Academic literature on the topic 'Karma (eastern philosophy)'

The paper explores and critically examines how the Vedic thought with specific reference to Brahma, the Bhagavad Gita, and the laws of Karma have influenced Ralph Waldo Emerson's prose works. The project shows an analysis of Emerson's works in relation to the Vedic philosophy. Therefore, criticisms and readings on his essays build up the background to illustrate the claim. The paper also demonstrates that there has been an impetus of Eastern philosophy on western writers including Ralph Waldo Emerson. The amalgam of Eastern philosophy and western vision beautifies the texture of this article. The readers will benefit from the knowledge of American transcendentalism.

The article analyzes the interpretation of Fr. Alexander Men (1935-1990) of Buddhism as teaching of the “Axial Age”. It is based on his seven-volume work “History of Religion: In Search of the Way, Truth and Life” (1970-1983). First defines the methodology used by Fr. Alexander, which is comparative and hermeneutic in nature. At the same time, he proceeds from a theistic-Christian value position, which, nevertheless, allows him respectfully treats other religious-philosophical traditions. The originality of the author’s interpretation of Buddhism is determined, both its adequate features and one-sided, set by the value orientation. The concepts of transcendence and transcendent are differentiated, which allows conducting a comparative analysis of Buddhism and Christianity, assessments given by Fr. Alexander. The denial of the transcendent in Buddhism does not mean the absence of transcendence, especially in understanding the status of nirvana, which is defined purely apophatically. In the Indian worldview, he finds five essential principles that make Buddhism and Christianity related, despite all the difference in their positions: apophaticism, denial of the highest value of earthly goods, recognition of the high dignity of personal asceticism in spiritual life, the concept of “karma” as retribution (it is the aspect of retribution that is emphasized), the idea of salvation-liberation as the main goal of religion. These principles, in his opinion, “constitute a strong bridge connecting Eastern religious experience with the Gospel”. The work of A. Men contributes to the expansion of the cultural horizon, liberation from both nationalist and Eurocentric points of view, contributes to the development of a dialogue that is so necessary right now. It is noted that the “Axial Age” concept by K. Jaspers as a whole allows avoiding one-sided assessments, revealing the common source of all axial teachings, which can be defined as “a breakthrough to the transcendent”.

Thought processes, implicit assumptions, beliefs, and attitudes of leaders can be meaningfully studied only if they are interwoven into a composite whole by a cultural thread wherefrom they emanate. This study explores the personality traits and worldview of transformational leaders from an Indian cultural perspective. Indian philosophy provides a framework to help understand a person's mental make-up. It offers the Guna theory, also called the tri-dimensional personality theory, to explain differences across individuals. The Vedic texts also outline concepts like Karma (cause-effect chain or the basic law governing all actions) and Maya (existing bundle of inexplicable contradictions of the world) which help in comprehending a person's worldview. Only through a clear understanding of the leader's worldview can we unravel the secrets of transformational leadership and try enhancing it. This paper reports an experiment conducted to observe the impact of the different Gunas and the Vedic worldview on the magnitude of transformational leadership. There are three Gunas: Sattva (awareness), Rajas (dynamism), and Tamas (inertness). Gunas are fundamental ingredients or constituents in every being and each being is composed of all the three Gunas. When one of the three Gunas is dominant in a person, that person is characterized by that Guna. The Gunas were manipulated by portraying a political leader as being high on one or two of the Gunas. The Vedic worldview (operationalized as an understanding of Maya and belief in Karma) was manipulated by portraying the leader as having or not having such a worldview. The outcome variable was transformational leadership as perceived by the participants. The sample consisted of 140 students, 97 males and 43 females, aged between 16 and 20 years, from a prominent school in eastern India. A 3 x 2 + 1 factorial design was used where Sattva, Rajas, and Sattva-Rajas combinations were crossed with Vedic worldview (yes or no) to produce six cells, Tamas being the seventh cell. A 47-item multi- factor leadership questionnaire was used to capture the five factors of transformational leadership as perceived by the participants: attributed charisma idealized influence inspirational leadership intellectual stimulation individualized consideration. The mean of the five factors formed the transformational leadership score. The results of analyses of variance indicate the following: Sattva and Vedic worldview separately enhance transformational leadership whereas Tamas reduces it. Sattva-Rajas combination also enhances transforma-tional leadership but the effect is not more than the effect of Sattva alone. Sattva and Vedic worldview together do not enhance transformational leadership more than what Sattva alone does. The paper concludes with a discussion on what the organizations can do for enhancing transformational leadership by using the Guna framework and by reinforcing the Vedic worldview which are summarized as follows: Design training programmes to develop Sattva and reduce Tamas. Build team-orientation and self-sacrifice for directing energies towards superordinate goals. Base organizational policies on a competency framework built around Sattva and a Vedic orientation.

