Advaita Vision

www.advaita.org.uk

Advaita for the 21st Century

Essays
by Professor V. Krishnamurthy

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Biography

ProfVK

Visit ProfVK's website.

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy (born 1927) M.A. of Madras University and Ph.D, of Annamalai University, is an ex-Director of K.K. Birla Academy, New Delhi. Formerly he was Dy. Director and Prof. of Mathematics at Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani for more than two decades. His mathematical research is in the area of Functional Analysis, Topology, Combinatorics and Mathematics Education. He has been President of the Indian Mathematical Society, President of the Mathematics Section of the Indian Science Congress Association, Executive Chairman of Association of Mathematics Teachers of India, and National Lecturer and National Fellow of the University Grants Commission. He has been Leader of the Indian team for the International Mathematical Olympiad, held at Mumbai in 1996.

ProfVK was also trained systematically in the traditional Hindu scriptures by his father Sri R. Viswanatha Sastrigal, a scholarly exponent who was himself a living example of the ideal Hindu way of life. Over the years Prof. Krishnamurthy has given several successful lectures on Hinduism, the Ramayana, the Gita, the Upanishads, and Srimad Bhagavatam to Indian and American audiences. His expositions have been acclaimed for their precision, clarity and an irresistible appeal to the modern mind.

His books on religion include: Essentials of Hinduism (1989); Hinduism for the Next Generation (1992); The Ten Commandments of Hinduism (with a Foreword by Swami Paramarthananda) (1994); Science and Spirituality � A Vedanta Perception (2002); Kannan sorppaDi vaazhva-deppaDi (2002) (In Tamil, with an appendix on Dhruva-Stuti - An Upanishad Capsul); and Live Happily the Gita Way (2008). Gems from the Ocean of Spiritual Hindu Thought and Gems from the Ocean of Devotional Hindu Thought (2010) are now under publication.

He was given the Distinguished Service Award by the Mathematics Association of India (Delhi) in 1995; the Seva Ratna Award by the Centenarian Trust, Chennai, in 1996; the Vocational Service Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education by the Rotary Clubs of Guindy and Chennai Samudra in September 2001; and the TT award for Excellence by the Adhyapakaratna T. Totadri Iyegar Educational Trust, Chennai in 2002.

His writings on religion and philosophy can be found on his website and on the yahoo-group �Advaitin�, of which ProfVK is a moderator.

