Recent Comments
Category Archives: inter-spirituality
Yoga and Science, from East to West and from West to East
6. Hinduism and the Scientific Paradigm: Quantum Physics compared with Vedanta, from Erwin Schrödinger to Fritjof Capra; Robert Oppenheimer, the military-industrial complex, and the Bhagavad Gita. The pertinent chapter from Goldberg (American Veda, pp. 282-308) will be the basis of … Continue reading
Posted in dialogue, Hinduism, inter-spirituality, science
Tagged Bhagavad-Gita, Fritjof Capra, Nikola Tesla, Rationalism, Robert Oppenheimer, Romanticism, Yogananda
Leave a comment
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
1 Comment
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
America’s Parliaments of Religions, 1893 and 1993
2. The Parliaments of Religions in Chicago, 1893 and 1993; Vivekananda’s resounding voice at the first, the subtle Catholic presence at the second (Joseph cardinal Bernardin and the Benedictines). Gurus on the lecture circuit. When we realize how important newly-translated … Continue reading
January Course @GTU “Vedic America”, first day
1. Transcendentalists: Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, together with poet John Godfrey Saxe, 1816-1897 (whose poetry, in his own day, sold better than Hawthorne’s and Tennyson’s), best known for his poem on the Indian parable “The Blind Men and the Elephant”, with … Continue reading
Vedic America
The following is a draft of the syllabus for a new course that I’ll be teaching next January (N.B.: I revised this syllabus on June 5, 2012). Hinduism in American philosophy and culture, following the historical outline of Philip Goldberg’s … 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
Leave a comment
Talk given at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
The following was my contribution to a Buddhist-Catholic dialogue hosted by the Ch’an Buddhist community at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, near Ukiah, CA. A VOW OF CONVERSATION Thomas Merton always kept diaries. The reason was, I think, that … Continue reading
Ashram Diary 