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FlipAsso
12 February 2009, 08:04 PM
Hi there.
I'm interested in hinduism.
I read that Jñana Yoga was the Yoga advised by Adi Shankara, the founder of Advaita Vedanta.
I liked what I read about Advaita very much and so am interested in getting to know a bit more.
Can you recommend some good reads for a begginer.
I'd specially apreciate, free e-books and online resources.

Peace :)

saidevo
13 February 2009, 12:59 AM
We have a Personal Hindu Library that lists books for downloading arranged sectionwise. You can access the Library here: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/library.html

As for the Advaita for beginners, you might try these books:
A Step by Step First Exposure to Advaita
http://www.advaitin.net/advaitadialogue.pdf (109 KB)

Advaita Vedanta: A Presentation for Beginners (D. Krishna Ayyar)
http://www.sankaracharya.org/library/AyyarAdvaitaVedanta.pdf (353 KB)

I am That (Nisargadatta Maharaj)
http://home.earthlink.net/~grharmon/I_Am_That.pdf (1.1 MB)

Some teachings from Shri Atmananda (Krishna Menon)
http://www.advaitin.net/Ananda/SomeTeachings.pdf (251 KB)

simex
13 February 2009, 09:08 AM
I highly recommend Swami Vivekananda's "Jnana Yoga".

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7384491/Jnana-Yoga-by-Swami-Vivekananda

yajvan
13 February 2009, 07:51 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namaste FlipAsso




I'm interested in hinduism.
I read that Jñana Yoga was the Yoga advised by Adi Shankara, the founder of Advaita Vedanta. I liked what I read about Advaita very much and so am interested in getting to know a bit more. Can you recommend some good reads for a begginer. I'd specially apreciate, free e-books and online resources.
Peace :)

Here is a 'map' that may help. This outlines the various types of knowledge that is part of Sanātana Dharma
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1946

praṇām

FlipAsso
14 February 2009, 04:41 PM
Thank you all for your answers.
They way exceeded my expectations, I've got much to read and understand now!!

@Yajvan:
Thanks for the map, I'll give it a profound study.
That's exactly what a begginer in hinduism needs.. To know it's paths.

Happiness@all

anatman
09 January 2011, 12:50 AM
Most of the download sources have their links broken :(

Can you find alternate links?

Adhvagat
17 January 2011, 12:03 AM
Anatman, thanks for bumping this thread and making it possible for me to find this library.

I could not download the PDFs by simply clicking on the links, I found it weird since the URL pointed to HDF domain, so I tried "Right Click > Save As" and while the PDF was downloaded, it was corrupted with no data inside it.

A shame since it seems like there are great documents in there!

Sahasranama
17 January 2011, 12:09 AM
Anatman, thanks for bumping this thread and making it possible for me to find this library.

I could not download the PDFs by simply clicking on the links, I found it weird since the URL pointed to HDF domain, so I tried "Right Click > Save As" and while the PDF was downloaded, it was corrupted with no data inside it.

A shame since it seems like there are great documents in there!

I did that, but I was unable to open the files.

Lokavidu
15 May 2012, 09:18 AM
this is also great

http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/sadananda/questions_sadananda.htm

Shuddhasattva
17 May 2012, 04:39 AM
Namaste

Before taking the time to read lots of books on advaita, you may wish to make sure first that advaita is what calls to you most.

I have seen many people embark down a spiritual path that appeals to them, and then later on they encounter something that appeals to them even more, and then they are in a quandary, either cutting off the previous path, or struggling to reconcile it.

I highly recommend you read Yajvan's thread, considering his words as those of a pandit. Having read these forums for several years, along with some others (ie, indiadivine), I can say with confidence that Yajvan is likely the most knowledgeable poster on Hindu dharma and he takes care to present his posts to be easily understood and referenced, like encyclopedia articles.

