A Source Book in Indian Philosophy

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Charles A. Moore

Princeton University Press, 1957 - Philosophy - 683 pages

"1) The best feature of this book is: it has the actual texts of so many great works like Vedas, Upanishads, Gita etc. For this one reason itself, it is a must have book, where else will you get such a concise and precise translations of all the major Indian texts all in one place. 2) It deals extensively not only with Upanishads and other six Darshanas but also includes Arth Shastra by Kautilya(Chanakya), the famous Indian economist/politician (contemporary to Alexander). It also included Bhagvat Gita and the famous Karma Yoga, as one would expect in any Indian philosophy book! 3) It summarizes the key-features of all the seemingly different Indian philosophies Buddhism/Jainism/Charvaka/Hinduism very succintly in the first chapter."--Amazon.com (customer review.07/09)

About the author

A philosopher and scholar, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was also a statesman, even to the extent of serving as India's president from 1962 to 1967. Brought up as a devout Hindu but also educated in Christian missionary schools, Radhakrishnan's philosophy often was comparative, finding lines of convergence and divergence between East and West. Based in Vedantic idealism, Radhakrishnan affirmed the necessity of an experience of the absolute as the basis of any truly profound grasp of reality. In this regard, he focused his scholarship on the great classical texts of the Indian tradition: the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Sutra, and the various Vedantic commentaries. However, Radhakrishnan's fundamentally mystical, idealistic dimension did not lead him to renounce the material world. On the contrary, he affirmed action in the world as the expression of the transformative power of the absolute itself. Unlike many traditional Vedantists, Radhakrishnan did not view the material world with all its differentiation as unreal; rather, it is simply not absolute in itself. Spiritual and moral value ultimately derives from something deeper. In this way, he established a metaphysical ground for religious tolerance, an openness he brought to his own activities in the political sphere.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Source Book in Indian Philosophy; Princeton paperbacks
• Editors: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Charles A. Moore
• Edition: 5, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1957
• ISBN: 0691019584, 9780691019581
• Length: 683 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / Eastern; Religion / Hinduism / General