Reddit mentions: The best sacred hindu writings

I grew up Christian so I know where you're coming from. Basically, and Im oversimplifying here, but hinduism is a mix of christian and buddhist ideas. Hinduism is actually a large collection of religions and their specific beliefs can vary widely. On one end of the spectrum, you have Krishnas who worship Krishna as monotheists and put devotion to krishna above all else. On the other end you have something like kashmir shaivists who worship the God Shiva and who put meditation, yoga and tantra above everything else.

To generalize about this broad spectrum of beliefs and practices, I would say that in general, we are monotheists. We believe in one god but worship that one God in their many forms. There are rituals, chants, breathing exercises, meditation practices and many other ways we choose to use to worship God. Some of us are dualists and believe that God is fundamentally seperate. Worship for dualists is usually devotional and includes rituals, chants and prayers. Some of us are monists and believe God possesses all existance and can be experienced firsthand. Monists are usually the ones who are meditation focused and may supplement their practice with rituals, yoga and breathing excercises.

As a whole, hindus generally believe in reincarnation. When you die, youre reborn into another body. You can be reborn as a human, or might take on a rebirth as an animal or in the hell & heaven realms. We believe some lives are longer than others, but even in heaven and hell, none are permanent. The ultimate goal of a hindu is achieving the state of moksha, or oneness with God, and freedom from rebirth.

My suggestion for someone new to hinduism is to read the baghavad gita. Try to find a copy with a good non-sectarian commentary. I like this one. After that, just try to figure out if you are more of a dualist or monist. Research hindu Gods and see if there are any that jump out at you. Feel free to ask any questions in this sub and Im sure you will get answers. Thanks for your interest!

You can look through my comment history, but I would start with the following books, probably in this order:

Shakti, Realm of the Divine Mother, by Vanamali - This is a great overview over the Goddesses many names and forms, along with a great recounting of Her many stories.

In Praise of the Goddess: The Devimahatmya and Its Meaning, by Devadatta Kali

• The Devi Mahatmyam is one of the most important Shaktaa religious texts, and while other translations exist, this one is by far the best.
  
  Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, by Elizabeth Harding - An exploration into Mother Kali, and how She is worshipped at Dakshineswar temple in Kolkata. The author also goes into the life of Sri Ramakrishna, one of the modern day saints of the Divine Mother.
  
  The Thousand Names Of The Divine Mother: Shri Lalita Sahasranama - The other "most important" book amongst Shaktaa's, this version contains verse by verse commentary.
  
  As for converting - that's a bit of a thorny topic, but it's not really necessary. Begin to read, learn, and most importantly, practice the Dharma, and after a few years of doing so, perhaps consider a more formal conversion.
  
  Also, seek out a guru if you can. It can be tough, but it makes a lot of this go a lot easier.
  
  

> I am a Vaisnava Brahmin myself, everyone in my family is religious, except they don't really know what our religion talks about.

I can identify with this to some extent. My wife's family is Brahmin Hindu (albeit more followers of Ganesh) and despite having a large shrine, gathering for pujas and bhajans, and turning their noses up on "lower" castes, they are largely ignorant of the lessons and content of the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita. I've noticed that in today's world - at least among the diaspora Indian population in the U.S. - "Hinduism" is often more of a cultural identity, tradition, and way to unite a community for events. Many know a few folkloric tales, some procedures for ceremonies, basic conceptual framework of the religion - but few actually walk the path, few practice meditation, few have studied the Upanishads or Gita and appreciated the messages of mysticism contained therein. This is even more true for second generation Indian-Americans. That said, the same could be said for almost any religious group; you can't tell me that every Methodist Protestant can recite the book of Luke or Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.

>I wish I could actually understand sanskrit(the language the scripts are written) so I could have my own perception of the scripts rather than translations.

I recommend these translations of Sankaracharya's 6th-7th century commentary of the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads. These do a rough breakdown of the words, gives an idea of how the Sanskrit breaks down, and gives a pretty true representation of one of the oldest translations from Sanskrit into vernacular tongues.

If interested, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami Satchidananda are great as well. They give the original the Sanskrit, the direct transliteration, a translation into coherent English, and then a commentary. However, this book is more an instruction manual on yoga practice (unitive and meditative exercises and broader lifestyle, not American stretch class); though still a great read for someone looking for a practical approach to mysticism.

