Karma has fascinated me for decades now (yikes, I’m getting old), so the offer to get a review copy of Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati’s new book ‘The 11 Karmic Spaces: Choosing Freedom from the Patterns that Bind You‘ came as a welcome surprise. Unfortunately, the book isn’t as much about karma as you’d think. The [...]
Best books about Hinduism and Yoga
My selection of personal reviews of books about Hinduism and Yoga. You’ll find my tastes eclectic: from autobiographical to Sri Aurobindo and Hindu aspects of Nepalese Buddhism.
Spiritual memoirs are generally worth reading, I find. They usually combine a real life story with spirituality, and I can hardly ever turn a story like that down. This book is no exception. However, there’s a difference between a memoir I’ll read from start to finish myself, and a book I’d actually recommend others to [...]
Inspiring and thought provoking view on the spiritual path. A bit dated in places, but not less fascinating for it. There are real gems here though – things you’ll find rarely anywhere else. Though in places this book is evidently rooted in a time before psychology had taken a serious hold on our culture, it [...]
Reviewed in the West as the only decent biography of Sri Aurobindo Goshe, from politician, to poet and guru. This guy lived a fascinating life and Peter Heehs describes as many aspects of it as the Sri Aurobindo archives can help enlighten us on. In India this is a controversial book. It’s even been banned [...]
I got ‘Goddesses of the celestial gallery’ for my birthday (2010). It was quite a chore to take it home: it’s almost as tall as the desk I’m sitting on (see image below)! (aka Poster size) Romio Shrestha portrays the main Tibetan Buddhist Goddesses (and a few Hindu ones) in dazzling colors that are meditative [...]
Book review of an upbeat introduction to India and its spirituality: This is a great book if you want to go to India yourself – especially if you’re interested in India as the home of spirituality. I read the book in one go: couldn’t put it down. It’s interesting as a story of personal and [...]
The Bhagavad Gita has been translated into Western languages numerous times. Juan Mascaro has done a poet translation, after years of studying Sanskrit. The result is not just beautiful, but also a good introduction to the text. Full review including quotes: The Bhagavad Gita, Juan Mascaro translation Just quotes: Bhagavad Gita on Karma. Buy now: [...]