Shambala Encyclopedia of Yoga

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Amazon.com review
Any student of Yoga will want to know more about not only the practices of Yoga but also its history and spirituality. One of the best places to turn is to Georg Feuerstein's acclaimed Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga. With more than 100 illustrations (such as the many asana postures and chakra centers) and entries on everything from the Bhagavad Gita to Swami Vivekananda and from the Aryan invasion theory to biofeedback, you can't go wrong. Extensive cross-references also facilitate searches for both English and Sanskrit versions of terms. The Shambhala Encyclopedia is a complete yet concise guide to the galaxy of Yoga. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review on Amazon.com by Dennis Littrell
This book stands alone in English. There is simply nothing else like it. Feuerstein is the leading academic expert on yoga in the United States while Shambhala is the leading publisher of books on yoga, so it is not surprising that this is clearly a superior work that fills a void. As such it is a boon to scholars and practitioners alike.
It is also very well cross-referenced so that a reader may, by following the starred words, begin or expand his own study of yoga. There is a guide to pronunciation of the Sanskrit words, numerous bits of black and white artwork and photos, and an engaging and informative introduction by Feuerstein. This handsome book has all those words that you won't find in even an unabridged English dictionary, defined and given their expression in an historical and spiritual context. Anyone with more than a passing interest in yoga will find this book invaluable.
I should add that this is a revised and greatly expanded edition of Dr. Feuerstein's Encyclopedic Dictionary of Yoga (1990), and that it dwarfs both Ernest Wood's Yoga Wisdom (1970) and Harvey Day's Yoga Illustrated Dictionary (1971), which I have enjoyed, but which are also very much out of date.
For Dr. Feuerstein's revision (due circa 2010, I would imagine) perhaps some entries on Westerners (and contemporaries) who have contributed to the study and practice of yoga would be appropriate, including, e.g., Theos Bernard (I was pleased to see eleven photos herein of Bernard demonstrating asana), Richard Hittleman, B.K.S. Iyengar, Swami Vishnudevananda, and others.
Bottom line: this is an up to date, thorough, and lively work of reference without peer.

What is Hinduism?

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Editorial Review From Publishers Weekly
Created by the editors of Hinduism Today working alongside various experts and gurus, this textbook is geared as an "insider's look" at the diverse beliefs, practices, cultural expectations and schools of Hinduism. Its expected audience is those who are Hindu already, with articles including "How to Win an Argument with a Meat-Eater," "Raising Children as Good Hindus" and "Hinduism, the Greatest Religion in the World." But much of the information will be applicable and helpful to non-Hindus as well, including "Ten Questions People Ask About Hinduism... and Ten Terrific Answers!" As a textbook, this guide can be dense and heavy, with too much tiny text that falls into the gutter of the book and is often difficult to read. Some of the full-color illustrations and photographs are spectacular, but entirely missing are the maps, charts, graphs and sidebars that most textbooks use to convey information visually. The back of the book features a brief glossary of Sanskrit and English terms, and a very funny assembly of cartoons about Hinduism. Although the guide will best be appreciated by readers with some knowledge of Hinduism, all will enjoy the personal stories and lavish illustrations sprinkled throughout. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review by Bharat Vala Patel on Amazon.com
This is an amazing book, every Hindu household in the western world should have a hardcopy of it available, it has a wealth of information that has been accumulated by the well respected and learned Guru's of the Himalayan Academy in Hawaii and it's rich illustrations and high quality artwork make's it a pleasure to read and visualize.

This book explains the rich culture, social life, traditions, mysticism and depth of Hinduism and clears all the myths of the religion, and illustrates that the religion has been practiced over many hundreds of years of years and is still currently practiced all over the world.

This is a must read, highly recommended!!

Loving Ganesha

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Review by MyHinduPage.org
If you want to know all there is about Lord Ganesha, you will not find a better book. So there!

