Contemplative Studies and Hinduism: Meditation Devotion Prayer and Worship

This book is one of the first wide-ranging academic surveys of the major types and categories of Hindu contemplative praxis. It explores diverse spiritual and religious practices within the Hindu traditions and Indic hermeneutical perspectives to understand the intricate culture of meditative communion and contemplation devotion spiritual formation prayer ritual and worship. The volume extends and expands the conceptual reach of the fields of Contemplative Studies and Hindu Studies. The chapters in the volume cover themes in Hindu contemplative experience from various texts and traditions including classical Sāṃkhya and Patañjali Yoga the Bhāgavata Purāṇa the role of Sādhana in Advaita Vedānta Śrīvidyā and the Śrīcakra the body in Tantra the semiotics and illocution of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sādhana mantra in Mīmāṃsā Vaiṣṇava liturgy as well as cross-cultural reflections and interreligious comparative contemplative praxis. The volume presents indigenous vocabulary and frameworks to examine categories and concerns particular to the Hindu contemplative traditions. It traces patterns that cut across Hindu traditions and systems and discusses contrasting methods of different theological/philosophical schools evincing a strong plurality in Hindu religious thought and practice. The volume provides intra-religious comparisons that reveal internal complexity nuances and a variety of contemplative states and transformative practices that exist under the rubric of Hindu practices of interiority and reflection. With key insights on forms and functions of the contemplative experience along with their theologies and philosophies the volume suggests new hermeneutical directions that will advance the field of contemplative studies.