नियतिभन्दा बाहिर जीवनचक्र सम्भव छैन । भाग्य कुनै पनि प्राणीको नियन्त्रणमा हुँदैन । जीवनचक्रको मूल कारण प्रारब्धको परिणाम हो । प्रारब्धको कर्मको फल नभइदिएको भए सबैको एकैखाले उन्नति हुने थियो । प्रकृति आफै स्वतन्त्र छ तर पनि प्राकृतिक नियम विपरीत प्रकृतिका पदार्थहरू पनि सञ्चालित छैनन् । तातो भएपछि हिउँ पग्लिनु प्राकृतिक नियम हो । मानिसहरूमा आइपर्ने अनेकौँ कठिनाइहरू पनि मानिसले आफै सिर्जना गरेका होइनन् । ती पूर्वजन्ममा गरिएका कर्मफलहरू हुन् । जीवन मानिसले सोचेजस्तो बन्न सक्दैन । प्रकृतिजगत् होस् अथवा नियतिजगत् दुवैलाई कार्यकारणको शृङ्खलामा जोड्ने तŒव दैव वा विधि हो । प्रकृतिमा परिवर्तन देखापर्नु प्रकृतिजगत्को नियति हो । विधि वा भाग्यले राजालाई मगन्ते र मगन्तेलाई राजा तथा धनीलाई निर्धन र निर्धनलाई धनी बनाइदिन्छ । नियतिले ललाटमा जस्तो गति दिएको छ त्यसलाई बदल्न सकिँदैन । दैव वा भाग्यले जे खटाउँछ त्यसैमा सन्तोष गरेर बस्नु नै उत्तम हुन्छ । नियतिका अगाडि बुद्धिले समेत काम गर्न सक्दैन । पूर्वीय दर्शनले स्वीकारेका यिनै आधारभूत मान्यताहरूलाई पृष्ठभूमि बनाएर प्रस्तुत लेख तयार पारिएको छ । [Life cycle is not possible outside of destiny. Fate is not under the control of any creature. The root cause of the life cycle is the result of destiny. Had it not been for the fruit of the deeds of destiny, everyone would have prospered equally. Nature itself is independent, but even the substances of nature do not operate contrary to the laws of nature. It is a natural law for snow to melt when it is hot. Many of the difficulties people face are not man-made. These are karma fruits done in the previous birth. Life cannot be what man thinks it is. God or method is the element that connects both the natural world and the destiny world in the chain of causation. It is the destiny of the natural world to see change in nature. Method or destiny makes the king the beggar and the beggar the king and the rich the poor and the poor the rich. The speed that destiny has given to the forehead cannot be changed. It is best to live contentedly with what God or destiny dictates. Even intellect cannot work before destiny. This article is based on these basic beliefs accepted by Eastern philosophy.]

The Theosophical Society, founded in New York in 1875, was, at the turn of the Twentieth Century, a global phenomenon with 100,000 members. New Age philosopher Dr Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was appointed as the first Secretary General of the German Section of the Theosophical Society on 19 October 1902. The Theosophical Society offered Rudolf Steiner a platform, a ready-made audience, infrastructure, and the insider experience of the world’s leading New Age spiritual society. The success of the Theosophical Society demonstrated that there was a public appetite to hear about reincarnation, karma, maya, kamaloca, and other Eastern and alternative spiritual ideas. The Theosophical Society provided Rudolf Steiner a capable, multilingual, and determined personal assistant, Marie von Sivers (1867-1948). For Rudolf Steiner the Theosophical Society offered the perfect training ground for what would be, a decade later, his life’s work, the Anthroposophical Society. Rudolf Steiner grew the membership of the German Section of the Theosophical Society from 377 in 1905 to 3,702 in 1913. He earned cash from ticketing of his lectures and his Mystery plays, and from book sales of his personal publishing house, ‘Philosophisch-Theosophischer Verlag’. Another enterprise, the ‘Johannes-Bau-Verein’ (Johannes Building Association) was founded in 1911, independent of the Theosophical Society, to build a theatre in Munich to present Rudolf Steiner's plays. The building application was rejected by the Munich municipal authorities in 1912. The resistance to a build in Munich, provided impetus for the move to build in Dornach, Switzerland. The Anthroposophical Society was founded 28 December 1912 in Cologne, Germany. Most of the members of the German Section of the Theosophical Society members followed Rudolf Steiner into the Anthroposophical Society. The Theosophical Society expelled Rudolf Steiner from the Theosophical Society on 7 March 1913. The foundation stone for the Goetheanum (then still called the ‘Johannesbau’) was laid 20 September 1913. The Theosophical Society had served as the ideal prototype and springboard for founding and growing the Anthroposophical Society.

