I enjoyed this piece, but I confess I don't see the connection between the story about the shaman on the one hand, and the title and afterword on the other. Can someone give any insight here?
Avadhuta Gita, Nagarjuna’s middle way, Bahiya Sutta, Lankavatara Sutra (Epitomized version), Nirvana Shatakam. These are some of the texts/scriptures if you want to understand Indian philosophy and Moksha.
That part of the MBh (the Śāntiparvan) makes me think of a Russian novel. Here is Dostoevsky or Ayn Rand pausing the action for many pages to have a major character explain to you what the author thinks about the novel's major themes. In Dostoevsky at least, that speech is often really powerful and compelling; some might even say the Grand Inquisitor speech is the best part of the Brothers Karamazov. Likewise, the Śāntiparvan is one of the better statements we get in India of philosophy as an integrated whole, including ethics and politics. A lot of Indian philosophical writing gets so lost in the technical details of epistemology and metaphysics that it fails to bring it back to the implications for life, and I really like that in the Śāntiparvan that's not the case.
Well, colour me fascinated. Reminds me of reading the Talmud which is also abstruse (though in the case of Talmud it’s somewhat deliberate because the Talmud as we know it was never meant to be written down).
Interesting, so both translations were by Bengali’s. Pardon this silly observation but we bengalis take any credit we can get for anything .
Have you read Tagore? I’d be interested in what you think of it. But translations are bad.
I enjoyed this piece, but I confess I don't see the connection between the story about the shaman on the one hand, and the title and afterword on the other. Can someone give any insight here?
Avadhuta Gita, Nagarjuna’s middle way, Bahiya Sutta, Lankavatara Sutra (Epitomized version), Nirvana Shatakam. These are some of the texts/scriptures if you want to understand Indian philosophy and Moksha.
That part of the MBh (the Śāntiparvan) makes me think of a Russian novel. Here is Dostoevsky or Ayn Rand pausing the action for many pages to have a major character explain to you what the author thinks about the novel's major themes. In Dostoevsky at least, that speech is often really powerful and compelling; some might even say the Grand Inquisitor speech is the best part of the Brothers Karamazov. Likewise, the Śāntiparvan is one of the better statements we get in India of philosophy as an integrated whole, including ethics and politics. A lot of Indian philosophical writing gets so lost in the technical details of epistemology and metaphysics that it fails to bring it back to the implications for life, and I really like that in the Śāntiparvan that's not the case.
I live in the Bay Area too! Awesome to meet another writer, I’m always trying to make local writer friends.
Well, colour me fascinated. Reminds me of reading the Talmud which is also abstruse (though in the case of Talmud it’s somewhat deliberate because the Talmud as we know it was never meant to be written down).