Essays

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part I: The path of devotion or bhakti is a path common to all religions. In fact, by tradition and usage, religion and devotion are so intertwined in their connotation that the words �religious devotion� and �religious zeal� stand for superlative states of devotion and zeal. Bhakti is intense devotion...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part II: An idol serves the same purpose for a religious devotee as a flag does for the army. Hinduism clearly lays down that mental worship is superior to the worship of images. In fact, however, it must be admitted that all worship is idol worship...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part III: Between the second century BCE and the 18th century CE, India has continuously built a multitude of temples throughout the length and breadth of the country. The varied Indian architecture provides the art lover and the historian a feast that is fantastic in its quality and educative in its purpose...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part IV: The doctrine of iShTa-devata (favourite divinity) has now to be mentioned. In Hinduism one may choose the deity that satisfies one's spiritual longing and make that the object of one's adoration, love and worship...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part V: The Divine Feet of the Lord are usually referred to as the Lotus Feet (padmapAda) of the Lord. The sacredness associated with not only the Lotus Feet (of the Lord or the Guru), but equally so with the dust (dhULi) under those Divine Feet, and more so with the sandals (pAdukA) under those Divine Feet, finds expression everywhere in the literature and culture of the Hindu world...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part VI: The inner meaning of every verse of the PAdukA-Sahasram has something to do with the glory of the Guru. In fact, the PAdukA of the Divine is equated to the Guru or AchArya. The Grace of the Guru is considered to be more powerful than the Grace of the Lord Himself...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part VII: A mantra is a Vedic hymn, sacrificial formula, a mystical verse or an incantation. In general, it connotes any sacred chant or formula having the power to secure the blessings of God, when lovingly and reverently repeated. However, one has to respect the rule that no mantra would be efficacious unless it is learnt orally from a guru, who has himself that mantra-siddhi...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part VIII: Another unique feature of Hinduism is the fact that it conceives Divinity also as the Mother Goddess. The concept of 'womanhood' in Indian culture is actually a concept of 'motherhood'. It is the all-suffering, all-forbearing quality of the woman as mother that stands foremost...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part IX: The concept of avatAra or Divine descent is the unmatched prerogative of Hinduism among all religions. In the long mythological history of the Indian nation and also in its historical past, there have been many occasions when the Absolute Godhead chose to manifest itself in flesh and blood, as a living presence, for the purpose of either putting an end to rank cruelty, hatred and wickedness, arrogance of muscle power or spiritual power or for the purpose of showering Divine Grace on a superhuman devotee and spreading the air of spirituality...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part X: Whereas karma yoga is to be practised with the conviction in the permanence of the Atman and of the transience of everything that is anAtman, bhakti yoga may be undertaken even by people who have only a vague understanding about the Self and the non-Self. And this is what makes it a universal religious practice which Hinduism shares with other religions...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part XI: The most well-known expression of devotion in the Hindu religious ethos is, therefore, the nAma-sankIrtana, recitation of (God's) names, collective or individual. The repetitive musical recitation (called bhajan) of God's names can be very rewarding in terms of an elevation of the mood and the spiritual awakening of the mind...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part XII: The completion of the topic of nAma-sankIrtana has to be done with the story of Ajamila that occurs in the sixth skanda of Srimad Bhagavatam. Ajamila was once a very noble brahmin, performing his duties and prescribed rituals most sincerely and was also a good husband, good son and good father. Once, when he was in the forest to gather the fuel-wood for his rituals, he fell for a woman, heart and soul...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part XIII: All the three major philosophical schools of Hinduism, namely, advaita, vishiShTAdvaita and dvaita, as well as the various later schools such as Nimbarkar�s dvaitAdvaita, Vallabhacharya�s ShuddhAdvaita, Chaitanya�s acintya-bhedAbheda, Shaiva siddhAnta, Shakta siddhAnta and the Maharashtrian schools of vedAnta - all of these are one in their emphasis on bhakti as the means to obtain God�s Grace...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part XIV: What perplexes common understanding is how the concept of bhakti can be consistent with the advaitic conclusion that the Self of each individual is the same as the Supreme Self. If God or the Supreme Reality does not have a separate status other than our Selves, then who is to worship whom? Does not bhakti imply a certain duality, namely the worshipper and the worshipped?...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part XV: Narada�s Bhakti Sutras constitute the classical authority on the philosophy of bhakti. Its clarity of thought, coupled with simplicity of language, is exceptional. Narada, the son of the Creator Brahma Himself, is not only the divine resident of the divine world but the friend, philosopher and guide for all the devas, as well as most of the asuras...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Part XVI: Descent of Grace is the culmination of bhakti yoga. The Theory of Grace is more complicated in the Hindu religion than in the semitic religions. Because the karma theory is so central to Hinduism, its view of God's Grace is much more subtle than the naïve argument that if God is pleased with your devotion, He immediately gives you what you want...

  • The Fundamentals of the Bhakti Tradition in Hinduism Glossary: Glossary of Technical Terms and Puranic Persons Mentioned...

  • paramArtha-vyavahAra-pratibhAsa: a differentiation: Shankara was a great philosopher. There have probably been very few such achievers in a short life span of 32 years, either before him or after him. But if you go and ask the modern layman, even a well-educated one, about what he knows about Shankara, the only thing he might say, probably with an air of condescension, is: 'Is he not the one who taught that the world is all an illusion, a myth?'...

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Page last updated: 10-Jul-2012