Abstract: Whence Fear comes? A Few Notes about the Origin of Fear in Indian Thought The paper examines the Vedic sources of fear in ancient Indian thought. First a connection to traditional Indian grammar (vyākaraṇa: Aṣṭādhyāyī 1,4,24-25) offers a plausible explanation for the origin of fear. Further hints for tracing the sources of fear are traced in some specific upaniṣad-s, namely Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Taittirīya, with a possible reference to aesthetic context (Nāṭyaśāstra). Particular attention is dedicated to the commentary by the philosopher Śaṅkara to a pivotal passage from Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad (1,4,2). Two types of fear are hypothesized: a empirical one and a metaphysical one, possibly in parallel with the gradation of soteriological knowledge, distinguished as inferior and superior (apara, para) in the vedantic milieu. Keywords: Hinduism, Vedānta, Śaṅkara, Upaniṣad

This article presents a fresh assessment of evidence for the existence of Śaṅkara's 'longer' commentary on the Aitareyopaniṣad, a subsection of the Aitareyāraṇyaka (AiĀ). While most printed editions of the Bhāṣya consider that it covers only three adhyāyas of the Āraṇyaka (AiĀ 2.4-6/7), a much more comprehensive work, bearing on the whole of AiĀ 2 and 3, is preserved in manuscripts. In the first part of the article, I argue that the ascription of this 'longer' gloss to Śaṅkara is likely to be justified, building on previous scholarship (A.B. Keith, S.K. Belvalkar) as well as on my own inspection of two manuscripts of the work, newly identified in the Cambridge University Library. Questions are also raised as to the constitution of the Upaniṣadic canon(s) and the role of commentaries in that process. The second part of the essay provides a comprehensive survey of the material (manuscript and print) available for a first critical edition of this important, though mostly neglected work by the great Vedāntin.

The Katha Upanisad was commissioned to combat the rising trend of scepticism regarding the other-wolrld and after-life. Both the nature of the text and the narrative pattern suggest reworking of a ritual centering round the Naciketa agni.

Parmenides’ philosophy is unique in the history of ideas in Europe, but it has a striking parallel in India, from about the same age. The unchanging Absolute, called ‘Being’ or ‘Existent’; the depreciation of everyday objects as mere ‘names’; and the construction of the empirical world out of elements called ‘forms’ are all found in the first text of the Sadvidyā (Chāndogya Upaniṣad VI. 1-7). Comparing details and taking into consideration other old Indian material this paper tries to prove that convergence of thought or parallel development is out of the question – there must have been actual contact. Also it suggests that the most probable scenario is that Parmenides travelled to India, learned the language and some important philosophical texts, and brought them back to Greece.

Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (1918-1993)'s three-volume work, History of Science and Technology in Ancient India (1986,1991,1996), provides in several respects a new model for historians of science and technology, as also for the study of philosophy in relation to science. In the course of this work he even revised his earlier interpretation of a verse (1.2) in the Śvetaśvatara Upaniṣad (1.2) that he had expressed in Indian Atheism (1969). The influence of such scholars as J.

ABSTRACT: The inalienable dignity of the person created in God’s image and the commandment to love one’s neighbor as one’s self are fundamental Christian social ethical principles. South Asian traditions’ imperative to “view all living beings as one’s self” (ātmavat sarvabhūtesu) sees violence done to the other as violence done to one’s self. Specifically Advaita Hindu understandings of ātmavat sarvabhūtesu tie it to the identity of one’s innermost self (ātman) with ultimate reality (brahman). After examining the sources and meanings of ātmavat sarvabhūtesu in Advaita, this paper explores ātmavat sarvabhūtesu in Advaita as a resource for uniting the image of God and love of neighbor in Christianity in an unprecedented way and elevating Christian understandings of human dignity to a qualitatively different level. These insights are tested in their implications for Christian liberative praxis aimed at eliminating injustices centered around race and racism, a timely exigency in our current socio-cultural climate.

Unpublished DSc thesis written in 2013, accepted, and the author received the title "Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences" in 2017. The complete documentation of the DSc process downloadable from: http://real-d.mtak.hu/898/

This a sample of a translation of the Isopanisad grammatically analyzed and translated with the commentaries of Sankara and Madhva. Intended for use in classes on the fundamentals of Vedanta and the rudiments of Sanskrit grammar, or for general readers who want to gain some familiarity with Upanisadic thought. The full and completed text is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the link below.

A gradual evolution of Brahman in eight successive states is described and criticized in Śaṅkara's commentary on Bṛhadāraṇyaka-Upaniṣad and in Sureśvara's and Ānandagiri's sub-commentaries, where the teaching is attributed to Bhartṛprapañca, an ancient Bhedābhedavādin whose commentary on BĀU is now lost. This paper examines fragmentary records of the teaching of Brahman's evolution and tries to interpret different categories mentioned in different accounts of the teaching by comparing these terms with same or similar categories in other philosophical and religious systems of ancient India in order to understand Bhartṛprapañca's original eight-fold scheme and its meaning. A tentative​ conclusion might be that Ānandagiri conveyed Bhartṛprapañca's scheme literally while Śaṅkara and Sureśvara paraphrased it very freely.