Thank you for your query. I also posted this in Hinduism. The advice there and in this sub was very diverse and didn't reach a consensus, so unfortunately it was not super helpful in my opinion. (But hey, the Gita's an ancient religious text, so I guess that comes with the territory.)

I own three translations, currently:

1. Old paperback of the Prabhavananda-Isherwood translation I found for $1 (!), which includes an introduction by Adolus Huxley of "Brave New World" fame.
   
   
2. New translation by Gavin Flood and Charles Martin. I just bought it yesterday. I was interested in this one because when I asked my Hinduism professor to recommend a short single-volume overview of the religion, she pointed me to Flood's "An Introduction to Hinduism." I enjoyed that book so I feel that I can trust his scholarship in this translation.
   
   
3. The ubiquitous ISKON translation which I picked up for free from some ISKON devotees on the street. I'm honestly a little suspicious of this one because of its strong sectarian origins. But I think the commentary might be helpful if I want to understand how Krishna devotees read the Gita.
   
   I'm also interested in the Easwaran translation because I've heard that is a classic (and the paperback is really nice-looking, always a perk...) But honestly my eyes are bigger than my stomach when it comes to books so I think I'll just try to get through something I already own rather than scrambling to collect a bunch of different Gitas that I'll never read. Overall, I'm satisfied with my choices because they cover a good range of old, new, and popular.

Ohh I got some goodies for ya, Hermann Hesse is amazing and opened me up to many books.

1. Just buy it right now..seriously. The Book of Mirdad by Mikhail Naimy
   
   
2. Another Classic by Herman Hesse Demian
   
   3)Another with a similar feel as Siddhartha The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
   
   So these top 3 are the "closest" to Siddartha that I've read. You will defintely like the top 3, they are amazing books with such fundamental truths told through a story. All easy to read and similiar in length.
   
   These next 4 are just suggested for anyone that is into these types of books, I would almost guarantee that you will love them! They are just less "story" like. The Autobiography is an amazing read, and is indeed a story but it's non-fiction. The Way of Zen is just a beautiful book, but is not a fiction along with the Bhagavad and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (The author actually suggests Siddhartha in it!)
   
   
3. If you liked Siddhartha heavily for it's spiritual aspects and the effect it left on you, this book has changed me deeply (they all have but this book is a little different) The Autobiography of a Yogi by
   Paramahansa Yogananda
   
   5)And his translation of The Bhagavad Gita
   
   6)Good ol' Allan Watts The Way of Zen
   
   
4. Another highly suggested book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
   
   Enjoy my friend!

Eastern Philosophy is a huge subject. You only mentioned Chinese philosophers. Are you interested in Indian, Tibetan, etc?

For a good intro to practical Indian Sanatana Dharma (Hindu) philosophy, try Vivekananda: The Yogas and Other Works. He (along with Paramahansa Yogananda) were instrumental in bringing Indian philosophy and culture to the West, and remains one of it's best representatives. The book doesn't focus on the Vedic or Puranic traditions as much as the Yogic, but it's the Yogic that speaks to the modern mind the best, and makes the older texts more digestible and relevant to it.

Also, the Bhagavad Gita is essential. My favorite translation is Sri Aurobindo's with Bhagavad Gita and it's Message.

For Tibetan Buddhism, read the works of its founder - Padmasambhava, aka Guru Rinpoche. The Lotus Born and Advice from the Lotus Born are two of my favorites.

And The Teachings of the Buddha by Jack Kornfield is a good well-rounded introduction to the teachings of the various schools of Buddhism.

And one of my absolute favorite Lao Tzu works is the Hua Hu Ching, particularly the Brian Walker translation. Beautiful and very profound. I actually prefer it over the Tao Te Ching.

Edit: added a book.

I would recommend you to read into Bhagavad Gita. Why? Because its essence is along the lines of everything you just stated.

If you allow me, I would recommend this translation, because this is layed out in a non-secterian way, but at the same time presents the Gita from a personalist perspective, i.e. God has a form (which is loving as you see it), instead of the non-personalist perspective, i.e. God has no form (nirvana, which cannot love anyone).

Edit: I just saw that you believe God has no form, but is still loving. I don't want to offense your viewpoint, but I think this is a contradiction. Love is something that only appears in relationships and relationships always take place between subjects. Hence God must be a subject and as such must has a form to give love.