Review by Hakan Sandgren
With a multitude of variations of the legends surrounding Ganesa, there is no such thing as a all-encompasing work on Ganesa. Sivaya Subramumiyaswami has, however, written a book (including many excellent illustrations) so full of information on all aspects of Ganesha, including, among many others, various aspects of Ganesa, his nature, the different roles Ganesa plays in Hindu communities around the world, various forms of worship of Ganesa and detailed explenation of the iconography, that any reader could be excused for believing that they have found that all-encompasing work. Not only does the book become a most valuable source regarding Ganesa, but it also gives a hint as to how deities are worshiped in the multi faceted Hindu tradition, as every member of the Hindu pantheon (facets of the God-head) has as many legends, with variations, and various traditions attached to him or her. This is a book that will greatly enhance the understanding of the Hindu tradition for a beginner and, as well, provide much information for anyone studying aspects of Hinduism in greater detail.

Merging With Siva

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MyHinduPage.org Review
Merging with Siva was the staple book of learning and practice for the monastics of my guru's author. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami considered this book his masterpiece. In a sense his gift to the world. In it he put all the mystical practices that he had learned and created. While the book touches into philosophy and is inspiring with its goading to reach into further shores of the mystical realm, it also does take into account contemporary pressures a mystic in the modern world faces and helps with techniques to overcome them. This book will be appreciated by mystics who yearn to know the truths of life as revealed in Ashtanga Yoga. The techniques in this book helped me discover the reality of God within creation, it can help you too! If you are a mystic you will have fun with this one.

Review by Rohan V. Malkhare on Amazon.com
This is most certainly the greatest spiritual book ever written. It starts with the basic disciplines of human culture like cleanliness, god worship, honesty, compassion and duty. It goes on to explain the structure of the human mind and the stages of evolution of the human mind. The nature of thought, the nature of consciousness and the purpose of life is revealed. The final stage of god-vision and liberation is explained in a powerfully persuasive manner.
This book is a must-read for all people who wish to know the undiscovered meaning of time, space, cause and God. It truly explains the nature of reality.

Living With Siva

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Review by Jutikadevi Sivaraja on Amazon.com
I highly recommend this book to:

1.Anyone interested in exploring Hindu culture, and how Hindu culture really means how one lives with Siva- the self. Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyswami, has given the tools from his inner self out to the world, and Living With Siva really creates the basics of day to day life in living with a culture with some basic structure that puts one on the spiritual path of the self- Siva.

2. It is also a great assest of help for Asian Hindus who have migrated to a foreign country far away from their traditional family lineage, where these Hindu way of life is upheld everyday, from the passing of tradition through the ages. Where one is left to figure out the basics of how to live a daily life close to adhering to Hindu traditions and culture and so on without a living guide close by, then this book is definitely a treasure from the lineage of the Himalayas. Now Hindus can too live a vibrantly Hindu way of life, everyday, with this book as a guide.

As my guru teaches "you can have the world as your Guru that leads you on the downward path or you can follow me and I will lead you on the upward path on the spiritual path"


3. For those interested in learning about the Hindu way of life, that has been practised through the ages.

4. For anyone who is intrigued about the nature of beautiful Hindu culture of as it has existed in the lives of Hindus all around the world through the ages, and are interested in living and cultivating the Hindu culture in their day to day lives.

5. Second Generation Hindus interested in learning more about what it means to live and claim that you are Hindu, this is an excellent guide for that.

Dancing With Shiva

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MyHinduPage.org Review
This is the book I grew up with. It is a book written to be a modern expression of Hindu Scriptures. In short bites my guru explores many aspects of life from Hindu philosophical perspectives. For those looking for illumination in the practices, culture and motives of Hindus, this is a fulfilling book. It does however paint a rather high-minded and idealistic picture of Hinduism. The book is meant to inspire the reader based on these ideals of Hinduism.

Review by Amer on Amazon.com
I came across this book during my frantic search of a religion that could answer those long standing questions of life which have been bugging me for ages, and never looked back since.

This book presents almost every aspect of life from Hindu perspective, such as explanation of the soul, our purpose on earth, marriage and family, gender roles, social responsibility, death, reincarnation, and also an unbiased comparison of most other major world religions. Every topic is presented in a simple short topics which makes reading this book such an ease.

The views, stated in the book have very good explanation and reasons on why it is in such a manner. For example, reasons to be vegetarian, law of karma(good deed), praying to statues and why every human soul are unique. It allows readers to question and reason on each views before accepting them. The views in the book makes so much sense, and will certainly will give a good clear picture of the depth of hindusim and change anyone view that hinduism is merely praying to statues. I am most impressed that the book says hindus view all other religion with respect and they believe "The truth is one, but paths are many".

