to have something similar with the concept of the Almighty, which flows through the gods/spirits and everything in the universe. http://www.meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Ancient_religions/North_america/navajo_religion.htm

Zoroastrians

Copied and pasted from another post

Traditional Zoroastrianism really was not as monotheistic as people think it is. The idea that Zoroastrianism is actually monotheistic is a post-colonial interpretation after the Parsis got in contact with Christian missionaries during the British Raj. There are some instances of Zoroastrians being "monotheized" when they got into contact with Islam, but it didn't really take off until after British colonialism (at least for the Parsis).

Basically, the traditional viewpoint was that Ahura Mazda is the supreme deity with the universe being a manifestation of him, but there are other subsidiary deities (Amesha Spentas, Yazatas). Yazatas mean "those who are worthy of worship" or "good gods." The Gathas mention yazatas likes Sraosha, Ashi, etc and how it's important that they be revered. Under the Parthians, Zoroastrians would view Greek deities as yazatas, and the Parsis would view Hindu deities as yazatas. There are some Mumbai Parsi families that come back to their hometowns in Gujarat for Ganesh Chaturthi.

What happened was that during the British Raj, the Parsis would get harassed by Anglicans for being primitive polytheists, and they weren't able to properly defend their traditions to the Anglicans. It was until Martin Haug came into the picture, who reinterpreted Zoroastrian traditions through a Christian lens that Zoroastrianism became viewed as monotheistic. Yazatas started to became translated as "angels", and Parsi Zoroastrians began to claim themselves as the oldest form of monotheism to protect themselves from harassment by Anglicans. This monotheistic interpretation got internalized by the Parsis, when in actuality, this is a post-colonial interpretation.

I posted someone else's blog post about the treatment of polytheistic traditions in the West, which has sections about the "monotheizing" of Zoroastrianism (and Hinduism) in the /r/Zoroastrianism subreddit. There are also other posts in the subreddits that talk about how Zoroastrian traditions are not as monotheistic as people think.

https://np.reddit.com/r/Zoroastrianism/comments/7ud2am/the_disenfranchising_of_polytheism_in_the_secular/

There's the reading list in the side-bar, but that doesn't really have secondary books on Hinduism.

There's Gavin Flood's An Introduction to Hinduism. I haven't read it yet, but it's the only thing I got off the top of my head. If you want, I can look through the copy I found on the sidewalk and tell you about it.

But Flood seems to have a pretty good pedigree. But I don't know if he's a Hindu. I would also recommend Eknath Easwaran's translation of the Bhagavad Gita. I have it, and his intro goes into Hindu concepts. This book also seem well-received, though I don't have it.

There's a public domain book called The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India. There's also The Wonder that was India, which is good. And apparently the same guy wrote The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism.

Most Indian history books talk about Hinduism, so maybe the Cambridge History of India?

There is a good and practical book by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti called 'A Guide to Human Conduct' which explains all the 10 points of Yama and Niyama in clear and precise way. Another book I will would reccomend is called 'Yogic Ethics for a Balanced Mind: Yama Niyama.' It is and in-depth discussion of all the points, as wel as the concept of ethics within the yogic context. It contains interesting psychological and filosophical explanations, as well as practical advice. Also many examples and citations. Its available from Amazon. This is the link: Yogic Ethics for a Balanced Mind.

There is also a very nice and clearly explained course on the Youtube channel: 'Meditations Steps'

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAv4LHSCXRoegzvAbwbZGoA/featured

I don't believe he is part of ISKCON, since although he edited a book about ISKCON he apparently said in that book that his only experience with the movement was as an outsider.

However, there is evidence that he probably does follow Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Bryant is also known as Adwaita Das, per these lectures on YouTube, and internet rumors (unfortunately all I can find at the moment) say he was initiated by Shri Haridas Shastri. He also did a translation of the 10th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, which isn't proof of anything in itself...but given how central that text is to Gaudiya Vaishnavas, it may not be an accident that he chose to work on that particular scripture.

So as far as I'm concerned, I'm pretty confident Bryant follows a Krsna Bhakti tradition of some sort. Which suits me just fine as that's my personal tradition as well. :)

Yes. The Bhagavad Gita is a chapter in the Mahabaratha. It takes place immediately before a major battle. It is such a pivotal moment in the story though that it has been studied and expounded upon heavily, so it might be worth it to get a separate unabridged version. It uses some of its impact of you don't have all the context of the larger story going in though.

The theory is that it was added into the work as a later addition to sort of summarize the ethical and philosophical aims of the religion.

The epics are definitely worth reading in full though. I'd save the comics for the ancillary myths and stories. The comics are also a little Western influenced and aimed at children so they gloss over a lot of the darker themes of violence and sexuality present in some myths, particularly about Kali.

