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Category Archives: India
I’m always in India
Conversation with Karen Andrews, our oblate: I was speaking about a young Indian-American, who has been inquiring about staying in one of our guest rooms. This led me into talking about what India is for me. I last was there … Continue reading
Posted in Hinduism, India
Tagged Bede Griffiths, bhajan, devotee of Jesus, eucharist, Hindu, Karen Andrews, Marie-Louise Coutinho, rasam, Saccidananda Ashram, Shantivanam, Tamil Nadu, Yeshu-bhakta
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Hindu Diaspora in America
9. Building a traditional Hindu presence in America: the arrival in greater numbers of Indian immigrants, the building of temples across the continent, where authentic vedic rites are celebrated by immigrant Brahmins. Some Hindu scholars and Brahmins are still of … Continue reading
Posted in dialogue, Hinduism, India, inter-spirituality
Tagged Caste, diaspora, Hinduism, temple, Vivekananda, Yogananda
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From West to East: Vedic America returns to India
7. From West to East: Western scholarship and comparative religious studies and their influence in India: Raimon Panikkar; Mircea Eliade and the Chicago school. The controversy surrounding Jeffrey J. Kripal’s reading of Sri Ramakrishna. The work of Georg Feuerstein on … Continue reading
Posted in dialogue, Hinduism, India, inter-spirituality, yoga
Tagged Bede Griffiths, Caste, Daya Mata, Henri Le Saux, Hindu, Indology, Jules Monchanin, kriyaban, mircea eliade, Raimon Pannikkar, Scholars, Wayne Teasdale, Yogoda Sat-Sanga
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Hinduism in Anglo-American cinema
5. Hinduism in Anglo-American cinema (e.g. “The Razor’s Edge”, “Around the World in Eighty Days”, “A Passage to India”) and pop culture; Reincarnation for the masses; Health-club Yoga; rock-stars and transcendental meditators; is the culture itself ‘spiritual but not religious’? … Continue reading
Yogananda, S.R.F., and other offshoots of Yogananda’s mission
4. Yogananda’s idea of ‘Christianity’ as opposed to ‘Churchianity’ (this expression was first used by Vivekananda). Offshoots of Yogananda’s mission, whether institutional or charismatic: Self-Realization Fellowship, Kriyananda and his Ananda Community, Roy Eugene Davis. The opposition between Christianity and Churchianity … Continue reading
Posted in dialogue, Hinduism, India, inter-spirituality, yoga
Tagged Ananda Community, Churchianity, Daya Mata, Kriya Yoga, Kriyananda, Roy Eugene Davis, Self-Realization Fellowship, Yogananda
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Yogananda’s Autobiography, 1946, and Thomas Merton’s, two years later
3. Autobiography of a Yogi, 1946: Yogananda’s song of himself in India and America; compare with Thomas Merton’s autobiography, The Seven-Storey Mountain, 1948, and with Merton’s subsequent, wide-ranging dialogue with the East. The opening lines of AY: “The characteristic features … Continue reading
January 2012 course
The following is the syllabus for the course I taught this January at the JST, which is the Berkeley branch of Santa Clara University. DHARMA, YOGA, TANTRA This course will offer a broad historical view of the constant interaction between … Continue reading
The Ethics of Yoga and the Rule of Benedict
The following is a talk I gave in Rome, to a gathering of monastics, on June 10, 2011. Comparing the incomparable The title of this lecture is not properly academic. One might see it on a poster at a street … Continue reading
Posted in dialogue, India, inter-spirituality, monastic life, yoga
Tagged chastity, ethics, love, monastic, non-violence, Patanjali, sutras, yoga
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The Feminine in Hinduism — Syllabus
The following is the Syllabus of the course I am to teach here in Berkeley, at one of the theological schools that collectively form the ecumenical consortium GTU (Graduate Theological Union). The school that hired me is the Jesuit School … Continue reading
Posted in Berkeley, feminine, India, inter-spirituality, yoga
Tagged Anandamayi Ma, Graduate Theological Union, GTU, Hindu, syncretism, Teresa of Calcutta, theology, yoga
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The Feminine in Hinduism
This coming January, I’ll be giving a course here in Berkeley, with the title, “The Feminine in Hinduism”. Here is a short reading list: Raimundo Panikkar (ed. and transl.). The Vedic Experience, Mantramañjarī: An Anthology of the Vedas… London: Darton, … Continue reading
Posted in Berkeley, feminine, India, inter-spirituality, yoga
Tagged Anandamoyi Ma, dialogue, Divine Mother, Hinduism, Mother Teresa
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Ashram Diary 