Nectar of the Holy Name

This is a work on the theology and practice of repeating and meditating on the sacred names of the god Krishna as practiced in the Caitanya Vaisnava tradition of Bengal (16th cent. to present).  It is by Manindranath Guha, a disciple of Prabhupada Kanupriya Goswami, and is based on his three volume Bengali work entitled Sri Nama-cintamani (Thought-jewel of the Holy Name).

Religion & Spirituality

Guha, Manindranath

Hinduism

Blazing Sapphire Press

This is a translation of Manindranath Guha's classic Bengali book on the beliefs and practices centering around the "holy names" (the names of Krishna and of his consort Radha) of the Caitanya Vaisnava tradition (a form of modern Hinduism).  Guha's book is a good introduction to an area of theological reflection in Caitanya Vaisnavism called the "theology of the holy name."  In summary the theology of the holy name teaches that the names of the deities, Krishna and Radha, are not different from the deities themselves and thus the names possess a special transformative power for those who speak, whisper, or even merely think of them. Those who repeat those names whether loudly or softly are believed to be purified by the divine presence they represent and are also infused by that presence with divine love for the deities named.  Now for the first time Guha's book is available in English with an introduction, footnotes, glossary, and bibliography by the translator, Neal Delmonico (PhD, University of Chicago, 1990).

Vedanta is one of the six orthodox philosophical schools of the Hindu tradition, orthodox because they profess to accept the authority of the ancient Vedas as revelation. Vedanta is the school that attempts to discover in the final portions of the Vedic texts, known as the Upanishads, a consistent religious and philosophical way of seeing reality tattva-darshana). The "school" of Vedanta is really a family of schools, all of its members sharing the belief that there is a single consistent "way of seeing" presented in the Upanishads, but whose hermeneutic efforts often have led to radically different conclusions. Within this family of Vedantic schools the spectrum ranges from the absolute monism, or more correctly the non-dualism, of the Advaita sub-school to the quasi-dualistic theism of the Dvaita sub-school. Fundamentals of Vedanta, Part One is a translation, with a detailed introduction and notes, of two short Sanskrit texts, the Vedanta-sara (Essence of Vedanta) of Sadananda and the Prameya-ratnavali (Necklace of Turht-Jewels) of Baladeva, from opposite ends of the Vedantic spectrum, that have been used in India for centuries to introduce beginning students to the fundamental ideas of Vedanta. Generations of Indian students received their first exposure to Vedantic ideas from one or both of these texts, and thus they form an excellent starting point for modern readers who are interested in knowing more about the rich intellectual and religious world of Vedanta. From the Introduction: ``Anyone who has walked, either actually or sympathetically, some distance down the path of Advaita Vedanta, far enough at least to get a glimpse of the Advaitin's world, will be able to attest to what a powerful vision of reality it is and to what a relief and joy the transforming experience of Brahman must be. As part of that experience the burden of one's fears, disappointments, anxieties, losses, frustrations, and limitations is lifted off one's shoulders and one realizes one's true nature as unending consciousness and joy. In that moment when one realizes that there is no ``other," one's fear vanishes for it is the ``other" that one feared, and even when the "other" is a source of joy, as the ``other" often is, that joy is always conditioned by fear, the fear of loss. The joy of Brahman is unlimited and unconditioned by fear.'' Neal Delmonico received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in South Asian Languages and Civilizations in 1990. He has published numerous articles on Caitanya Vaishnavism and has done several translations from Sanskrit and Bengali into English. Dr. Delmonico taught for six years in the Religious Studies Program at Iowa State University, and, most recently (2001), was a visiting assistant professor in Philosophy and Religious Studies at Truman State University. He is currently working on a series of translations and commentaries on some of the fundamental texts of Indic religion and philosophy, like the ones presented here, and collaborating on an online Sanskrit text repository called the Gaudiya Grantha Mandira (www.granthamandira.org).

The Fundamentals of Vedanta

Vidyābhūṣaṇa, Baladeva

Yogīndra, Sadānanda

This is a revised and corrected edition of Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor's now classic work on Krishna bhakti. Dr. Kapoor defines bhakti (sometimes loosely translated as religious devotion) as it is understood in the North Indian bhakti traditions. In addition, he isolates what he considers the four major traits or "laws" of bhakti, illustrating each of those laws with numerous stories from the lives of the great bhakti saints. Though Kapoor makes a case for bhakti's being a "science," the major value of this work lies in its phenomenological presentation of bhakti based on the experiences of bhakti practitioners and saints as recorded in various premodern and modern literary sources. It is thus one of best introductions to the religious phenomenon of bhakti available in the English language.

Experiences in Bhakti: The Science Celestial

KAPOOR, O. B. L.

