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This digital document is an article from The Journal of the American Oriental Society, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1700 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Advaita Vedanta.(Advaita Vedanta: History of Science, Philosophy, and Culture in Indian Civilization, vol. 2)(Book Review)
Author: Hugh Nicholson
Publication: The Journal of the American Oriental Society (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2004
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 124Issue: 3Page: 561(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Customer Reviews (3)

Master of the Primordial Metaphysical Tradition
The Pathway of Non-Duality: Advaita-vada. By Raphael. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1992. Hardback, xi + 88 pages. ISBN. 81-208-09297

This book takes the form of a series of questions and answers regarding some aspects of Non-duality (Advaita). Raphael is a Philosopher-Mystic, a master of traditional metaphysics, who has achieved Asparsa-vada (i.e., the pathway of no support) and who is keeping alive the Advaita Tradition whose most important representatives, both from the point of view of Realization and Doctrine, have been Gaudapada and Shankara.

The best source of information about Raphael will be found at hisNon-duality website, the Asram Vidya Order (www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org), which was founded by him as a channel for the Primordial Metaphysical Tradition.

There, we learn that: "Raphael is a Practising Asparsin and at present, after over 40 years of oral and written teaching, he lives at the Hermitage in retirement and silence." Asparsa-yoga is the yoga of Non-Duality.

To an interviewer, who once asked who he was, he replied disconcertingly: "I am you."

For Raphael, it would seem that biographical details, since they can refer only to wholly fictive entities, are quite without meaning.

See my Listmania list on Raphael for information about 'The Path of Non-Duality' and his other works.

an abundance of profound information, an aggregation of facts about Advaita Vedanta: in this way unique
quite a number of people have (at least in the beginning) difficulties reading Raphael's books. During his last seminar in Germany he explained the reason for this. The analytical mind is only interested in "individual topics", not in universal truths. Therefore Raphael's books are (seemingly at first) so hard to read. They can only be comprehended by the Buddhi (the higher intuitive intellect, reflection of pure consciousness). These books even bear the power to activate the buddhi for "the profound recognition of what we really are" (p. 50). This book definitely belongs to this class, and therefore is (seemingly at first) no easily accessible book. I know no other master who builds the bridge between Indian Advaita Vedanta and European mystics like Raphael. Who arrestingly proves the unity(!) of the eastern and western tradition: see his quotes of Plotin (p. 6,p. 61 f.), Parmenides (in chap. 4), Platon (p. 23.): "he who truly loves [will] walk straight ahead without losing courage or betraying his love before having grasped the nature of each thing in itself with that part of his Soul whose activity is indeed to grasp the essence of things - it having the same nature -, and with this part of his Soul approaching and uniting himself with Being in Itself, ... and thus finish to suffer, but not before" (Platon in 'Politeia', see p. 23).
Very interesting (in my humble opinion) is the chapter "Advaita Vedanta": a clear differentiation from Hinduism and Christian, Hebrew or Islamic religious communities. "To speak ofHindu religion may seem improper, because Hinduism, on the whole, and over ages, more than an organized, hierarchical and dogmatic religion in the Western sense, is a `way of being', of living" (p. 29).
As well as the chapter "Transmigration" which explains about reincarnation in the light/perception of Advaita Vedanta. As: "If the atman-constant, the pure spirit, the Absolute in us or the pure Being cannot be born because it simply IS, nor can it transmigrate because it is not subject to change, then what is it in us that transmigrates? And why does it transmigrate, why is it reborn?" (p. 65)

simple and profound
An exellent book. Unfortunately to short. He discusses Vedanta also in relationship to classic Western Philosophy (Plotinus). I ordered all his other books and also the related books from René Guénon to whom he refers. ... Read more

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Chapters: Advaita Vedanta. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 156. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Part of a series on Adi Guru Shri Gauapdchrya, the grand guru of Shri Adi Shankaracharya and the first historical proponent of Advaita Vedanta, also believed to be the founder of Shri Gaudapadacharya MathAdvaita Vedanta (IAST ; Sanskrit IPA: ) is considered as the most influential sub-school of the Vednta (literally, end or the goal of the Vedas, Sanskrit) school of Hindu philosophy. Other sub-schools of Vednta are Dvaita and . Advaita (literally, non-duality) is a monistic system of thought. "Advaita" refers to the identity of the Self (Atman) and the Whole (Brahman). The key source texts for all schools of are the Prasthanatrayithe canonical texts consisting of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras. The first person to explicitly consolidate the principles of Advaita Vedanta was Adi Shankara, while the first historical proponent was Gaudapada, the guru of Shankara's guru Govinda Bhagavatpada. Adi Shankara consolidated the Advaita Vedanta, an interpretation of the Vedic scriptures that was approved and accepted by Gaudapada and Govinda Bhagavatpada (system). Continuing the line of thought of some of the Upanishadic teachers, and also that of his own teacher's teacher Gaudapada, (Ajativada), Adi Shankara expounded the doctrine of Advaita a nondualistic reality. He wrote commentaries on the Prasthana Trayi. A famous quote from , one of his (philosophical treatises) that succinctly summarises his philosophy is the following: Brahman is the only truth, the world is illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self This widely quoted sentence of his is also widely misunderstood. In his metaphysics, there are three tiers of reality with ea...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=301496 ... Read more