As for the comic-book nature I think you might have the relationship backwards. It is human nature to yearn for these sorts of larger than life symbols and moral ideals. So in a culture without a strong tradition of native mythology, comic books took form to fill that void. (None of these are original thoughts of mine BTW).

Update: Due to popular feedback, I decided to make split versions of the ebook edition for anyone who found 2554 pages too daunting but are still interested in reading my book. In case any of you are still interested. I've also made the Indian editions more affordable for people in India.

Part I Only.

Part II Only.

Explanation on pricing can be read here.

This was my first introduction to the Mahabharata and I loved it

https://www.amazon.in/Mahabharata-Special-Issue-Chitra-Katha/dp/8190599011

There is also this

https://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/reviews/0143424785/ref=cm_cr_dp_mb_top?ie=UTF8

While these aren't the original unabridged Mahabharata, they are still really good

My favorite is S. Radhakrishnan's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Principal_Upanishads

Other ones I've read and liked are:
https://www.amazon.com/Upanishads-Breath-Eternal-Swami-Prabhavanada/dp/0451528484/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1502231249&sr=8-4&keywords=upanishad

and
https://www.amazon.com/Upanishads-Classic-Indian-Spirituality/dp/1586380214/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502231249&sr=8-1&keywords=upanishad

Desire and Motivation in Indian Philosophy is a good read on this topic.

Good overview:
Tantra Unveiled https://www.amazon.com/dp/0893891584/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rE9RBb1DWEHPF

More advanced:
Principles of Tantra, Part I https://www.amazon.com/dp/8185988137/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_2F9RBb5STMQC0

Principles of Tantra, Part II https://www.amazon.com/dp/8185988145/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_QG9RBb13Q4KPQ

Anything by Sir John Woodroffe, such as this book. He was literally one of the first people to bring esoteric Hinduism to the West.

Also a great website:

http://www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/tantra.htm

edit: He published under Arthur Avalon.

I am not a Hindu, but I purchased the Bhagavad Gita on a whim one day for the heck of it. I found it to be a phenomenal read, both spiritually profound and intellectually provocative. I still keep my copy with me and read it from time-to-time.

Here is the link to the Wikipedia page

And here is the link to purchase it from Amazon. It's only about $4 after shipping so it won't break your bank by any means.

The Bhagavad Gita

edit: find one with a good commentary;
this is the one that I own:
http://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-Antonio-Nicolas/dp/0892540907

Since you are just starting, I would suggest Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata. It's a good book to get started.

Wow! So many numbers. That was really some mind boggling calculations, though he also doesn't put Rama at 10,000 ago! So the point of idol or temples still seems futile. Though I said 1,296,000 from the following scholars.

https://www.dukeupress.edu/averting-the-apocalypse/?viewby=title

http://www.amazon.com/Ramayana-historical-perspective-Hasmukhlal-Dhirajlal/dp/0333903900

http://www.amazon.com/India-Michael-Wood/dp/0465003591

(You can also get those referels from Wikipedia)

Depends if you want to read Ramayana as a story or Ramayana as a spiritual guide. For both there are different books and none are wrong just depends on what you’re looking for.

English version by Penguin Classics

This guy didn't even bother to acknowledge the book where he took his stuff from. He even copied the title.

https://www.amazon.com/When-God-Customer-Courtesan-Ksetrayya/dp/0520080696?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

I've never seen the entire Tirumurai in English, and am not sure if it exists. Parts, yes. I doubt that this, http://www.amazon.com/Poems-Siva-Saints-Princeton-Library/dp/0691609268/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451330074&sr=1-1&keywords=tirumurai for example, is complete.

> Evangelism of other religions will not be well liked here.

Why? Is dialogue and mission against Hinduisms principles?

> Apart from the Jesus mythicism,this book is pretty good.

No it isn't. Clickbait chapter titles like "Christianity is a Big Lie" or "Jesus is Junk" where it is stated:

> By the same token, Hindus should know that Jesus means
nothing but mischief for their country and culture.

indicate that this book isn't a scientifically well researched book, but one based on in this case wrong biases. To refute the cited claim among other things there were many foundings of hospitals and places of education in India by Christians which are still active today.

If you want to read a scientifically well researched book on Jesus Christ, I suggest you for example to read Gary Habermas Evidence for the Historical Jesus. Is the Jesus of History the Christ of Faith? or John Dicksons book which he talks about in the podcast.

Dickson also wrote a very good book on the major world religions called A Spectator's Guide to World Religions: An Introduction to the Big Five (Spectator's Guides).

Edit: It is sad to witness so much hate just about one post speaking in favor of Christianity. It is possible to bring forth fair objections, without containing that much personal and emotional attacks. Besides one comment there was no rational refusal of Dicksons arguments in favor of the historicity of the New Testament accounts.

But as Jesus commanded us to do, I try to love even those who act and a bad way although I will fail sometimes as every human does. Because of this we all need the saving forgiveness of Jesus, which he offers us through his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection and defeat of death.