Earlier this year, I read a book titled The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hinduism by Linda Johnsen. This book has a good reputation and recommended highly on the internet, so I ordered at Amazon (second hand ).
And I completely endorse the reviews. This is a really good book. Not so much reference to yoga, but it clarified a lot of the knowledge I had had sporadically. Not only very informative, it is actually a really good read,too.
The highlight of the book for me was about Ganesha’s miracle on the 21st September 1995.I had never heard of this before but this was an international sensation at the time. If it was now, the internet world would be inundated with YouTube videos, Twitter comments, Instagram posts etc.
This is what happened: On this day one boy noticed his Ganesha statue drank the milk he offered. The news spread not just all over India but all over the world. Not only that. Camera crews all across the globe converged on Hindu temples and filmed the milk actually dematerialise in front of the statues of Ganesha.
If you just Google ‘Ganesha’s miracle 1995’, you can easily find out yourself.
A few weeks ago, I was at my local library to pick up my daughter’s books and found another book titled ‘Hinduism for the Dummies’. You know, similar series on the same subject. I nearly didn’t borrow it but I thought it may have a different angle.
I am glad I read it. It has a really quite different perspective. The former was written by a Westerner who studied about Hinduism whereas this was written by a person born Hindu in south India in Brahmin family. Hence this book dealt with the caste system and related social issues.
On strictly the subject of Hinduism, this book went much more in depth. It has a lot more pages on Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. Also it summarised the epic stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata chapter by chapter. I want to read them now.
It also went further to explain Dualism, Non-Dualism, philosophy of Darshanas and Vedanta. It has a chapter on Yoga, which is concise but comprehensive.
So which book do I recommend? I really recommend the Idiot’s guide. If you enjoy it, read Dummies and in that order.
These books gave me more book tiles to put on my reading list. So glad there is Amazon (second hand)!
Sharing welcome. Please click the sharing buttons below.