I was wondering whether anyone could recommend a book about the basic tenets of Hinduism. I know very little and a lot of stuff I've read seems to be confusing - so perhaps it would be better to start with something at the beginning !! 😮
Many thanks. 🙂
Hi HG
Only too happy to oblige! I've got a super book (thank you for making me take it off the shelf BTW as there are parts I've still to read properly) in the Teach Yourself series published by Hodder and Stoughton. It is, of course, Teach Yourself Hinduism by VP (Hemant) Kanitkar and W Owen Cole. It's very comprehensive and covers all sorts of interesting aspects of Hindu culture, not just the gods and temples. It's a paperback but I expect you could also get it from the library.
HTH
xxx
Hi Happygirl,
You might also like to look at "An introduction to Hinduism" by Gavin Flood. It is more of an academic text, but I think it gives a fairly good overview of hinduism, or sanatana-dharma as it is referred to in India.
Warm regards,
Shankar.
Thank you both. I've managed to get both books on Amazon (under the "used" section) so looking forward to their arrival. 🙂
I highly recommend [url]Autobiography of a Yogi[/url] by Paramahansa Yogananda, and [url]Man's Eternal Quest[/url], which is collection of talks given by Yoganada. Accessible, informative, thought provoking and very entertaining. They don't exactly explore Hinduism as a religion per se, but go a long way in explaining its essence.
Thanks for this Barafundle.
I'll try and get them after I've read the 2 books I've already ordered. Basically I was trying to pick up information piecemeal and then I realised that i didn't really understand the essence of Hinduism - so i decided to go back to the beginning - hence this post.
Hi Sarah,
I'm sure you've already read it, but in case you ain't the Gita is an interesting read (maybe) and quite quick to get through?
.
Hi Sarah,
I'm sure you've already read it, but in case you ain't the Gita is an interesting read (maybe) and quite quick to get through?
.
I couldn't agree more. My translation was by Eknath Eswaran and I literally couldn't put it down. It makes lovely, thoughtful reading, whether you're a Hindu or not. Save it till last though, HG, when you have time to spare to absorb it.
xxx
Hi Happygirl,
You might also like to look at "An introduction to Hinduism" by Gavin Flood.
Hello, I have read this book and i really like this book. I purchased this book form amazon.