{"title":"Amiya P. Sen, Sarada Devi: Holiness, Charisma, and Iconic Motherhood.","authors":"Jeffery D. Long","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09364-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09364-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140082200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Arvind Sharma: An Annotated List of Books","authors":"Arvind Sharma","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09372-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09372-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140082616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Preparing for the Past, Packaged for the Present: The Brahma Kumaris, Meditation, and a Self-(Help) Styled Monasticism","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09358-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09358-5","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> <p>The Brahma Kumaris are a Hindu religious movement whose membership consists almost exclusively of women and whose devotional practices revolve around notions of purity and celibacy. They also hold a cyclical apocalyptic eschatology, believing that the world will end in utter disaster in the near future, just as it has done in countless times past. In order to achieve their religious goals with respect to the apocalypse, the Brahma Kumaris must engage in recruitment on a massive scale. This article examines the marketing of the Brahma Kumaris. It argues that, in order to usher in the end of the world and spare others a painful post-apocalyptic fate, the Brahma Kumaris host a number of retreats and programs aimed at attracting the public to their movement. These retreats and programs, however, have little to do with celibacy and apocalypticism, but instead focus on self-help, stress reduction, and increasing self-confidence. The article examines the ways that the Brahma Kumaris brand their determinedly ascetic, apocalyptic, and predestinarian movement as a meditative tradition which offers self-help tools for the frenzied modern public. It also considers how scholars should theorize about the marketing of religious groups that have a radically different set of internal theologies than those they present to the public.</p>","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140018852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nīr-Kṣīr Viveka: Discerning the Truth of Spirituality in Gandhi’s Thought and Actions","authors":"Veena R. Howard","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09367-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09367-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In his work, Arvind Sharma daringly asserts the fundamental place of spirituality in Mohandas K. (“Mahatma”) Gandhi’s personal life and social and political activism. Sharma avoids any theoretical frameworks to elucidate Gandhi’s spirituality; but rather, he takes the reader through events in Gandhi’s life, his personal practices, and political actions that had synthesized the spiritual and political through living the apparent paradox of a saint-politician. Critiques of Gandhi’s spiritual practices attest to the fact that he remains a challenge to scholars as well as practitioners of nonviolence who seek to separate his political theories, nonviolent strategies, and social concerns from his spiritual commitments. Sharma claims that discerning the truth of his life—mixed as <i>nīr</i> (political, social, mundane) and <i>kṣīr</i> (spiritual, service, love, quest to see God)—mandates not ignoring his “Mahatma side” (<i>kṣīr</i>), the primary source of his fearlessness and strength (mental, physical, and public), notwithstanding many critiques that may render it as only an aberration.</p>","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140007484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Natalie Lang, Religion and Pride: Hindus in Search of Recognition in La Réunion.","authors":"Priyesh Patel","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09350-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09350-z","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140428368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hindu Apologist or Modern Reformer? Arvind Sharma on Hindu Women","authors":"Katherine K. Young","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09368-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09368-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using a case study of Arvind Sharma’s thinking on <i>striyaḥ</i> (women), a subject he claims he has not written about aside from the topic of <i>sati</i>, this essay analyzes the epigrams and prefaces found in his fifteen edited books on women as a point of departure to tease out his larger scholarly project: not only to understand why India became colonized and Hinduism moribund, but also how to overcome their lingering effects without alienation from past culture. Toward this end, the essay focuses on how Sharma tackles stereotypes by restoring complexities to the historical record, using the multiple methods of religious studies, taking on the mantle of engaged scholar as a “threshold response,” and entering the public sphere on issues of justice and affirmative action. Juxtaposition of pivotal events recorded in his autobiography with these scholarly discussions suggests that his cryptic insights on women’s history and liberation is core to his thought, a case of “reciprocal illumination” as it were. All this raises the question of whether Sharma is a Hindu apologist or a reformer.</p>","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139948413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Steven W. Ramey, ed., Hinduism in 5 Minutes. Religion in Five Minutes series.","authors":"Michael Baltutis","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09352-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09352-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140436474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ute Hüsken, Vasudha Narayanan, and Astrid Zotter, eds., Nine Nights of Power: Durgā, Dolls, and Darbārs. SUNY Series in Hindu Studies.","authors":"Michael Baltutis","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09351-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09351-y","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140435931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Study of Indian Philosophy in the Work of Arvind Sharma (with Particular Reference to Advaita Vedānta)","authors":"Jeffery D. Long","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09366-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09366-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This essay explores the role of the Advaita Vedānta philosophy of Hinduism in Arvind Sharma’s numerous works on Indian philosophy. It argues that the viewpoint from which he approaches the various traditions he studies is deeply informed by the Advaita Vedānta tradition. It argues that this is not an especially problematic stance, so long as it is clear that this represents his specific point of view as a scholar and is not being falsely represented as an “objective” perspective. It shows that Sharma is indeed open about his affinity for Advaita Vedānta. The essay then engages with various controversies associated with Advaita Vedānta in the modern period, particularly the question of “neo-Advaita” or “neo-Vedānta,” both of which are shown to be problematic terms. The essay then concludes with a broad overview and appreciation of Sharma’s work on Indian philosophy: a body of work which constitutes a major contribution to scholarship even as it advances a particular perspective on the traditions to which is applied (a fact which is true of all scholarship, even that which claims to be “objective” or “neutral” with regard to the subject matter with which it engages).</p>","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139948529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nadav Harel, director, AVATARA. Hindi and Seraji (English subtitles).","authors":"Ofer Peres","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09353-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09353-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140439595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}