Preparing : For Death & Banaras : City Of Light (Set of 2 Books)

This combo product is bundled in India but the publishing origin of this title may vary.Publication date of this bundle is the creation date of this bundle; the actual publication date of child items may vary.The one certainty in life the one appointment which each of us will just have to face is the one for which we do the least to prepare-death. From the lives and last days of the Buddha Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Ramana Maharshi Gandhiji Vinoba; from our religious texts; from the teachings of great meditation masters; from santhara to sannyas to practices by which we may tame our mind-leavening all these by his personal experiences-Arun Shourie presents clues to ensure that we face our end with equanimity. In the process he lays down what we must do if rituals pilgrimages and mantras are to help us. He leads us to ask whether texts such as The Tibetan Book of the Dead are for the dead or do they set out lessons for us the living? He leads us to see through the sedatives that we are fed. Even as we are being frightened by accounts of 'hell' are we not actually being lulled to sleep? Does the fact that we will face extreme tortures in hell not mean that in some form we will survive death? To experience them after all we must be present.Religions entice us into the great questions. Is there a soul that is never born and never dies? Is there life after death? Is there rebirth? Is there God? What is real and what is just maya? The greatest teachers and mystics have come up with different answers. Each of them has had direct experience of what she or he has proclaimed to be the truth. How then are we to proceed? About the Author Scholar author former editor and minister Arun Shourie has for the last four decades been one of the most prominent voices in our country's public affairs and discourse.A luminous work as befits this City of Light. I know of few books that capture the soul of a sacred city to the degree that this one does'-Huston Smith Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion Syracuse University One of the oldest living cities in the world Banaras is also where Shiva the Lord of All is believed to have made his home since the dawn of creation. There are few places in India as traditionally Hindu and as symbolic of the whole of Hindu culture as this city where God is imagined and imaged in a thousand ways. Through her account of the history geography and art of the city its elaborate and thriving rituals its myths and literature Diana Eck brings out the significance Banaras holds for the millions of pilgrims and seekers who have been coming here for over 2500 years. About the Author Diana L. Eck is professor of comparative religion and Indian studies at Harvard University and is master of Lowell House and director of the Pluralism Project. Her book Banaras City of Light remains a classic in the field and Encountering God A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras won the prestigious Grawemeyer Book Award. In 1998 President Clinton awarded her the National Humanities Medal for the work of the Pluralism Project in the investigation of America's religious diversity. Her latest book India A Sacred Geography was published in 2013.