Premananda Bharati's classic work, Sri Krishna: the Lord of Love, was originally published in 1904 in New York. It is the first full length work presenting theistic Hindu practices and beliefs before a Western audience by a practicing Hindu "missionary." Premananda Bharati or Baba (Father) Bharati had come to the USA as a result of the encouragement of his co-religionists in India and of a vision he received while living in a pilgrimage site sacred to his tradition. He arrived in the USA in 1902 and stayed until 1911 with one return journey to India in 1907 with several of his American disciples. His book, Sri Krishna, was read and admired by numerous American and British men and women of the early 20th century and captured the attention of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy through whom Mahatma Gandhi discovered it. This new edition of his book contains two introductions, one by Gerald T. Carney, PhD, a specialist on Premananda Bharati's life and work and another by Neal Delmonico, PhD, a specialist on Caitanya Vaisnavism, the religious tradition to which Baba Bharati belonged. In addition, the text has been edited, corrected, annotated, and newly typeset. The spellings of the technical Sanskrit words in the text have been standardized according to modern diacritical practices. Appendices have been added containing supporting texts and additional materials bearing on Baba Bharati's sources for some of the ideas in his book and on his life and practices in India before his arrival in the USA.

Sri Krsna: The Lord of Love

History

Bharati, Premananda

Premananda

Asia

This is an English translation of Sri Binode Bihari Dasa Babaji's short Bengali work on the life of Baba Tinkadi Goswami, one of the great Vaisnava practitioners and saints of the 20th century. This work is translated by Neal Delmonico with an introduction and annotations. It contains an introduction to the tradition that Tinkadi Baba belonged to,two Bengali songs remembering his life by his disciples and some short recollections of him by some of his American disciples.

Sadhu Sadhu: a Life of Baba Sri Tinkadi Gosvami

Binode Bihari Dasa Babaji

Biographies & Memoirs

This is a new edition of the delightful metrical English translation by C.C. Caleb of the Hindu classic, the Bhagavad-gita, with an introduction, annotations, and an appendix. The original Sanskrit text, in both Devanagari and transliteration, of the Gita has been included on the left hand pages for easy access and comparison with the translation. An appendix has been added containing short summaries of the teachings of the Gita by many of the great commentators on the text: Sankara, Yamuna Muni, Ramanuja, Madhusudana Sarasvati, Visvanatha Cakravartin, and Baladeva Vidyabhusana.

The Song Divine, Or, Bhagavad-Gita: A Metrical Rendering

This is the paperback edition of the book by Dr. Kapoor on the empirical dimensions of the Vaisnava religious tradition centered around the worship of the Hindu god Krishna. It uses stories from the lives of the saints of the tradition, large and small, to suggest that Vaisnavism has many similarities with modern science and can be thought of as a kind of science. The book is substantially the same as the hardbound version except that the editor's introduction has been altered and expanded to widen the discussion of the text.

For almost forty years, Shri Krishna Das Babaji (Madrasi) was a well-known figure around Radhakund, the lake of Shri Radha, one of the most sacred places in India for followers of the Chaitanya Vaishnava tradition. Whenever visitors from the West arrived at the site, Krishna Das Baba would meet them and greet them. Since his English was excellent he would give them tours around the holy place and if their stay was to be longer, he would take them under his wing, and show them places to eat, places to stay during their visit, and in general look out for their health and welfare as if they were his own children. Here we have for the first time an account of the life and teachings of Shri Krishna Das Babaji by one of his close disciples, Shri Karunamayi Das (Zakrent Christian).

The Life and Teachings of Krishna Das Baba of Radhakund

Christian, Zakrent

This is an edition of the metrical English translation by C.C. Caleb of the great Hindu classic, the Bhagavad-gita, or The Song Divine. It includes an introduction to the text, annotations drawn from the commentary of Sankaracarya, and an appendix containing some of the traditional summaries of the text from different schools of interpretation. This edition does not include the original Sanskrit text of the Gita.

The Song Divine, or Bhagavad-Gita: A Metrical Rendering (with Annotations) (English-Only Edition)

Caleb, C. C.

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Books by Blazing Sapphire Press

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Blazing Sapphire Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Nectar of the Holy Name

Nectar of the Holy Name

The Fundamentals of Vedanta

Experiences in Bhakti: The Science Celestial

Sri Krsna: The Lord of Love

Sadhu Sadhu: a Life of Baba Sri Tinkadi Gosvami

The Song Divine, Or, Bhagavad-Gita: A Metrical Rendering

Experiences in Bhakti: The Science Celestial

The Life and Teachings of Krishna Das Baba of Radhakund

The Song Divine, or Bhagavad-Gita: A Metrical Rendering (with Annotations) (English-Only Edition)