Indian spirituality, from solemn sages to irreverent rebels. A plethora of religions, cultures, languages and peoples have over the ages nurtured a plurality of ideas, beliefs, influences and practices thriving in India. In India's Greatest Minds, Mukunda Rao takes readers on an exhilarating, exhaustive journey through the lives and teachings of India's most illustrious spiritual masters, thinker-activists and philosophers, making their wisdom accessible to all. Beginning from 700 BCE to the present day, moving across the length and breadth of the subcontinent, and covering every significant school of thought, Rao provides a comprehensive view of the trajectory of Indian thought as it developed over centuries, enriching minds and shaping modern discourse. Whether tackling profound questions on the meaning of life or plunging into the restless urgency of social reform, this book showcases an intellectual and cultural heritage that is uniquely Indian. From Kapila, Patanjali, Buddha and Mahavira to Andal, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Bulleh Shah and Chaitanya, and from Shishunala Sharifa, Ramakrishna and Vemana to Birsa Munda, Tagore, Gandhi and Ambedkar - the profiles of luminaries in this invaluable compendium will inspire and elevate its readers. Rich in both essence and detail, this treasury celebrates the individuals who rebelled against existing conventions and transcended every divide in their quest for enlightenment, transforming themselves and the world along the way.
Traditional religious discourses have failed to account for the biological process involved in the attaining of Nirvana. Drawing from sources as varied as the Pali canon, Mahayana texts, Zen Buddhism, J. Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, U.G. Krishnamurti, Nietzsche, postmodernist thinkers and biological sciences, The Buddha retells the story of the Buddha and discusses his teachings in physical and physiological terms. This radical new reading turns most of the central spiritual concepts on their head, and hopes, in the course of time, to put an end to the rivalry between science and religion and, indeed, among the various religions.
Described as the thinker who shuns thought, U.G. Krishnamurti is the most enigmatic and iconoclastic 'anti-guru' of our times. His conviction that doubt is the other side of belief emerged from an uncompromising negation of everything that can be expressed, not from a desire for some 'comfy dialectical thesis'. The Other Side of Belief Interpreting U G. Krishnamurti is a candid and refreshing chronicle ofUG's life and the evolution of his radical outlook and ideas. Tracing the development of UG's notion of enlightenment as a series of biological mutations devoid of mystical or religious connotations, Mukunda Rao weaves a complex portrait---of a man who doesn't hesitate to challenge and demolish society's most cherished and comforting values and ideals, but nonetheless commands a most fervent respect and veneration from multitudes of admirers. UG has always been adamant that life must be described in pure and simple physical and physiological terms so that it is de-psychologized and demystified. He underwent, in his own words, a 'calamity': a series of bodily metamorphoses that catapulted him into the unique state of the 'declutched' mind. This book gives the reader a vivid description of UG's cellular revolution' and an intensely personal insight into UG's unflinching and relentless insistence on freedom from the 'stranglehold of thought.' With a foreword by Mahesh Bhatt, film-maker and lifelong admirer of UG, The Other Side of Belief offers a searching exploration of the incredible charisma of a man who has transformed the lives of people all over the world.
Rama, Lakshmana and Sita chance upon Valmiki's ashram in the forest. But what is the shudra Shambuka doing there? As Duryodhana lies dying on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, he reflects on all that brought the world to this pass, his guilt and that of his enemies, his loyalties and those of his friends and allies. As the story flashes back and forth on the last moments of the Great War, dharma and adharma merge and blur. In the forest, during the exile of the Pandavas, Bhima, married to Hidimba, compelled by his love for his son, Ghatotkacha, decides to stay back. Even his mother's anger and his elder brother's command will not sway him ...Mukunda Rao tells three classic stories from the epics, shedding new light on them, illuminating corners that we haven't looked at before. Shambuka Rama: Three Tales Retold is a powerful blend of spiritual search, philosophy and mythology.
Belief and Beyond delves into the realm of the mystic -- Adi Sankara, Allama Prabhu, Kabir, Nagarjuna, Gaudapada, Akka Mahadevi, Lalleshwari, Anandamayi Ma, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Sri Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Jiddu Krishnamurti, U.G. Krishnamurti, and the Buddha -- bringing to life their spiritual quests and the philosophical messages they left behind for humanity. The book explores the search for the non-dual state of being -- sahaja sthithi or the natural state -- which is not in the realm of experience at all, but a state of being where the borders and boundaries of the divided self have been transcended. The author also weaves in narratives from many difficult-to-access texts, including the Upanishads, the Ashtavakra Gita and the Avadhuta Gita. Written with depth and simplicity, this book is for the seeker and the curious alike.
