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Media Kit
This book is the only comprehensive introduction to Advaita Vedanta that traces the history of this tradition by means of primary sources. The sources (in translation) are drawn from Sanskrit texts by some of the most important Advaitic thinkers. The editors have filled in the appropriate background materials to make this a book through which readers can understand Advaita Vedânta both in terms of cultural history and philosophy. The book reveals the classical form of this great tradition of thought, showing how it actually functioned in Indian culture, and demonstrates its distinctive philosophical achievements.
Most often associated with the great 9th century sage Sankara, Advaita Vedanta is the most important and influential school of philosophy in India; however, unlike Western philosophy, the goal of this Indian wisdom tradition is spiritual liberation in life. The translations in The Essential Vedanta: A New Source Book of Advaita Vedanta are representative of the major traditional Sanskrit writings on this ancient but vibrant system of thought.
About the Author(s)
Eliot Deutsch
Eliot Deutsch is an eminent philosopher, teacher, and writer. He has made important contributions to the understanding and appreciation of Eastern philosophies in the West through his many works on comparative philosophy and comparative aesthetics. Deutsch is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy, University of Hawaii.Prof. Deutsch's classic sourcebook on Advaita Vedanta has been put into a new edition with changes and additions as The Essential Vedanta: A New Source Book of Advaita Vedanta. Dr. Deutsch co-edited the book with Rohit Dalvi.
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Rohit Dalvi
Rohit Dalvi is a scholar of Indian Metaphysics and philosophy. He has been educated in India, the United States and France. Dr. Dalvi is currently teaching at Brock University, Canada.Dr. Dalvi co-edited with Eliot Deutsch the new edition of The Essential Vedanta: A New Source Book of Advaita Vedanta.
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Reviews
- This book is an updated version of the 1971 classic (A Source Book of Advaita Vedanta, University of Hawaii Press). Changes include a few new and revised selections from the Upanisads. The selections and translations are excellent and exemplary. The Source Book is essential for all college libraries as well as for the personal collections of experts in the field. It remains a benchmark publication yet to be emulated by scholars of the other schools of Vedanta. This new and updated version is fantastic news for those of us who have desired the cost-prohibitive and out-of-print original.
Deepak Sarma, Case Western Reserve University from Religious Studies Review
- [This volume] is a significant contribution, and is a great aid to the study of Advaita Vedanta from its primary source material … [It] is a very useful anthology of the writings of Advaita thinkers … The selections cover in a comprehensive manner the doctrines and their nuances relating to Advaita thought. Each selection has a useful introduction which enables the reader to enter into the spirit of the selection. We are helped to a connected view of Advaita thought and presentation through the ages … [The authors’] approach is objective and exhibits high academic rectitude … The publication is a significant service done to comparative philosophy.
Dr. P. Nagaraja Rao, writing in the journal Vedanta Kesari
- [This book] is overall an excellent collection of Advaita philosophic literature, much of it quite inaccessible in translation (even some of the extant translations are now difficult to obtain), and ought to be in the library of everyone interested in the study of Indian philosophy.
Richard Brooks, writing in Philosophy East and West
- The authors are acknowledged experts within the field and have accordingly made an excellent selection of texts and provided them with clear, concise introductions.
David Lorenzen, writing in the Journal of Asian Studies.
- The learned editors deserve congratulations for providing us with a complete picture of the origin and the development of Advaita Vedanta in historical perspective from its inception in the Vedic texts. It is a well conceived and well executed anthology of Vedanta philosophy from the original texts, rich in content, most representative and complete in all respects
Dr. Debabrata Sensharma, Ex-Director, Institute of Sanskrit & Indological Studies Kurukshetra University.
- The publication of this book is an event of the greatest significance for everybody who is interested in the history of philosophy, and of Indian philosophy in particular, due to at least three reasons. First, Advaita Vedanta more than any other school represents the peculiarity of Indian thought, so much that it is often identified with Indian philosophy. Second, the interplay between Vedanta and other Indian philosophical schools and religious traditions presents to the readers, in the long run, practically a vast panorama of Indian thought and spirituality. Third, the richness of Vedanta sources included in the book masterly combined with a philosophical reconstruction made by Eliot Deutsch, one of the most respected contemporary authorities both in Vedanta and comparative philosophy
Marietta Stepaniants, Director of the Center for Oriental philosophies’ studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
- The Essential Vedanta, edited by Eliot Deutsch, one of the best authorities on Eastern philosophy, and by Rohit Dalvi, covers a tremendous number of texts and a wealth of Vedantist thinking, and suitably appears at a time when so many deviations of this doctrine are occurring in the West. It helps the new reader as well as the specialist by explaining clearly the main concepts of Advaita Vedanta. This is a real challenge nowadays because words are constantly losing their meaning and their power, and the authors provide an excellent protection against such degeneration of the language — especially when this degeneration goes hand in hand with the disappearance of incisive thinking.
Jean-Pierre Lafouge, Marquette University
- Guénon, in his Introduction to the Study of the Hindu Doctrines, identified Vedanta as the most direct heritage of the Primordial Tradition, as metaphysics per se. However very few worthy translations of Sankaracharya and his disciples are yet available for English readers. This very precious anthology, written in a traditional spirit, fills this gap, providing readers with useful insights on Hindu sacred texts, darshanas and Gaudapada’s lineage. [This is an] essential introduction to ‘the Language of the Self’.
Dr. Patricia Reynaud, Associate Professor, Miami University
