World Religions

Jesus in India by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian is one of the original sources of the controversial theory of Jesus’ visit to India. According to this book, first published in 1908, Jesus went to Kashmir and Tibet after deliverance from death on the cross. The author documents his theories through documents from Buddhist, Christian and Muslim sources. Much of this research is the foundations for later books and bestseller on the topic.

The New Man By Maurice Nicoll. From the introduction: ALL sacred writings contain an outer and an inner meaning. Behind the literal words lies another range of meaning, another form of knowledge. According to an old−age tradition, Man once was in touch with this inner knowledge and inner meaning. There are many stories in the Old Testament which convey another knowledge, a meaning quite different from the literal sense of the words.

The Brihat (the great) Yoga Vasishta or Yoga Vasishta Maha Ramayana as it is also called, is a work of about 32,000 Sanskrit couplets, traditionally attributed to Valmiki, the author of Srimad Ramayana. It is a dialogue between Sage Vasishta and Sri Rama, during which Advaita (the doctrine of non-duality) in its pure form of ajatavada (theory of nonorigination) is expounded, with illustrative stories in between. This vast work was abridged some centuries ago by Abhinanda Pandita, a Kashmiri scholar, into 6,000 couplets, which go by the name of Laghu Yoga Vasishta.

The Nisargadatta Gita by Pradeep Apte. From the intro:

I came across a book ‘I Am That’ based on the talks of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. As I began going through it, I just couldn’t put it down, ‘This is dynamite!’ that’s the immediate feeling I had. I Then began preparing the text of ‘The Nisargadatta Gita’. In my life, so far, I had never met a living Guru, is my mere reading or studying of books of the teachings of all these great men of no avail? This last doubt was removed while I was editing the script of ‘I am Unborn’ where Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj answered this very question:

This fascinating and innovative monograph explores the relationship between the philosophical underpinnings of Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism and the experiential journey of spiritual practitioners. Taking the perspective of the questioning student, the author highlights the experiential deconstructive processes that are ignited when students' "everyday" dualistic thought structures are challenged by the non-dual nature of these teachings and practices.

Glimpses of World Religions explores the essential elements and teachings of the world's major religions: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zorastrianism, Judiasm, Confucianism, Taoism, Sufism and Shintoism. The book explains that one reality is expressed in innumerable ways through different religions and that each expression is as true as the other. All religions are nothing but milk in vessels of different shapes and forms.

The ‘Bon’ religious tradition of Tibet is often misunderstood as just another branch or sect of Buddhism. Such misconceptions on the part of the average Westerner may easily be forgiven when one considers the ignorance of the average Tibetan about Bon religion. The historical predominance of Buddhism in all aspects of Tibetan political and social culture since the seventh century is responsible for such misconceptions. ‘Bonpos’, the followers of Bon religion had to endure centuries of persecution and social and political marginalization at the hands of the Buddhist majority.

“Religion is the set of beliefs, feelings, dogmas and practices that define the relations between human being and sacred or divinity. A given religion is defined by specific elements of a community of believers: dogmas, sacred books, rites, worship, sacrament, moral prescription, interdicts, organization. The majority of religions have developed starting from a revelation based on the exemplary history of a nation, of a prophet or a wise man who taught an ideal of life”.

The Bible (from Greek τὰ βιβλία ta biblia "the books") is a collection of sacred scripture of both Judaism and Christianity. There is no single version; both the individual books (Biblical canon) and their order vary between denominations.

There are several problems in trying to make a definition of religion that is not overly vague and general, but that still is “inclusive enough” to not leave out any of the beliefs and practices that seem religious to most intelligent people. By their nature, religious beliefs tend to motivate other aspects of human behavior beyond those which would strictly be considered to be of religious concern.