This book is about the state of embodied perfection often called enlightenment, self-realization, or liberation. It examines the types, degrees, and stages of liberation that are possible, with and without a body.

First Published in 1959, Hinduism written specifically for the modern readers describes and interprets one of the world’s chief religions. For thousands of years Indian sages have speculated on man, creation, and the universe. One result has been an astonishing amount of myth and ritual, of art, asceticism, and philosophy. Swami Nikhilananda provides a brief account of Hinduism in both its theoretical and its practical aspects. It is written mainly from the point of view of non-dualism which the author argues is the highest achievement of India’s mystical insights and philosophical speculation, and her real contribution to world culture. The volume deals with themes like Hindu Ethics; Karma-Yoga; Bhakti-Yoga; Jnana- Yoga; Raja-Yoga; and Tantra. This complete survey of Hindu beliefs and customs is indispensable for scholars and researchers of Hinduism, religion, Indian philosophy, Indian culture, and heritage.

An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hindu Theology provides a comprehensive doctrinal account of the Swaminarayan tradition's belief system, drawing on its rich corpus of theological literature, including the teachings of Swaminarayan himself and classical commentaries on canonical Vedāntic texts.

Liberating Intimacy dramatically reevaluates the teachings and practice of Ch'an Buddhism. Considering Buddha's insight that everything is empty or absent of a permanent and independent "self nature," Hershock argues that not only is suffering without any essence and so dependent on time and place, so is end of suffering or enlightenment. He shows that the tradition need not entail a quietistic withdrawal from social life. Far from being something privately attained and experienced, Ch'an enlightenment is best seen as the opening of a virtuosic intimacy through which we are continually liberated from the arrogance of both "self" and "other." That is, enlightenment in Ch'an must be understood as irreducibly social—it can never be merely "mine" or "yours," but is only realized as "ours." Including new translations from the teachings of Ma-tzu, Pai-chang, Huang-po and Lin-chi, Liberating Intimacy reconciles the almost fierce individualism that characterizes the mastery of Ch'an and its unwavering embrace of the ideal of compassionately saving all beings.

The Face of Truth examines in depth the Vedantic theology of Rāmānuja, the most important and well-known of the classical Hindu theologians. Julius Lipner clearly analyzes Rāmānuja's theory of sacred language and divine predication, his views on the nature of the self, God, and the relationship between infinite and finite being. In addition to offering new insights into and analyses of religious matters, The Face of Truth exposes the theology of language — the understanding of religious language and God. This is consistent with Lipner's other purpose — the furthering of inter-religious dialogue, especially between Hindu and Christian points of view. Lipner has also translated several technical Sanskrit terms into English, making his point intelligible to non-Sanskrit readers. Drawing together the complex strands of Rāmānujan thought, Lipner succeeds in increasing inter-religious understanding.

First Published in 2001. While classical Indian philosophy is incredibly rich in rigorous discussion s of topics in epistemology, logic and metaphysics, comparable discussions in the area s of ethics, politics and aesthetics were not as extensive as might have been expected. The selections in this volume discuss Indian treatments of topics in the theory of value like the proper ends of life, the relation of dharma and moksa, liberation and pleasure, the sources of our knowledge of right and wrong, the ethics of non-violence, the status of the supra-moral. egoism and altruism, the theory of rasa, aesthetic experience and catharsis.

This book advances an original interpretation of the orthodox Indian theories of motivation in light of the Indian prohibition on desire and evaluates its consequences for Indian ethics and soteriology.

For some four hundred years, Hindus and Christians have been engaged in a public controversy about conversion and missionary proselytization, especially in India and the Hindu diaspora. Hindu Mission, Christian Mission reframes this controversy by shifting attention from "conversion" to a wider, interreligious study of "mission" as a category of thought and practice. Comparative theologian Reid B. Locklin traces the emergence of the nondualist Hindu teaching of Advaita Vedānta as a missionary tradition, from the eighth century to the present day, and draws this tradition into dialogue with contemporary proposals in Christian missiology. As a descriptive study of the Chinmaya Mission, the Ramakrishna Mission, and other leading Advaita mission movements, Hindu Mission, Christian Mission contributes to a growing body of scholarship on transnational Hinduism. As a speculative work of Christian comparative theology, it develops key themes from this engagement for a new, interreligious theology of mission and conversion for the twenty-first century and beyond.