Essentials of Hinduism

Preface

Preface to the First Edition

During the past twenty years of my stay in the United States, I have been invited to speak on Hinduism at many schools, colleges, and universities. I have also spoken at numerous churches and synagogues. The audiences, for the most part, have had either Christian or Jewish backgrounds, and I have often received requests from these groups to recommend a book which would help them understand Hinduism without having to go through a lot of technical details. Many have complained that the authors of available books on Hinduism assume that the readers already know quite a bit about the subject, making their presentation difficult for a newly interested reader to understand. Moreover, the descendents of Hindu immigrants, unfamiliar with their religious heritage, ask their parents many questions which they are often unable to answer. Some of these parents requested me to write a book on Hinduism which would address these questions.

These are the reasons which inspired me to write this book. I have tried to make it easy to understand, without indulging in oversimplification. The topics covered address the questions I have most often encountered from western audiences over the last two decades. Keeping in mind that a large volume may easily daunt a college or high school student, the number of pages in this book has been kept well restrained without sacrificing the academic need of the students. An attempt also has been made to make this book helpful to high school and college teachers who cover Hinduism in their classes.

In the publication of this book the following persons have helped immensely and I acknowledge their loving assistance with deep gratitude.

Swami Atmatattwananda of the Vedanta Society of Southern California for his help and guidance during the final stages of editing the manuscript.

Biswa Ranjan Chakraborty of Calcutta for providing various illustrations and the oroginal design upon which the cover is based.

Diane Fitzgerald for final proofreading of the manuscript.

Allen R. Freedman for his assistance with some of the diagrams and charts.

Devra A. Freedman for her help in editing and also preparing the index.

David Manning for providing thoughtful and constructive suggestions after reading the manuscript.

Charles Mathias for his many illustrations and the graphic design of the cover.

Terri Storseth for editing early copies of the manuscript.

Kathleen & Timothy Teague for help with some of the illustrations.

Charles S. Wirth for providing assistance with the typesetting and printing of the manuscript.

I also thankfully acknowledge my debt to the following publishers:

Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, India, for permission to use quotations from Great Women of India.

The Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York for permission to use quotations from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

The Vedanta Society of Southern California for permission to use quotations from Swami Prabhavananda’s translation of the Upanishads.

John Benjamins Publishing Company, Philadelphia, for permission to quote Walter H. Maurer’s translation of the Nasadiya Sukta contained in Pinnacles of India’s Past; Selections from the Rg-Veda.

I shall consider my labour well rewarded if the book proves to be helpful to those for whom it is intended.

Swami Bhaskarananda

October, 1994

Preface to the Second Edition

In this edition slight changes have been made in the book to make it more accurate and suitable for the reader.

Swami Bhaskarananda

December, 2001