In world philosophical practice, yoga is given great attention: courses are given at leading universities of the world, various kinds of projects are being opened to study this type of spiritual technique, research in history continues, and of course, there are a number of scientists who associate knowledge about it as a scientific character. , and with its practical application in modern culture. Unfortunately, in domestic literature not enough attention paid to such an ancient and relevant philosophy in the modern world. In the article we set the task to analyze this aspect of multifaceted human life from the standpoint of the modern European researcher. Eastern culture can be viewed in the context of art, religion, mythology, but the question arises: can it be viewed and evaluated in the context of mental, rational discourse? On the basis of ancient texts, on the basis of works of famous Indologists, modern European philosophers, an attempt was made to describe the rationality of yoga and give it a definition. The author goes to the general nature of the rationality of the East, represented by a cosmological-mythological worldview. He concludes that for a man of the East there are other norms and criteria of rationality than for a European-oriented worldview. The author also analyzes the nature of the design thinking of a person with this form of worldview. For a person of the East, there are other norms and criteria for rationality than for a European-oriented worldview. The rationality of the philosophy of yoga should be the basis for research practices and technologies of yoga. It can be given a conditional definition, but its meaning is deep and rooted in hoary antiquity, and requires careful and thorough analysis. The union of all ascetic practices and religious teachings takes place in the Gita, so without analyzing its texts, it is impossible to understand the rationality of yoga. Yoga rationality is mythological and cosmological in nature: it is an a priori scheme of man’s perception of the world and himself, in which ideas about karma and nirvana were central to world orientation and activity, and the mystic of cosmic and biological emphasized the polyvalence of these apriorisms. Such rationality allows the yogi to mentally move from the world of carnal beings into the world of gods and into the world of transcendental gods. The last world appears as an intermediate between the phenomenal world and the non-world of nirvana. Various Indian practices, techniques, and methods aimed at freeing the spirit through separation acquired their followers, because after the “Upanishads” the rejection of life due to socio-political structures and history became the most worthy soteriological solution. Hence the orientation of the yogi to internal self-improvement and indifference to the outside world. Moral decency and cosmic order here are concepts of the same level, starting with the moral positions of the individual soul, which is akin to the spiritual essence of the Cosmos, and Good and Evil act as metaphors for the rhythmic nature of life, both of Cosmos and of Man.

The volume consists of six parts devoted to literature, languages, history, culture, science, religions and philosophy of the Eastern World. Its aim is to portray the present-day state of oriental studies, which are here understood predominantly as philologies of Asia and Africa, but also as a field of study including other, adjacent disciplines of the humanities, not neglecting the history of oriental research. The book’s multidisciplinary content reflects the multi- and often interdisciplinary nature of oriental studies today. Part 1 (Literature) offers new insights into belles-lettres written in Arabic, Hindi, Turkish, Urdu, Persian and Japanese. Part 2 (Linguistics) contains studies on Sanskrit texts (in a stylometric approach), Japanese nominals, Japanese poetry as a linguistic source, Arabic translations of the Bible, Arabic dialect of Morocco, Arabic culinary terms of Persian origin and Turkish vocabulary of the language reform era. Part 3 (History) investigates Napoleon’s campaign in the Middle East, Middle Eastern-Russian relations in the 18th century, the history of Seljuk Empire and the works of a Moroccan historian, Ǧaʿfar Ibn Aḥmad an-Nāṣīrī as-Salawī. Part 4 (History of Oriental Studies) deals with the history of oriental studies in Kraków and with the problems of a critical edition of the Quran. Part 5 (Culture and Science) examines the artistic achievements of Egyptian moviemaker Yūsuf Šahīn and possible influence of the Muslim science on medieval Polish scholars. Part 6 (Religion and Philosophy) explores some philosophical concepts of the Confucian ethics and the contribution of Karīma Bint Aḥmad Al-Marwaziyya to preservation and transmission of some religious traditions of Islam.

I examine the role of Justice as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and India. Specifically, I focus on the Goddess Justice and her relationship to the Great Mother as the divine creator and final judge of all reality. I begin by tracing out the historical parallels in the development of ancient Greek and Indian conceptions of Justice and end by working out their philosophical similarities. After giving an historical account of the earlier Greek matriarchal religions, I show how Justice becomes transformed from a living force, alive and divine, to a philosophical concept and, finally, to a mere social function within the polis. I focus on the pre-Socratic notion of Justice as a cosmological and ontological necessity, inherent not simply within human affairs, but within the structure of the universe itself, as Nature. Here, I draw out further comparative points between the ancient Greek and Indian conceptions by discussing the Vedic and early Buddhist notion of Justice as dharma/karma, as a living-ethical Force inherent in the structure and creation of the universe. I also examine how in the Eastern schools of Non-dualism, Maya is understood as the "Mother of all Life energy." In all of this, special attention is given to the nature of Justice as the embodiment of the Great Mother manifested as creative energy and as the discerner and judge of all Being.