Practical Vedanta And The Science of Values
Book Specification
| Item Code: | IDH400 |
| Author: | Swami Ranganathananda |
| Publisher: | ADVAITA ASHRAM KOLKATA |
| Edition: | 2011 |
| ISBN: | 9788175050525 |
| Pages: | 166 |
| Cover: | Paperback |
| Other Details | 8.5 inch x 5.5 inch |
| Weight | 190 gm |
Book Description
Back of the Book
The problem of value erosion is not only a national but also an international issue today. In the past, religions prescribed moral and ethical values and people; followed them generally, even if some people flouted them. Being based on authority of a holy book or person they could not be questioned but had to be simply obeyed. With the advancement of modern science and critical enquiry, religions lost that power and moral values lost their hold on millions of people, especially under the force of the philosophy of materialism upheld by many scientists.
But the science of biology today advocates the need for values in the human phase of evolution of which, as Julian Huxley says, the human being has now become the Trustee. No physical science, however, has knowledge of the source of the science of values. The present book deals with these problems very lucidly and rationally and presents India's answer to these problems through its philosophy of Vedanta which proclaims that the science of values is the link between the physical sciences and the science of spirituality.
The problem of value erosion is not only a national but also an international issue today. In the past, religions pre- scribed moral and ethical values and people followed them generally, even if some people flouted them. Being based on authority of a holy book or person they could not be ques- tioned but had to be simply obeyed. With the advancement of modern science and critical enquiry, religions lost that power and moral values lost their hold on millions of people, especially under the force of the philosophy of materialism upheld by many scientists.
But the science of biology today advocates the need for values in the human phase of evolution of which, as Julian Huxley says, the human being has now become the Trustee. No physical science, however, has knowledge of the source of the science of values. The present book deals with these problems very lucidly and rationally and presents India's answer to these problems through its philosophy of Vedanta which proclaims that the science of values is the link between the physical sciences and the science of spirituality. The book is based on the cassette record of four lectures delivered by Revered Swami Ranganathanandaji, Vice-President, Rama- krishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, on Practical Vedanta and the Science of values on four consecutive Sundays starting the 9th August 1992 at Ramakrishna Math Vivekananda Auditorium, Hyderabad, India. The author expects that other thinkers will come forward and contribute further to this important subject on which depends the very survival of human culture.
The publisher hopes that the book on an important subject of supreme relevance to humanity will be welcomed by readers everywhere.
| LECTURE ONE | 1 |
| Introductory; Brahman as the One Source of the Universe; Arise, Awake; Tattvam versus Matam; Vedanta Stresses not Belief But Experience; Sanatana Dharma versus Yuga Dharma; The Universality of Sanatana Dharma; The Two Paths of Jnana and Bhakti; Sri Krsna on the Two Path; God as the Antaryami; The Impact of the Vedic Message of Harmony of Religions; Bhakti Centred in God as Love; Bhakti Centred in Siva, Visnu, and Devi; The Avatara Concept; The Uniqueness of the Gita; The Yoga of the Gita as the Philosophy of Practical Vedanta; Conclusion | |
| LECTURE TWO | 47 |
| Introductory; Our Failure to Assimilate the Gita; The Comprehensive Message of Abhyudaya and Nihyudaya and Nihsreyasa; Swami Vivekananda's Tribute to the Gita; Swami Vivekananda on Practical Vedanta; The Universal Message of the Gita; The Four Purusarthas: Their Universality; the Importance of Dharma Among the Purusarthas; Ways of a Truly Free People; Bharata Savitri; No Scope for the Supernatural in Vedanta; Place for Intelligence in Modern Western Cosmology; Vivekananda's Compressed Statement on the Scope of Vedanta; Can There be a Science of Values?; The Genetic System versus the Science of Values; Quantity to be Made Subordinate to Quality in Human Evolution; Conclusion | |
| LECTURE THREE | 90 |
| Introduction; Problems Arising from the Human Stage of Evolution; The Science of Values in Human Evoluion; Vedanta and the Source of Values; The Human Being: The Trustee of Evolution; Human Uniquencess According to Vedanta and Modern Science; The Science; The Science of Values versus state Laws; The Place of Restraint in Human Evolution; Julian Huxley on the Problems Raised by Human Evolution; Vedanta's Answer to These Problems; Need for the Human being to Shed Animality to Achieve Progress in Evolution; Conclusion: The Way of the Dhira | |
| LECTURE FOUR | 122 |
| Introductory; Vedanta on the Goal of Human Evolution; Bhakti as a Means to Achieve the Goal of Human Evolution; Bhakti and the Science of Values; Spiritual Life to Begin from Early Life Life; The Wheel of Dharma Set in Motion by Divine Incarnation; The Comprehensive Bhakti of the Srimad Bhagavatam; From a Static Piety to a Dynamic Spirituality Vedantic Concept of the Ista Devata and Its Sweet Fruits; The Divine Incarnation as Divinity and History-maker; Bhakti and Image Worship in Temples; Sankaracarya on the Essence of the Bhagavad-Gita; Jalaluddhin Rumi against Intolerance in Religion; Conclusion: Hanta Bhagyam Jananam | |
| INDEX | 155 |