My Teaching, If That Is The Word You Want To Use, Has No Copyright. You Are Free To Reproduce, Distribute, Interpret, Misinterpret, Distort, Garble, Do What You Like, Even Claim Authorship, Without My Consent Or The Permission Of Anybody. Thus Spoke U.G. Krishnamurti In His Uniquely Iconoclastic And Subversive Way, Distancing Himself From Gurus, Spiritual Advisers , Mystics, Sages, Enlightened Philosophers Et Al. Ug S Only Advice Was That People Should Throw Away Their Crutches And Free Themselves From The Stranglehold Of Cultural Conditioning. Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti Was Born On 9 July 1918 In Masulipatnam, A Coastal Town In Andhra Pradesh. He Died On 22 March 2007 At The Age Of Eighty-Nine In Vallecrosia, Italy, At The Villa Of A Friend. The Effect That He Had, And Will Continue To Have, On Legions Of His Admirers Is Difficult To Put Into Words. With His Flowing Silvery Hair, Deep-Set Eyes And Elongated Buddha-Like Ears, He Was An Explosive Yet Cleansing Presence And Has Been Variously Described As A Wild Flower Of The Earth , A Bird In Constant Flight , An Anti-Guru And A Cosmic Naxalite . Ug Gave No Lectures Or Discourses And Had No Organization Or Fixed Address, But He Travelled All Over The World To Meet People Who Flocked To Listen To His Anti-Teaching . His Language Was Always Uncompromisingly Simple And Unadorned, His Conversational Style Informal, Intimate, Blasphemous And Invigorating. This Reader, Edited By Long-Time Friend And Admirer Mukunda Rao, Is A Compilation Of Ug S Freewheeling And Radical Utterances And Ideas. Ug Unceasingly Questioned And Demolished The Very Foundations Of Human Thought But, As Rao Says, In The Cathartic Laughter Or The Silence After Ug Had Spoken, There Was A Profound Sense Of Freedom From Illusory Goals And The Tyranny Of Knowledge, Beauty, Goodness, Truth And God .
Who are we? Is everything in the world connected? Is truth different for different people? Does God speak to only some of us? Great minds have forever been engaged in tackling life's big questions. People travelled far and wide in search of answers, learned from others and came up with new ways of understanding the world. Curious to know what on earth they were thinking? Now you can walk down the winding path of philosophy from 700 BCE to recent times, discovering the wisdom and teachings of 45 great thinkers, philosophers and reformers of India. Learn from the most far-sighted luminaries, such as Mahavira, Gargi, Adi Shankara, Kabir, the Buddha, Vivekananda and Guru Nanak, along with Sri Aurobindo, Rammohan Roy, Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, and get to know how the most brilliant and influential Indian ideas were born. These thinkers, you will see, didn't always agree with each other (indeed, they sometimes fiercely disagreed!), but all of them left behind a legacy of courage and compassion that remains valuable even today.
In this book we meet with the modern sage, U.G. Krishnamurti, and listen to his penetrating voice describing life and reality as it is. What is body and what is mind? Is there a soul? Is there a beyond, a God? What is enlightenment? Is there a life after death? Never before have these questions been tackled with such simplicity, candour and clarity. In these unpublished early conversations with friends (1967-71), U.G.discusses in detail his search for the truth and how he underwent radical biological changes in 1967. Preferring to call it the natural state over enlightenment, he insists that whatever transformation he has undergone is within the structure of the human body and not in the mind at all. It is the natural state of being that sages like the Buddha, Jesus and, in modern times, Sri Ramana, stepped into. And U.G.never tires of pointing out that 'this is the way you, stripped of the machinations of thought, are also functioning.
Indian spirituality, from solemn sages to irreverent rebels. A plethora of religions, cultures, languages and peoples have over the ages nurtured a plurality of ideas, beliefs, influences and practices thriving in India. In India's Greatest Minds, Mukunda Rao takes readers on an exhilarating, exhaustive journey through the lives and teachings of India's most illustrious spiritual masters, thinker-activists and philosophers, making their wisdom accessible to all. Beginning from 700 BCE to the present day, moving across the length and breadth of the subcontinent, and covering every significant school of thought, Rao provides a comprehensive view of the trajectory of Indian thought as it developed over centuries, enriching minds and shaping modern discourse. Whether tackling profound questions on the meaning of life or plunging into the restless urgency of social reform, this book showcases an intellectual and cultural heritage that is uniquely Indian. From Kapila, Patanjali, Buddha and Mahavira to Andal, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Bulleh Shah and Chaitanya, and from Shishunala Sharifa, Ramakrishna and Vemana to Birsa Munda, Tagore, Gandhi and Ambedkar - the profiles of luminaries in this invaluable compendium will inspire and elevate its readers. Rich in both essence and detail, this treasury celebrates the individuals who rebelled against existing conventions and transcended every divide in their quest for enlightenment, transforming themselves and the world along the way.
Traditional religious discourses have failed to account for the biological process involved in the attaining of Nirvana. Drawing from sources as varied as the Pali canon, Mahayana texts, Zen Buddhism, J. Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, U.G. Krishnamurti, Nietzsche, postmodernist thinkers and biological sciences, The Buddha retells the story of the Buddha and discusses his teachings in physical and physiological terms. This radical new reading turns most of the central spiritual concepts on their head, and hopes, in the course of time, to put an end to the rivalry between science and religion and, indeed, among the various religions.
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