To call it merely another book is an understatement. It is the book of life! Being first part of the tri-book mastercourse by subramuniyaswami, it explains abt the fundamental of hinduism. His second book "Living with Siva" gives a practical approach on how to lead a hindu way of live and the final book "Merging with Siva" allows serious seekers to experience God himself throught meditation and yoga. Yes, Yoga, it is more than a physical & breathing exercise that have been practised by most western society without realising the true value of Yoga.

For serious seekers, this master course books are also being used by Himalayan Academy of Kauai for systematic learning through correspondence studies.

I would recommend this book to everyone, including the non believer, because this book is not only about believe/faith alone but more about way of life and guide to personally experience God himself.

The Essentials of Hinduism by Swami Bhaskarananda

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Review by Eman Nep on Amazon.com
One of the obstacles in studying Hinduism is finding a book that doesn't inundate each sentence with difficult Sanskrit words.

Thankfully, although this book does have some Sanskrit, every single word is promptly defined and sometimes even more than once. Advanced concepts that have a Sanskrit term are often broken down with modern-day analogies, which I frequently found to be extremely helpful. Honestly, some of the analogies I've read in this book are among the best I've come across.

As if that weren't enough, there is a glossary in the back for quick reference. I rarely had to use it as the in-book definitions were often sufficient.

A quick look at the table of contents shows how thorough this book is in explaining Hinduism. It certainly revealed the basics of Hinduism faster than trying to wade through the many couplets of the Rigveda Samhita on my own.

To accompany the text are several diagrams and pictures, my personal favorite being the chart that shows the staggering amount of Hindu scriptures and how they all break down.

The chapters on Karma and Reincarnation, potentially some of the most difficult to grasp, were explained very well and at length.
However, I was disappointed at the brevity of the chapter on Predestination (a measly page).

On the scholarly side, there are frequent footnotes referring to the Upanishads, Rig Veda and other texts, but they're not exhaustive. For example, page 186 says that "Hindu scriptures speak of two goals pursued by man: the pleasant and the good". Unfortunately, there is no reference for either of these. I'm sure there is one, but it'd be nice to have a footnote referring to it so one can see for themselves.

Having studied other cults and religions, I found these three things of great interest:
Page 125 mentions "Samskaras", which, when you read about them, sound eerily familiar to the engrams mentioned in Scientology.
Page 140, where it mentions the purification of objects, reminded me of similar practices in Wiccan tradition.
In addition, I was amazed at the shared beliefs between Hinduism and Christianity (love thy enemy, body as temple, etc).

For one who wishes to understand Hinduism, in my estimation this is not a perfect book on the subject, but definitely touches all the major subjects and explains things in plain English exceptionally well.

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Idiots Guide To Hinduism 2nd Edition

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Review by A. Kapur on Amazon.com
Having studied many aspects of Hindu philosophy for many years I was surprised at the quality of this book. It is written clearly and well, and the author has obviously spent a good deal of time going into the topic in depth. Some of the basic misunderstandings about Hinduism are treated with a rare understanding of ancient practices and their origins.

Many Hindu parents struggle with trying to communicate the basic ideas of our religion, its practices and philosophies to our children, especially those who are being raised in other countries. This book uses language which is easy to understand. She presents complex ideas in elegant ways. Thousands of learned people have written thousand of books on various aspects of Hinduism, but most of them assume a prior understanding of difficult ideas, and are difficult for a beginner to follow.

The author does not deal with the complex philosophical aspects, nor is that the intention of the book. The section on rituals is meager, and does not address the wonderful variety of practices all over the sub continent, but that would probably be a book in itself. Otherwise, I would recommend that anyone who is interested in the basics of Hindu origins and thought should pick up this book. There are ample references to books which would interest readers who look for more depth.

I have given this book as a gift to my children, and many others in the family. In my opinion, it makes a great way to begin to understand Hinduism. I recommend this book as a wonderful introduction to an ancient way of life, and a supremely enriching philosophical point of view.

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