Welcome to the club! People come to the occult, to mysticism, because "regular" life is insufficient. It doesn't explain what we are. It doesn't include a "why". My recommendation for your first book to read is the Tao Te Ching. I recommend this translation, by Victor Mair:
https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Classic-Integrity/dp/055334935X

Here's how his translation begins:

>The person of superior integrity

>>does not insist upon his integrity;

>For this reason, he has integrity.

>The person of inferior integrity

>>never loses sight of his integrity;

>For this reason, he lacks integrity.

    

>The person of superior integrity takes no action,

>>nor has he a purpose for acting.

>The person of superior humaneness takes action,

>>but has no purpose for acting.

>The person of superior righteousness takes action,

>>and has a purpose for acting.

>The person of superior etiquette takes action,

>>but others do not respond to him;

>Whereupon he rolls up his sleeves and coerces them.

The work of Paramahansa Yogananda can be helpful in understanding the Hindu spiritual foundations of meditation.

He founded the group Self Realization Fellowship to spread the teachings of yoga in the West.

Here's another site that has more information about his writings

What's helpful about Yogananda is that he came to America in the 1920s and taught until his death in the early 1950s, so he is able to translate ancient Hindu concepts into terms that modern Americans can understand.

A great resource on this is his book The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita.

The basic idea is that the foundation of the universe is pure consciousness, and that this pure consciousness is the real source of our being or our real Self.

Translated into Western terms, this pure consciousness is God and our real Self is the soul, and our false self is the ego.

Then the purpose of yoga is to experience our real Self as the eternal divine infinite bliss consciousness which is its source.

What!s also interesting is that Paramahansa teaches powerful yoga techniques to directly experience this aspect of our being, so it is a practical path of experience.

There is no proselytizing because yoga teaches that we will all become enlightened at some point anyway -- if not in this life, then we will just keep reincarnating until it happens. So yoga is just for those who want to speed up this process.

A further basic idea is that it is the goal of every human to have permanent unalloyed pure happiness unmixed with sorrow, and that we have this desire because of our source in divine bliss consciousness. And that our egoic separation from the Divine is the source of our ignorance and misery.

Yes it gets more complicated but I tried to distill it down to the bare bones basics and provide links for anyone who has further interest.

I'd start with the book that played a large role in the revival of the modern occult: H.P. Blavatsky's The Hidden Doctrine, which is a synthesis of occult philosophies from all over the world.

Then, I'd go over the text on which all hermetic knowledge derives from; The Corpus Hermeticum by Hermes Trismegistus

I'd also reccomend looking into The Pistis Sophia, which explains the philosophies of early Gnosticism.

Another important text would be The Vision and the Voice by Aleister Crowley, which is an account of 30 visions that document how one may attain enlightenment, had by Crowley while he was performing a series of Enochian rituals out in the desert.

The Cosmic Doctrine by Dion Fortune is a book that was channeled by Dion Fortune, which she believes explains the hidden secrets and doctrine of the universe.

The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune is a great book that explains the Qabalah, the system of philosophy which is the backbone of the occult.

This list would be incomplete without also including Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, which was written by a Renaissance occultist named Henry Agrippa and is a foundational text to all branches of occult philosophy and knowledge.

The Dhammapada, The Questions of King Milinda, THE TÂO TEH KING, The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads, and The I-Ching are all also important philosophical texts to the occult. While they are not necessarily "occult" themselves, they all had a huge influence on the modern occult today, as well as many famous occultists such as Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune, H.P. Blavatsky, etc.

I've listened to an audiobook version several times through; it's enjoyable. There definitely are many parallels between the concepts in the book, other eastern philosophies and the ideas floating around here.

The general message I get from the book is that our apprehensions towards life are based on illusory understanding. The highest good transcends our preferences and hang-ups.

I find that, as I learn similar concepts through other avenues, it is good to revisit works such as the Bhagavad Gita as what I get from it changes as I change. Though I suppose the same could be said of any book; isn't there a saying in zen that any book can be used to practice as any book can serve as a mirror?

One aspect of the Gita which has never been of value to me is the seemingly endless naming of things though perhaps that would change if I had a stronger context for similar literature. I'd be curious to hear other's thoughts on this aspect.

I recently purchased but have yet to read The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita. I was overwhelmingly impressed with Autobiography of a Yogi so I have high hopes for this book. Has anyone else read it?

