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quintessence of Upanishadic (Vedanta] philosophy. It is mainly practical Scripture of Vedanta. It prescribes the means by which the highest aim of life is fulfilled in an easy way by all, irrespective of caste, creed, religion and sex. But generally, there is certain misunderstanding about Tantra. This paper tried to remove these misconceptions and tried to highlight real side of Tantra. The author rightly pointed out that to clear theses misconceptions and to have clear picture of Tantra ‘one has to understand its philosophy, its doctrines, its esoterism, its disciplines and methods of worship'. The paper also covers several aspects of Tantra such as meaning and philosophy of Tantra, its synthetic approach, its relation to Mantra. Practical side of Tantra prescribes three forms of worship, i.e. diagram, pictorial form and sound formula. To show glimpse of diagrammatic form, some significant diagrams also are given in the end of this paper. The author has given an exhaustive Bibliography of each topic, which will certainly help researchers and scholarly readers.
I have no hesitation in recommending this scholarly work to the readers. I am sure, lovers of philosophy will welcome it and greatly benefit from the author's sincere attempt.
Dt. : 10-12-2007 Ahmedabad
Prof. Yajneshwar S. Shastri
Prof. & Head Dept. of Philosophy
Director University School of Psychology,
Education & Philosophy Gujarat University, Ahmedabad-380 009
(Gujarat) INDIA
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