“John Stratton Hawley miraculously manages to braid the charged erotic and divine qualities of Krishna, the many-named god, while introducing us—with subtle occasional rhyme—to a vividly particularized world of prayers and crocodile earrings, spiritual longing and love-struck bees.”—Forrest Gander, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for PoetryAn award-winning translation of Hindi verses composed by one of India’s treasured poets.The blind ...

Siddhartha is a classic tale relating the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha.The word Siddhartha is made up of two words in the Sanskrit language, siddha (achieved) and artha (what was searched for), which together means "he who has found meaning (of existence)" or "he who has attained his goals".Hesse’s Siddartha is exactly this—the story of one who, through many travails and a life...

Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy called Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha. The book was written in German, in a simple, yet powerful and lyrical style. It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s.The story revolves around a young man who leaves his home and family on a quest for the Truth. Embarking on a journey that takes him from the austerit...

Hinduism is one of the world's oldest living faiths. There are thousands of different Hindu gods and goddesses. Children are often very curious to know about them. The present book comprises information and stories related to ten popular gods and goddessesBrahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Parvati, Ganesha, Hanuman, Indra and Surya. The stories in this collection will satiate their curiosity and also provide pleasure to the young readers. The tales are a varied lot as they have been s...

From the editors of Zen Poems of China and Japan comes the largest and most comprehensive collection of its kind to appear in English.This collaboration between a Japanese scholar and an American poet has rendered translations both precise and sublime, and their selections, which span fifteen hundred years—from the early T'ang dynasty to the present day—include many poems that have never before been translated into English. Stryk and Ikemoto offer us Zen p...

"Excellent . . . A fine introduction to Chinese and Japanese Zen poetry for all readers" from the editors of Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter ( Choice ).Capturing in verse the ageless spirit of Zen, these 150 poems reflect the insight of famed masters from the ninth century to the nineteenth. The translators, in collaboration with Zen Master Taigan Takayama, have furnished illuminating commentary on the poe...

According to Hindu mythology, Lord Vishnu, the God of Preservation is supposed to be responsible for the sustenance, protection and maintenance of the Universe. To establish righteousness and destroy injustice in the world, he has incarnated in different life forms in various ages. Each incarnation has an interesting story associated with it which describes the feats of Vishnu. Such personifications are popularly believed to be ten in all though there is no upper limit to them. Children are ...

Zen and Tao, A Little Book on Buddhist Though and Meditation is really not a little book. It is a collection of Buddhist quotes, thoughts, and meditations from the school of Zen and the Tao. The Translations of the Hsin Hsin Ming, The Tao Te Ching, and Nargarjuna's Tree of Wisdom by Dennis Waller are included along with 50 selected quotes from Chuang Tzu, Okakura Kakuzo, and Buddha. Also included are selected commentaries on Zen and the Tao from the works of Dennis Waller.

Ninth century Tamil poet and founding saint Andal is believed to have been found as a baby underneath a holy basil plant in the temple garden of Srivilliputhur. As a young woman she fell deeply in love with Lord Vishnu, composing fervent poems and songs in his honour and, according to custom, eventually marrying the god himself. The Autobiography of a Goddess is Andal’s entire corpus, composed before her marriage to Vishnu, and it cements her status as the South Indian corollary to ...

'[Vinaya Chaitanya shows] an acute awareness of textual issues that never bothered earlier translators.' - From the foreword by H.S. ShivaprakashHailed as an early feminist literary voice, Akka Mahadevi was born in twelfth-century Karnataka. As a child she was initiated into the worship of Channamallikarjuna, her village's version of Siva. She was forced to marry her region's ruler, but because she had become so ardently devoted to the god, Akka abandoned her husband and a...

A Secular Buddhist commentary/derivative work of Evelyn Underhill's 1915 piece: "Practical Mysticism."The author has adapted Underhill's book to a Secular Buddhist framework which encourages a balance between the rational and the intuitive, the mundane and the transcendent, the secular and the mystical.Written for Buddhists, but with non-Buddhists also in mind, "Secular Mysticism" avoids excessive Buddhist terminology. The few Buddhist terms used are given straightforward e...

Culled from Buddhas own sermons, rare books, and manuscripts describing his life and times, this compendium of poetic monologues and dialogues is probably the only one in English that presents salient features of Buddhism of various shades. Satyapal Anand claims to be of the progeny of Anand, the senior most disciple and confidante of Buddha. Poetry and religion mix wonderfully, and Anands poems touch subjects such as ahimsa (nonviolence), sex, meat eating and self-defense. Some of the con...