I've also read / listened to a few translations of the Tao Te Ching which has similar content but is presented very differently (more abstractly?) I find that I get a bit more out of the Tao Te Ching than the Gita. The Tao Te Ching is a bit more simple; the way it is written tends to evoke more parallels in my mind than more concrete books.

Hinduism was never meant to be a religion. It is a way of life. It is basically the opposite of Abrahamic faiths, which require you to accept a prophet and hence "convert". It is a knowledge based system of living, in which you are allowed to accept or reject or criticize any concept you want, there is no concept of "heresy". Due to this, in order to become a "hindu" you have to understand 4 yogas - Bhakti, Karma, Sankhya and Raja. These 4 yogas, the 3 modes of the mind and every other aspect of human psychic are succinctly explained by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in a dialogue which is referred to as the Gita.
The Gita is basically a summary of all the hindu and vedic concepts. Hence, it is always good to start with that. You can get Paramhansa Yogananda's commentary on it, or John Algeo (my favorite).
Links: https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-According-Paramhansa-Yogananda-ebook/dp/B001RTU4V8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1537370239&sr=8-2&keywords=yogananda+gita

https://www.theosophical.org/files/resources/selfstudy/Gita.pdf

After you have properly understood the Gita, you can further your knowledge by reading Srimad Bhagavatam and other vedic scriptures like Brahma Samhita, Rig Veda etc. One great website for all this is http://www.vedabase.com/

Welcome to the never ending knowledge of the vedas!!!!

I'd suggest starting by reading the Baghavad Gita with a good general commentary. "The Living Gita" by Sri Swami Satchidananda is a good one that I can personally endorse.

He also has a commentary on Patanjali's yoga sutras that I would recommend after that. Namaste, and much blessings in your studies!

Try this:

https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-gita-Photographic-visual-greatest-spiritual/dp/1503367126

Its a photographic version of the Bhagavad Gita so that it's easier to read, and it's summarised so you don't have to worry about reading the Sanskrit verses. It flows very well and the pictures make the knowledge easier to connect with. I really liked and would recommend.

The better one(because Easwaran tends to see "Lord of Love" everywhere) would be the commentary Gudartha Dipika by Madhusudana Saraswati. And the commentary of Adi Sankara,the founder of the school that Madhusudana Saraswati belonged to.

Online,the commentary of Sankara is available. And the famous Jnaneshwari commentary on the Gita(if you wish to buy it on Amazon).

Basically,I'm following up with what /u/CaliforniaJade said.

Much of the modern interpretation of the caste system comes from the British translation of Manusmriti as a 'legal manual' for the governance of India. Basically, they took a book written some 2000 years ago with references to the caste system and made it a modern thing. The reason it's now used as a talking point against Hindus is because many of us don't actually know this basic fact and thus have no way to actually provide this clear counter-argument.

Edit: The book is called 'The laws of Manu' by Brian Smith and Wendy Doniger. The translation is excellent and highly recommended.

If you wanna tell them nothing else then tell them the above. It is found in a modern translation of the Manusmriti which I have the Kindle version of and I will edit the details in when I get back on the post. But, it's in there as a fact.

Next time someone tries to tell you this, just copy the above part and paste it. If you wish to reference me, that's nice but it's free information anyway. Don't believe a word from people who know jackshit about history but have the chutzpah to use it against you because they think you know less.

I’ve definitely seen videos of the game so I know he was a close friend to me. if you're really bold, God Talks with Arjuna.

Thanks for posting this, it's reminded me of a book I read a few years ago by Amit Goswami called Physics of the Soul.

Goswami was professor of theoretical science at the University of Oregon for many years, and the premise of this book was him being inspired to prove the essential truth of the Tibetan Book of the Dead through the tools of quantum physics.

I don't think he quite achieved that; some of his ideas would be a stretch to call 'scientific', but they're well-expressed, and you might find it rewarding to read it.

I would recommend this one by Victor Mair, a respected Sinologist. His commentary is illuminating, and you will see how some of these apparent paradoxes are resolved.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/055334935X/centertaoorg-20

"In 1990, the noted sinologist Victor H. Mair translated the Ma-wang-tui version as he considered this earliest known version (by 500 years) to be far more authentic than the most commonly translated texts."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawangdui_Silk_Texts

Yes, print versions are available as well as pdf versions online. There are several Advaita versions of Bhagavad Gita; the Shankara Bhasya is one of the most popular which is the commentary of Adi Shankara.

