Namaskāra to everyone,
I have done a pretty thorough search of the forum here with every post containing my username, and I cannot find a post where someone recommended a book by Vishal Agarwal, "Brahman: The Many Forms of the One Formless: Interfaith Perspectives with a Focus on the Bhagavad Gītā."
I downloaded it sometime late last year, and I finally started reading it after reading many contemporary books and articles discussing SD in general (like Malhotra's articles, western dominance history, radical universalism, American exceptionalism, etc.). I'm reading this alongside the Mandala of Indic Studies web site (MASSIVE web site, and I am flabbergasted by the knowledge presented there). I've made a promise to read each chapter twice before moving onto the next one in order to reinforce my understanding, and then read the whole book a third time. I found it here - https://sites.google.com/site/bodhihangout/resources
I feel that it is a good introductory book that explains clearly with references to the Gītā, Purāṇas, and several other scriptures down to the chapter and verse, so you can look it up to confirm it. There is reference to Malhotra's work, and it gives you a basic understanding of western versus SD perspectives. I am beginning to understand better the SD perspective on Bhakti worship, which was not explained well enough for me in the Bhakti Yoga book I read. It is a completely different perspective on mūrtis and worship from that of Christian worship, and it actually is starting to make sense to me. I am now at the point that if I was asked what my deity is, I would probably say Gaṇesha and then Shakti, though once I know more about Shakti, that might change in preference order because I feel more strongly about the worship of the feminine attributes of Shakti as my mother, as opposed to the male attributes as in Vaishnavism, and I would not feel ashamed or embarrassed to admit it. In general, many people tend to worship Gaṇesha as their child (correct me and explicate why that is not the case if I am wrong - I would appreciate the correct expansion on the understanding of Gaṇesha's place in people's hearts), but my connection to Gaṇesha is not well defined yet.
I was reading chapters 3 and 4 today, and it dawned on me that I finally started to understand what this is about, and what I had been missing. Some people worship only nirguṇa Brahman, some only saguṇa Brahman, and some both (and even others don't have Brahman at all, if I recall). The meanings of both of these appear to be explained very well. What got me was the explanation of the relationship between devotee and the different aspects of Brahman, especially in regards to the deities as representations of the functions of Brahman.
This is the "go-to" book during my development at this time, since I do not have that "lack of experience" with Christian proselytization that children not living in that environment have. If I had not had this experience, I would have taken to SD a lot sooner, because that article series on "India's Love for Gold" over 10 years ago caught my attention and introduced SD to me. In fact, I'm beginning to see that there are elements of Natural Hygiene (science of life - healthful living) derived from Ayurveda, which means I have been looking at health issues from an Ayurvedic perspective in certain areas for over 20 years!
I am very excited about finishing up on the contemporary books (Brahman..., Science of the Sacred, Mandala of Indic Studies, and Dharampal), so that I can focus fully on the scriptures and sacred writings. Once I have understood the Brahman book very well, then I can switch to reading one contemporary book and one SD literature book at the same time. I'm the kind of person who wants to know as much as possible about something, so I have a very massive undertaking ahead of me, with around 57 scriptures/sacred writings totaling over 54,000 pages to read over the rest of my life.
Praṇāma!
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks