Description: Man's incessant efforts to apprehend the enigma of the final goal - Salvation (moksa) - have tempted him to explore new vistas. This is yet another attempt to explore that incomprehensible truth. In his endeavour to understand and elucidate the various theories and philosophies of liberation, Muni Shivkumar has drawn on the philosophies of four important religions of the world - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. His unbiased approach towards the different theories and their logical analysis makes the present work indispensable for the seekers of truth. Contents Foreword Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition 1. The Jaina Tradition : An Historical Review 2. The Doctrine of the Self 3. The Doctrine of Karma and Transmigration 4. The Jaina Doctrine of Liberation 5. The Brahmanical Doctrine of Liberation 6. The Buddhist Doctrine of Liberation 7. The Sikh Doctrine of Liberation 8. Conclusion

Discusses Hindu Advaita Ved?nta as a philosophy of social justice for the modern world. This expansive and accessible work provides an introduction to the Hindu tradition of Advaita Ved?nta and brings it into discussion with contemporary concerns. Advaita, the non-dual school of Indian philosophy and spirituality associated with ?a?kara, is often seen as “other-worldly,” regarding the world as an illusion. Anantanand Rambachan has played a central role in presenting a more authentic Advaita, one that reveals how Advaita is positive about the here and now. The first part of the book presents the hermeneutics and spirituality of Advaita, using textual sources, classical commentary, and modern scholarship. The book’s second section considers the implications of Advaita for ethical and social challenges: patriarchy, homophobia, ecological crisis, child abuse, and inequality. Rambachan establishes how Advaita’s non-dual understanding of reality provides the ground for social activism and the values that advocate for justice, dignity, and the equality of human beings. “Rambachan has written an original, creative, and provocative book that will assure that Hinduism has a greater voice in the general arena of interreligious dialogue.” — Paul F. Knitter, Union Theological Seminary “This is an important contribution to the advancement of constructive work in Hindu theology, comparative theology, and the study of South Asian religious traditions. It has the potential to revolutionize how scholars view Hinduism generally, and Advaita Ved?nta in particular.” — Jeffery D. Long, Elizabethtown College

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.

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Theology - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology St. Georgen in Frankfurt am Main, course: Hauptseminar: Theologische Gesellschaftskritik - heute noch möglich?, language: English, abstract: Liberation has manifold meanings. Marxists emphasise on economic and political aspects of freedom. Christianity tries to bring the role of culture and religions in the process of liberation. Traditional theologians insist on the need of personal conversion, besides liberation from oppressive socio-economic and political structures. And Dalit, Tribal and women theologians have added a socio-cultural dimension to liberation. Liberation has become an everyday topic of Indian masses. Liberation is a common concern. However, in all the varied and complex situations of India, Latin American theology can neither define our experience nor offer solutions. But it has definitely given a hermeneutical key, an important starting point of the experience of the marginalized. Thus, Indian liberation theologies like Dalit liberation theology, Feminists' theology, tribal theologies, etc., are inspirations from Latin American liberation theology. But there are quite substantial points of differences according to the foci and features. In the following I shall deal with three specific requisites for any Indian liberation theology.

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.

Classical Indian schools of philosophy undertake major debates on a variety of issues with the formal aim of attaining a supreme end to existence - liberation from the cycle of lives. This book looks at four conceptions of liberation and the way analytic inquiry and philosophical knowledge are held to lead in its attainment. The central motivation of Indian philosophy - the quest for the Highest Good - is recognised but also situated in the rigorous and analytic philosophical activity of these thinkers.

Some postcolonial theorists argue that the idea of a single system of belief known as "Hinduism" is a creation of nineteenth-century British imperialists. Andrew J. Nicholson introduces another perspective: although a unified Hindu identity is not as ancient as some Hindus claim, it has its roots in innovations within South Asian philosophy from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. During this time, thinkers treated the philosophies of Vedanta, Samkhya, and Yoga, along with the worshippers of Visnu, Siva, and Sakti, as belonging to a single system of belief and practice. Instead of seeing such groups as separate and contradictory, they re-envisioned them as separate rivers leading to the ocean of Brahman, the ultimate reality. Drawing on the writings of philosophers from late medieval and early modern traditions, including Vijnanabhiksu, Madhava, and Madhusudana Sarasvati, Nicholson shows how influential thinkers portrayed Vedanta philosophy as the ultimate unifier of diverse belief systems. This project paved the way for the work of later Hindu reformers, such as Vivekananda, Radhakrishnan, and Gandhi, whose teachings promoted the notion that all world religions belong to a single spiritual unity. In his study, Nicholson also critiques the way in which Eurocentric concepts—like monism and dualism, idealism and realism, theism and atheism, and orthodoxy and heterodoxy—have come to dominate modern discourses on Indian philosophy.