On the life and works of Bharati, with a selection of his poems translated into French.

This well-written examination of the texts of the Indian Tantric tradition is both a lucid introduction to an important aspect of Hindu philosophy and a valuable sourcebook expounding certain detailed questions in that tradition. Unlike Agehananda Bharati’s book, The Tantric Tradition, which surveys concepts and practices in a more anthropological way, Dr. Mishra, who teaches at Banaras Hindu University, probes the fundamental teachings directly and shows where they contrast with and how they complement the views of the more widespread (...) Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Here is a philosophical idealism intrinsic to India which is not based on Vedic or Upanishadic writings but draws upon the Agamas and the tradition of the idealistic Kashmir Shaivism. Even the Gita, we are told, can be understood in a Tantric way. (shrink)

A tough-minded, controversial autobiography by a disillusioned Viennese Catholic turned Hindu monk. Swami Agehananda Bharati is not the usual ethnophile. Indeed, his view that one must regard one's cultural heritage critically continues long after his conversion and provokes many an angry rebuke from his less questioning Hindu brothers. For Bharati, nothing is sacred a priori. Neither Ramakrishna, the nineteenth-century Bengali saint, nor Swami Vivekananda, his best known disciple, nor, for that matter, the Mahatma himself escapes critical re-evaluation. Yet Bharati's (...) knowledge of the Sanskrit texts, his familiarity with half a dozen modern Indian languages, and his years of itinerant teaching on the Indian sub-continent make his voice one to be reckoned with on the topic of contemporary Hindu life. One can no doubt imagine a more sympathetic passage to India, but there could hardly be one more stimulating.--S. M. F. (shrink)