Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

SPECIFICATION:

• Publisher : Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
• By : V.C. Kulandai Swamy
  
• Cover : Paperback
  
• Language : English
  
• Edition : 2002
  
• Pages : 114
  
• Weight : 150 gm.
  
• Size : 14.6 x 1.9 x 22.9 cm
  
• ISBN-10: 8172015895
  
• ISBN-13: 978-8172015893

DESCRIPTION:

The Kural by Thiruvalluvar is an ancient work of the Sangam Age. The author raises the query: 'What is it that makes the Kural immortal?', and tries to seek an answer.
The author highlights Valluvar's penetrating insight into the unshifting foundations of life and his extraordinary genius for abstraction and generalization. It is strikingly different from any book or commentary so far written on the Kural.

About The Author : V.C. Kulandai Swamy :

Prof. Kulandai Swamy, a well known writer in Tamil, his literary contributions comprise mainly poems; he has also written articles and books on varied topics ranging from literary criticism to modernization of Tamil language. Prof. Swamy was given Sahitya Akademi Award in 1988 and was conferred the national honour of Padma Shri in 1922 and Padma Bhushan in 2002 by the President of India.

Here we have a meeting of two great minds, a meeting of two great spirits. Here we have deep calling deep. The Saundaryalahari is by Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada (Adi Sankara) and its exposition is by Pujyasri Candrasekharendra Sarasvati Svami (the Sage of Kanci, widely known as the Mahasvami). Adi Sankara is celebrated all over the world as a great bhasyakara, as a commentator of the Upanisads, the Brahmasutra, the Bhagavadgita and other texts. Here we have a Bhasya of a great hymn composed by the bhasyakara and what we call "an exposition" of the Saundaryalahari is indeed an inspired and inspiring work, a classic in its own right.

The Mahasvami speaks with the heart of a poet, with the penetrating insight of a philosopher and metaphysician and with the vision of a mystic. There are passages that move you with their unobtrusive eloquence, passages in which abstruse ideas are explained in a masterly fashion. There is poetry in this exposition; there is the fervour of devotion as well as profundity of thought that is oceanic in its vastness and depth.

Here we have synthesis of bhakti and Jnana, of Advaita and the Sakta doctrine, when the Sage of Kanci speaks of beauty he takes you to the sublime realm of aesthetic delight. How lofty must be his mystic vision as revealed in his identification of beauty with love and compassion. He speaks of many laharis, many waves, and his own Bhasya of the saundaryalahari is a flood of beauty that traverses various systems of thought: he harmonizes them as only he can, proving again that he is an Acarya with rare insights and with an original and creative mind.

About the Author

Pujyasri Candrasekharendra Sarasvati Svami (1894-1994) must be regarded as the greatest seer of our time. This gentle saint and mystic, whose life spanned almost the whole of the 20th century, created a spiritual and moral awakening in the land and made an immense contribution to its cultural resurgence. But he stood for all human civilization and he had a message for all mankind. He richly deserved the title of "Jagadguru", as one who taught in terms of the entire universe. His devotees believe that, life Adi Sankara before him, he too was an incarnation of Siva together with Amba. In these decades of struggle and turmoil, of conflict and hatred, he stood out as a luminous figure upholding the values of tolerance and charity and friendship and showed himself to be godly in his overflowing grace and compassion, while yet remaining intensely human.

Specification:

• Publisher : Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
• By : Jhaverchand Meghani
• Cover : Unknown Binding
• Language : English
• Edition : 2003
• Pages : 113
• Weight : 226 gm.
• Size : 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• ASIN: B007HFBXWK

Description:

The book is one of the three published by the Bhavan. The stories are based on chivalry, bravery and other values and are illustrated with sketches, truly representative of the folk art and the environment of the contemporary Saurashtra. Each story carries a map of Saurashtra showing the sites of these stories.
Thirteen stories titled 'Jatashankar, the village courier,', 'A gharasiya woman,' 'A deed', 'Hospitality' and others are included in this book. Jatashankar is a village courier who begins talking to a couple walking from one village to another at night. Dacoits attack them and he dies while protecting the woman. Her husband goes away but she commits sati on the pyre of Jatashankar, an acquaintance of just an hour or so because he fought for her honour. Stories like these which show the courage, the principles and the thinking of people of Saurashtra are told in this book.