The System of Vedanta
This is an excerpt from the first book, “Our Oriental Heritage” of the world famous history of Will Durant, called “The Story of Civilization” It explains the philosophy of Vedanta and its impact on the Hindu mind over the ages.
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Karma is Not Fate
In this excerpt, Will Durant, the world famous historian discusses the ideas of Karma and rebirth in Hindu philosophy. He also compares it with the notion of fate in the West and tells us how it is different from fate. This is an excerpt from “Our Oriental Heritage”, the first volume of the monumental history of the world by Will Durant.
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The Islamic Conquest of India
The Mohammedan Conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precarious thing, whose delicate complex of order and liberty, culture and peace may at any time be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within.
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Inadequacy of the Intellect – Wisdom of the Upanishads
In this brief excerpt, Will Durant explains the importance of Upanishads and how they tell us about the inadequacy of the intellect. To our own day the Upanishads have remained to India what the New Testament has been to Christendom- a noble creed occasionally practiced and generally revered. Even in Europe and America this wistful theosophy has won millions upon millions of followers, from lonely women and tired men to Schopenhauer and Emerson. Who would have thought that the great American philosopher of individualism would give perfect expression to the Hindu conviction that individuality is a delusion?
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