Hindu Mysticism

by Surendranath Dasgupta

Book Overview

Hindu Mysticism provides an engaging introduction to the various mystical traditions that evolved over the centuries in India, including the sacrificial (Vedic), Upanishadic, Yogic, Buddhist,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1604593032
• ISBN13: 9781604593037
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: A & D Publishing
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A little jewel

It looks like this wonderful little book is being reprinted. (I have an older version of this, so I haven't checked out this edition.) I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone interested in Hinduism, especially to anyone who actually practices yoga or chanting. It would also interest anyone who loves the mystical current in religion -- gnostic Christianity, Sufism, the Kabbalah, etc. Intended for the Western layperson, the book covers the various kinds of mysticism found in India: sacrificial (Vedic), Upanishadic, Yogic, Buddhistic, Classical (the Puranas, the concept of bhakti), and Popular (contemporary saints and poets). Through this survey, we get a great introduction to all the important holy texts of Hinduism and learn how they fit together. The book is charmingly written, not with dry scholarly detachment (like Feurerstein, whom I can't stand) but with verve and reverence toward its subject. For a taste of Dasgupta in his more scholarly mode, go to Project Gutenberg, where the first volume of his monumental "A History of Indian Philosophy" is available for free. I don't think I'll spoil anything if I retype the last paragraph of this book here: "But, you may perhaps ask, what may I gain by knowing India as it really is at its heart? Well, that is a different matter. Perhaps you may derive gain, perhaps not. You may further ask what it is that one gains through such spiritual longing, realization, or mystical rapture. And I shall frankly confess that one certainly gains nothing that will show itself in one's bank account. But with all my appreciation and admiration of the great achievements of the West in science, politics, and wealth, the Upanishad spirit in me may whisper from within: What have you gained if you have not gained yourself, the immortal, the infinite? What have you gained if you have never tasted in your life the deep longing for deliverance and supreme emancipation? And the spirit of the saints of ages whispers in my ears: What have you gained if you have not tasted the joys of self-surrender, if your heart has not longed to make of you a flute in the hands of Krishna, that master musician of the universe, and if you have not been able to sweeten all your miseries with a touch of God?"