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Chapters: Jainism, Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, Bhakti Movement, Transtheistic. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 88. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Part of a series onBuddhism Portal of BuddhismOutline of Buddhism Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha (Pli/Sanskrit "the awakened one"). It is classified as an Indian religion. The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by adherents as an awakened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end suffering (or dukkha), achieve nirvana, and escape what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth. Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized: Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Theravadathe oldest surviving branchhas a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and Mahayana is found throughout East Asia and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, Tendai and Shinnyo-en. In some classifications Vajrayana, a subcategory of Mahayana, is recognized as a third branch. While Buddhism remains most popular within Asia, both branches are now found throughout the world. Various sources put the number of Buddhists in the world at between 230 million and 500 million, making it the world's fourth-largest religion. Buddhist schools vary significantly on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. The foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (the te...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=3267529 ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from The Journal of the American Oriental Society, published by American Oriental Society on January 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1320 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Jivanmukti in Transformation: Embodied Liberation in Advaita and Neo-Vedanta.(Review) (book review)
Author: Patrick Olivelle
Publication: The Journal of the American Oriental Society (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2000
Publisher: American Oriental Society
Volume: 120Issue: 1Page: 135

Article Type: Book Review

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Advaita Vedanta has coloured Indian life in many aspects. It is one of the most imressive thought-system of India. To a great extent it satisfies the deep requirements of mataphysics and the claims of logic and reason. It has been compared with the philosophies, both eastern and western. As a result many books and monographs have been written on the subjects. This is but natural, condisering the appeal that Advaita Vedanta has for the modern world. Many modern preceptors of philosophy have followed the doctrine of Sankara with or without changes. Advaita is a discriminative harmonisation of different perspectives and spiritual exeriences. Being the expression of the plenary experience of Reality, it occupies a pre-eminent place among the major philosophical system viz. ... Read more

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Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Vivekananda, Bengal Renaissance, Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Advaita Vedanta, Nirvikalpa, Sarada Devi, Views on Ramakrishna, Keshub Chunder Sen, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Disciples of Ramakrishna, Books on Ramakrishna, Teachings of Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna's impact ... Read more

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This book provides an introduction to Advaita Vedanta, on the basis of something more powerful than argument, namely, experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An exposition of the Advaita Vedanta by an Indian scholar

The Advaita Vedanta is of particular interest to me because, of all philosophies and religions, it comes the closest to that which I espouse in my own book, "The Road to Damascus."

Although I arrived atsimilar conclusions experientially and independently, it was refreshing tofind that the Hindus (of which the Advaita Vedanta is one school) had beatme to it by, perhaps, a couple of thousand years and indeed had developedtheir philosophy in some detail.

The word 'Vedanta,' literallytranslated, means the last of the Vedas, or the culmination of the Vedas. And, the Vedas are the Hindu 'scripture.'

Advaita is a school ofthought which was elucidated by a man named Shankara (usually spelledSankara with a dot over the initial 's') who was a renowned Hindu scholar. Simply put, the philosophy states that there is only one 'soul' inexistence ("One without a second") which plays all of the roles,or 'parts' in the universe, past, present and future--you, me, a cow, anant, a tree...

This book talks about the experiential dimension of thephilosophy of the Advaita:What is normal experience?The Advaitanexperience and its relationship to normal experience,and the reconciliationof the two.

The language the author uses is plain and easilyunderstandable, without a great deal of reliance upon Hindi terms (Hindi isthe main language of India.)

For those with an ionterest in thissubject matter, I recommend this book.I also recommend Elliot Deutsch'sbook, "The Advaita Vedanta: A PhilosophicalReconstruction."

Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TODAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity

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The novelty of this book consists of the fact that it introduces the reader to the basic tenets of Advaita Vedanta in three independent but complementary ways: scripturally, rationally and experientially. All the three elements are usually found intertwined in accounts of Advaita Vedanta. They are presented distinctly here in the hope that each perspective will enrich one's understanding of Advaita Vedanta as a whole and also allow the reader to form his or her own opinion about the relative merits of each approach. ... Read more

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"The Disinterested Witness" is a detailed, contextual, and interpretive study of the concept of saksin (or that which directly or immediately perceives) in Advaita Vedanta, and a significant comparison of the philosophies of the East and West. Central to its topic is its comparison of the Advaita notion of the witness-consciousness with similar notions in Western phenomenology. Gupta explores the phenomenology relevance of the concept of saksin in Indian philosophy, while at the same time demonstrating that the notion of the witness-consciousness is essential for any sound theory of knowledge. Addressing a wide range of epistemological issues and dilemmas, as well as the perceived commonalities and differences between eastern and western philosophy, "The Disinterested Witness" is a major contribution to comparative philosophy, and forms a vantage point for cross-cultural comparison. ... Read more