There are many pdf versions available for free if you google but if you want to buy a print version, here is the link:

https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-Commentary-Sri-Sankaracharya/dp/8185208085

A PDF link: http://www.rarebooksocietyofindia.org/book_archive/196174216674_10152992577146675.pdf

Regarding 1: I really like Easwaran's Bhagavad Gita English translation. It includes lengthy, descriptive forwards for each chapter that assume no familiarity with Hindu mythology or Indian culture. Easwaran had a PhD in English literature and was an Indian national who genuinely loved the Gita.

I'm pretty conservative and hardcore,but I would not recommend the Vedas or Upanishads first. One can get around completely without touching these. I would recommend first the Bhagavad Gita with a classical commentary(ones by Shankara,Ramanuja,Madhva,Dyaneshwar,Abhinavagupta,etc).

• Gita with Sankara's commentary with notes from Anandagiri's gloss translated by AM Shastri. A PDF of it can be downloaded
  
• Jnaneshwari,or Jnaneshwar's commentary on the Gita. Amazon
  
• Ramanuja's commentary on the Gita
  
  Then as /u/nura2011 said:
  
  >the prasthAnatrayi, the two epics, and a purana or two (or three: one each from the Vaishnava, Shaiva and Shakta traditions) that gives you an overview of mythological Hinduism. In addition, go through a few overview texts to get an idea of schools that resonate with you (perhaps Kashmir Shaivism, for e.g.), and then go into books of those.

Why not open up your reading list to some non-Abrahamic religion? Sprinkle in some eastern thought to broaden your perspective, it's a different way of thinking. Some of it is quite accessible to noobs, at least I was able to take it in and that's saying something.

I thought the Gita was amazing (and not at all a tome), I read this translation (with commentary): http://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-Eknath-Easwaran/dp/0915132354

I myself am particularly interested in esoteric Buddhism and Hinduism. So when I say "the ancients" I personally think of the ancient Hindus. But truthfully, this was known across many cultures (think Egypt, Babylon, etc), including the shamanic ones. Actually shamanism is the foundation out of which most of our esoteric knowledge derives. But it could also refer to forms of paganism, to the Kabbalists (esoteric Judaism), it can refer to the gnostic Christians. The list is really endless.

This all relates to meditation in the sense that concentration/focus is the first thing necessary to understanding this knowledge. It is a kind of back and forth between theory and practice. You learn something new from a book about shamanism for example, then you go meditate about that concept and analyze how that concept changes your meditation. You get some insight in the meditation, then you go back to the theory to understand that new insight.

As far as links, I have a lot of information I can share with you. I'm just wary of giving the wrong information.

There is a book written by a theoretical quantum physicist, Amit Goswami, called Physics of the Soul: The Quantum Book of Living, Dying, Reincarnation and Immortality which spends a great deal of time examining the question of which comes first, matter or consciousness. He also discusses how this relates to a book called the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I think this is a good start if you have had no previous exposure to this.

C.G. Jung is an invaluable source and an excellent foundation for esoteric knowledge for somebody coming from a Western/scientific point of view. He explains the same concepts in terms acceptable to the rational aspect of the mind.

You can read this site to understand some of the ancient Hindu philosophy:

http://www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/tantra.htm

which can be difficult to grasp at first, but the knowledge starts to slowly coalesce.

What Smith says is largely correct, apart from the polytheism part, which as I said, I have not found.

I'd personally recommend the translation by Winthrop Sargeant. There are two editions with differing prices based on content. The deluxe edition has a foreword by the above mentioned Smith, while the cheaper edition has only the text, translation and translator's introduction.

I strongly recommend the Bhagavad Gita translated by Winthrop Sargeant. He gives the Sanskrit verse, a word-by-word breakdown, and an accurate translation with no commentary.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1438428421/

> Swami Prabhavananda

Doing some googling, I also found The Living Gita: The Complete Bhagavad Gita - A Commentary for Modern Readers by Sri Swami Satchidananda. In particular, this translation was recommended for its verse-by-verse commentary. Do you have any thoughts on this translation? Thanks

Although it's Hinduism, not Buddhism, the Bhagavad Gita seems particularly relevant.

S. Radhakrishnan 's or if possible get one with Sankaracharya's commentary:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/8185208085?pc_redir=T1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/8172238983/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?qid=1465393446&sr=1-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=S.Radhakrishnan&dpPl=1&dpID=516GlV5irCL&ref=plSrch