"The Rig Veda is not only one of the oldest sacred scriptures of the world, but also one of the most misunderstood. Past scholarship has dismissed the hymns of the Rig Veda as being expressions of a primitive animistic mentality that only rarely rose to true spiritual and philosophical heights. David Frawley's book demonstrates that this judgmental view is ill-founded. His fine renderings of select Vedic hymns bear witness to the fact that their composers were sages and seers--powerful poets who knew the art of symbolic and metaphoric communication. The Vedic hymns give us a unique glimpse not into a primitive mentality but a mentality and culture that revolved around the highest spiritual values and visions. This is an important and riveting book, ushering in a new and sounder tradition of Vedic interpretation and scholarship." Georg Feuerstein

In Wisdom of the Ancient Sages, Swami Rama shares with the modern world the powerful and inspiring teachings of one of the worlds greatest spiritual texts: the Mundaka Upanishad. This beautiful translation and commentary affirms human nature as peaceful, creative, and transcendent. Its message will assist anyone who seeks to walk the path of personal and spiritual development.

Seers featured prominently in ancient Greek culture, but they rarely appear in archaic and classical colonial discourse. Margaret Foster exposes the ideological motivations behind this discrepancy and reveals how colonial discourse privileged the city’s founder and his dependence on Delphi, the colonial oracle par excellence, at the expense of the independent seer. Investigating a sequence of literary texts, Foster explores the tactics the Greeks devised both to leverage and suppress the extraordinary cultural capital of seers. The first cultural history of the seer, The Seer and the City illuminates the contests between religious and political powers in archaic and classical Greece.

"Surveying all kinds of evidence—historiographical, literary, dramatic, and visual—Flower provides a comprehensive, readable, and engaging account of the operations of 'seers' during the Classical period."—Mark Griffith, editor of Prometheus Bound and Antigone "In a page-turning tour de force of anthropological reconstruction, classicist Michael Flower revisits hundreds of ancient texts to tease out his case for the absolutely central role of seercraft at all levels of ancient Greek society. Thanks to Flower's invitingly-woven tapestry of their mesmerizing stories and anecdotes, we can now savor, and comprehend through his lucid and persuasive interpretations."—Peter Nabokov, author of Where the Lightning Strikes: American Indian Ways of History

This expanded, updated edition is a gateway to the cosmic wisdom of India's ancient sages.

A comprehensive introduction to ancient wisdom literature, with fascinating essays on a broad range of topics. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Wisdom Literature is a wide-ranging introduction to the texts, themes, and receptions of the wisdom literature of the Bible and the ancient world. This comprehensive volume brings together original essays from established scholars and emerging voices to offer a variety of perspectives on the “wisdom” biblical books, early Christian and rabbinic literature, and beyond. Varied and engaging essays provide fresh insights on topics of timeless relevance, exploring the distinct features of instructional texts and discussing their interpretation in both antiquity and the modern world. Designed for non-specialists, this accessible volume provides readers with balanced coverage of traditional biblical wisdom texts, including Proverbs, Job, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes; lesser-known Egyptian and Mesopotamian wisdom; and African proverbs. The contributors explore topics ranging from scribes and pedagogy in ancient Israel, to representations of biblical wisdom literature in contemporary cinema. Offering readers a fresh and interesting way to engage with wisdom literature, this book: Discusses sapiential books and traditions in various historical and cultural contexts Offers up-to-date discussion on the study of the biblical wisdom books Features essays on the history of interpretation and theological reception Includes essays covering the antecedents and afterlife of the texts Part of the acclaimed Wiley Blackwell Companions to Religion series, the Companion to Wisdom Literature is a valuable resource for university, seminary and divinity school students and instructors, scholars and researchers, and general readers with interest in the subject.

Coming forth from the depths of the One Existence, from the ONE beyond all thought and all speech, a LOGOS, by imposing on Himself a limit, circumscribing voluntarily the range of His own Being, becomes the manifested God, and tracing the limiting sphere of His activity thus outlines the area of His universe. Within that sphere the universe is born, is evolved, and dies ; it lives, it moves, it has its being in Him ; its matter is His emanation ; its forces and energies are currents of His Life ; He is immanent in every atom, all-pervading, all-sustaining, all-evolving ; He is its source and its end, its cause and its object, its centre and circumference ; it is built on Him as its sure foundation, it breathes in Him as its encircling space ; He is in everything and everything in Him. Thus have the sages of the Ancient Wisdom taught us of the beginning of the manifested worlds.

The echoes of ancient Indian wisdom can be heard from the oldest of scriptures that existed many years ago. Even thousands of years before they were written down on palm leaves, the teachings were passed on from generations to generations, from the teachers to the disciples in their oral form. These works are amongst the oldest of humanity. They laid the foundation of one of the most tolerant and diverse religions in the world, the Sanatan Dharma or Hinduism, which is marked by a wide range of ethos and philosophical approaches. Covering the vastness and immensity of the ancient Indian scriptures is akin to capturing a gigantic ocean in a small pitcher. Thus, in this book, the author has tried to catch a few 'echoes' resonating with age-old wisdom and has presented them to the readers. the book unravels the knowledge hidden inside the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads of the Shruti that form the Vedas, and in the Smriti like Agamas, Dharma Shastras and so on. In short, it provides a glimpse, or rather a macro view of the ancient treasure of India.

Our ancesiors' beliefs contain within them the seeds of universal truths that have transcended time and can be found in many of our beliefs today. Indeed, in many parts of the world, inherent belief systems continue to be practiced. Ancient Wisdom looks at the fundamentals of these belief systems, how they have shaped the societies in which they are based, and what they can offer us in the fast-paced, technological society we inhabit today. The shared human quest to make sense of our lives and our place in the cosmos is the common characteristic to be found in all the spiritual and magical traditions that are included in this book.

Through prayers, chants, and practical exercises, Celtic Visions teaches readers how to tap into their inner spiritual power, enabling them to experience heightened perception and open portals to other realms of existence. Drawn from ancient Gaelic and Welsh sources, this visionary guide reveals the truth behind the prophetic visions of the druids and seers. It explains their methods for communicating with the Otherworld through omens and fairy lore and explores the Celtic gift of "second sight"—the ability to perceive both the visible and the invisible aspects of reality.