Bettina Baumer
Showing all 16 books
If mysticism is hard to define, what is it then? Or, why have mystics often spoken about what they have realized - notwithstanding the 'unspeakability' of a spiritual experience? And, yet more significantly, how can a meeting point of different religious traditions be discovered at the mystical level? Focusing on these and other related questions, eminent scholars from varying religious traditions here explore the nature of mystical experience in two of the ...
The book, which partly derives from the papers offered at the first International Seminar on Utpaladeva (IIAS, Shimla 2013), is the first ever attempt at presenting a comprehensive portrait of one of the most important philosophers of premodern India, so far mainly taken into account as a mere predecessor of the great Abhinavagupta. Recent studies by R. Torella and others have shown the central importance of Utpaladeva in the elaboration of the Pratyabhijna ...
The Paratrishika Vivarana by the great Kashmiri philosopher and mystic Abhinavagupta is an extensive commentary on the Paratrishika Tantra, and it is one of the most profound texts, not only of non-dualist Kashmir Shaivism, but of Indian philosophy and mysticism in general. The present work attempts to make this difficult text accessible, by culling out the important themes and offering an interpretation. The main focus is on the understanding of the Absolute ...
Mahima Dharma ('the Dharma of Glory') is one of the most fascinating living religious traditions of Orissa. It originated during the nineteenth century as an autochthonous reform movement, emerging out of the nirguna bhakti tradition of India. The earliest authentic testimonies of this movement are the impressive compositions of Bhima Bhoi, a lay guru, who fought against social evils such as caste and ritualized piety and initiated women into his ...
The Kalatattvakosa volume II is second in the series of IGNCA programme of a multi-disciplinary lexicon of fundamental concepts of the Indian tradition. In this volume seminal terms of space and time have been included. The terms have been scanned through a very wide spectrum of texts drawn from the fields of metaphysics to science and the arts. The essays enable the reader to comprehend the multi-layered meanings of the concepts in different contexts. This ...
The Kalatattvakosa Volume III is third in the series of the IGNCA programme of multi-disciplinary lexicon of fundamental concepts of the Indian tradition. In this volume seminal terms of primal elements--the Mahabhuta have been included. The terms have been scanned through a very wide spectrum of texts drawn from the fields of metaphysics to science and the arts. The essays enable the reader to comprehend the multi-layered meanings of the concepts in different ...
Kalatattvakosa series has endeavoured to evolve an important modern device to grasp the essential thought and knowledge system of the Indian tradition. Through an indepth investigation into the primary sources of various disciplines, the series aims at facilitating the reader to comprehend the interlocking of different disciplines. The present volume: Vyapti is the first (revised edition) in the series. It contains the pervasive terms of Indian culture and ...
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 interreligiuos dialogue. It contains 32 essays which are divided into three sections, representing the main fields of study of Bettina Baumer. Section I – “Indian Philosophy and Spirituality†– is focused on the non-dualistic Tantric Saivism of Kashmir. The range ...
Interreligious dialogue is one of the important ways for overcoming cultural and religious differences and mis-understandings, and for contributing to world peace. But such a dialogue has to go beyond the social, institutional and purely academic areas: it has to reach the very depths of the spiritual, philosophical and theological insights of the religious traditions. In Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity such insights are expressed in the apparently opposite, ...
The Vastusutra Upanisad, ascribed to Rsi Pippalada of Prasna Upanisad, is the first-known Atharvavedic text on image-making. The book contains a critical edition of the text, an English translation and copious notes elucidating its meaning. Chapters are devoted to a discussion of the following subjects: stones, compositional diagram, carving, disposition of the parts of the image, the basic emotions connected with images, and the total composition of the image ...
The Volume Sahrdaya, consists of 26 memorable and penetrative, essays on Indian and South East Asian Art and Religion, by eminent Scholors from Austira, Germany, Italy, France, USA, Canada, Korea, Thailand, Combodia and Indonesia besides India, and focuses on some fundamental Religious thoughts and their manifestations in Art. It begins with an admirable study of Sun as Martanda who is identified with supreme Siva in the Advaitic Kashmir Saivism, through the text ...
Swami Lakshman Joo Raina, also called Lakshman Brahmacarin and Ishvara Svarupa (1907-1991) was one of the greatest saints of 20th century India, who was at the same time an extraordinary scholar who relived and revived the almost forgotten tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. His high spiritual state was matched by his profound knowledge of the Shaiva scriptures and of the great thinkers and commentators of the tradition - Abhinavagupta, Kshemaraja and others. Swami ...
One of the greatest treasures of Indian Temple architecture and on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites, The Sun Temple of Konarka on the East coast of Orissa stands as a witness to the cult of Surya. Even in its dilapidated condition it represents the unique beauty and harmony of architecture and stulpture combined. The present book attempts a fresh approach in understanding its symbolism. The splendid photographs of the renowned Japanese ...