Vedanta evolved into subsequent variations, drawing on older devotional and mystical traditions. Many of these are, like advaita, monistic/non-dualist in nature, whether qualified or unqualified (to reconcile the 'problem' of maya and brahman, which advaita itself does through a complex series of doctrines). These variations, whether shakta, shaiva or even vaishnava (although most vaishnavism is more dvaitic than advaitic) generally emphasize what amounts to integrated bhakti yoga which encompasses both jnana yoga (in contemplation, absorption into the ishta-devata, etc) and karma yoga (devotional service, consecration of acts and speech to god-as-all).

I suggest you look at the devotional traditions of non-dual deity yoga because (in my view) these traditions offer the most direct route to self-realization, as the attributes of Ishvara are revealed to be the secret attributes of the atman once unobscured by maya due to the revelatory power of the Lord. When one achieves self-identification with Ishvara, one simultaneously identifies with nirguna brahman.

As far as "pure" advaita vedanta, I believe the foremost exponent of recent times to be Sri Ramana Maharshi, whom you may wish to read the works of, and about. His conception of Ishvarta was somewhat different, and he said seemingly contradictory things regarding the nature of Ishvara and the Self to different people at different times to benefit them each at their own level of understanding and personal inclinations.

My recommendation, if it amounts to anything, is to survey fully the different paths, and then select which you will walk. It is certainly possible to integrate multiple paths, and they can help illuminate eachother in their distinctions and subtleties. If you do select a variation of advaita (ie, paradvaita of the trika) you may still wish to imbibe the 'original' advaitic teachings still, many of which are, even with the alternate ishvara-focused yoga, still very useful for self-inquiry.



Namaste

shian
18 May 2012, 01:29 AM
i just read the concept of Ishvara in that link (Advaita Vedanta)
then that is same how i see God,
so i might be considered as advaita

Then i also agree with Srimad Devi Bhagavantam, there is said creation is without begining (its not mean no creation), , that is cycle , just like our mother give born to us in this life, but before we born, we already born in another place (no begining point)

then see this cycle of Creation-sustenance-annihilation
is same with what i receive from Tantric Buddhism.
We also use term soul, because this term is only a term , just like we call another person with his or her name, but in fact this person is composed of different elements.

Anyway, this is a basic to answer the doubt from individual soul
Then in different case, the answer might be also different according to the illness of the person.
Acctually the most important is doing the practice to realize Bhagavan.
Because, in the fact :
Peoples not always need to know to much about this kind of theory if they can doing practice with peace mind (if not distrubed by question from self), just like a person who cant read anythings but he or she only chanting Hari Nama with pure devotion and peace mind, she or he will realize the Highest without know the theory too much like an scholar.
But a scholar who never practice and know many theory, sometimes they cant get peace in mind because so many distrubing question rise from mind who not pure.
So in this term i dont say the theory is not important, but they become usefull if we can use it in right way.

Guiding Thoughts
23 November 2012, 01:08 AM
Hi ! Swami Abhedananda a direct disciple of Ramakrishna Paramhansa and a disciple brother of Swami Vivekananda has written very easy to read books on the subject. They are on scribd. You can read them online for free, if u have a scribd ID then u can down load them too.

The links to a few books by Swami Abhedananda are as follows:
KARMA YOGA
http://www.scribd.com/doc/65360000/Karma-Yoga-by-Swami-Abhedananda
BHAKTI YOGA
http://www.scribd.com/doc/65358781/Bhakti-Yoga
JNANA YOGA
http://www.scribd.com/doc/65359556/Jnana-Yoga
RAJA YOGA
http://www.scribd.com/doc/65360079/Raja-Yoga


You will also find good starter articles on Hinduism our blog :
Guidingthoughts.blogspot.com.
We cover writings of Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Shriram Sharma Acharya. All of them have explained the Vedas and the Vedanata Philosophy beautifully.

A related blog:
Spiritualbee.com , also has great articles on scientific spirituality.

ou can follow updates from both the blogs on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/guidingthoughts?ref=stream

Best regards
Guidingthoughts.blogspot.com