First published in India, this is a revised translation of essays that elucidate the universal principles for which the Advaita-Vedanta is so revered, encompassing in its amplitude every legitimate spiritual modality. In the chapter, "The Meaning of Caste," the reader is afforded an intelligent and spiritually vibrant way of understanding the archetypal roots that differentiate humankind. "The Meaning of Race" demolishes current errors and prejudices while depicting that genius which is unique to each race. "Principles and Criteria of Art" insists on the necessity of objective criteria for beauty. The shock to the Western readers upon encountering this idea gives way to joy, arising from the restoration of art's mission of transmitting the qualities of intelligence, beauty and nobility that are at once the natural and necessary dimensions of the human condition, as well as the projection of Truth and Beauty into the world of forms.

The modern outlook--despite its professed "objectivity"--recoils from the notion at the foundation of all traditional wisdom that there is an absolute, transcendent Reality. Whereas consciousness of the Absolute and its infinitude constitutes man's very reason for being, therefore his salvation and his happiness. Schuon's perspective is that of Sanatana Dharma, the "eternal religion," which is based on the intrinsic nature of things. For Western minds, which have a tendency toward irreducible alternatives, Schuon's crystalline yet musical delineations of the levels of reality come as a refreshing relief. At the root of this discernment is neither mere reasoning nor a willing of "what should be," but a disinterested contemplation of the metaphysical transparency of phenomena.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a school of thought arose with René Guénon and Ananda Coomaraswamy which has focused on the enunciation and explanation of the Philosophia Perennis; this philosophy is the timeless metaphysical truth underlying the diverse religions, and whose written sources are the revealed Scriptures as well as the writings of the great spiritual masters. Because these truths are permanent and universal, the point of view may thus be called "Perennialist." Frithjof Schuon is by far the pre-eminent spokesman and exponent of the "Perennialist Perspective," having written more than twenty books on this subject; these books as a whole can be said to contain the Perennialist Philosophy.

The first edition of Language of the Self appeared in 1959, published by Ganesh and Co. in Madras. Since that time, the importance of this perspective has become all the more clear in a world increasingly dominated by conflicting confessional fanaticisms and by unbelief. It is in the light of the Philosophia Perennis, which views every religion "from within," that may be found the keys for an adequate understanding which, joined to the sense of the sacred, alone can safeguard the irreplaceable values and genuine spiritual possibilities of the great religions.

Schuon's outlook is very much that of the Sanâtana Dharma, and his message has three main dimensions: comprehension, concentration, conformation. Comprehension of the Truth; concentration on the Truth through methodical and quintessential prayer; conformation to these dimensions through intrinsic morality, which means beauty of character. Without this beauty, there can be no serious assimilation of the metaphysical truth, nor any efficacious method of orison. To these may be added a fourth and more extrinsic element: the beauty of our ambiance and hence our affinity with virgin Nature. For as Plato expressed it: "Beauty is the splendor of the True."

Reviews of Schuon's works have recently begun to appear in Indian intellectual journals, with an evident appreciation for the re-establishment of the sapiential core of traditionalism. On this basis, the initial translation has been revised, adding to it selected articles written since the first edition and considered to be relevant to the content of the original chapters. The editors are pleased to present—simultaneous with a new Indian edition—this revised and augmented edition of Language of the Self.