Musings on Hinduism by Nithin Sridhar is essentially a concise introduction to Advaita Vedanta (non-duality), which for all practical purpose is modern Hinduism. Except for a few specialized schools of philosophical Hindu thought, which insist on graded monism or dualism, majority of Indian thought, including Tantras are built on a super-structure of non-dualism.[1] Hence any discussion on Advaita is equivalent to a discussion on Hinduism. Again, one should not be misled by the term musings and assume that the author has presented his views on what he thinks of Hinduism.[2] Nor is this book a post-modern or contemporary interpretation of Hinduism using western social sciences lens. The book deals with pure unadulterated Advaita Vedanta. The author clearly understands the peril of using the word musings and it is clearly mentioned in the book description:

The word 'musings' would usually offer an unfettered freedom to the writer to offer his own comments on a subject. But on a subject like Vedanta such an approach may sometimes go against the doctrine. The present writer, however, has not taken such liberty but has carefully presented the non-dual philosophy almost in a nutshell.

Introduction

For those who are unaware, Nithin is the editor of prestigious Indic online portal, IndiaFacts and regularly writes on issues ranging from politics, society, religion, spirituality and ecology. However as he clearly mentions, his special interest lies in Vedanta and Dharma. And he has indeed walked the talk, as they say, having switched careers from civil engineering to journalism, in order to pursue his passion for learning and writing on various Dharmic issues, as well as on myriad contemporary issues from a Dharmic perspective, which is sadly lacking in today’s mainstream discourse.

In this context, Musings on Hinduism is a truly wonderful book written in clear concise English. Our traditional scholars were known for the brevity of their sutras, and power-packed a huge amount of information into a few sentences and words, and this book follows the same tradition by trying to cover the whole gamut of Hinduism in some 180+ pages. Musings on Hinduism by Nithin Sridhar is, in a way, a very good reference text on Hinduism and especially Advaita Vedanta, from a practitioner’s perspective and in the beginning he talks about how he transformed from a non-believer (a man of science) to a Dharmic person.

Hindu Dharma and Advaita

Hinduism is vast and the essays here are short and very reader friendly with just enough information to whet your appetite for further self-exploration, which is a very important aspect of Hinduism. Unlike the dogma of organized religion where church, canons, rules, and laws decide how religion is practiced, the Dharmic faiths like Hinduism are inward looking and reflection, introspection and realization form an important part of this system.

Simplistically put, Advaita Vedanta is the philosophy of Hindus which posits an all-pervading Ultimate Reality (Brahman) beyond our five senses and three dimensional world. Since it is all-pervading this Divine is also within us (in a sense) and thus realizing that we are non-different from this Supreme Reality (a state known as moksha) is a key aspect of Hindu thought. Advaita posits that the phenomenal world is unreal and is perceived as such through an inexplicable entity Maya, and that only Brahman is real and the source of eternal bliss (ananda). There are various ways of realizing this divine after piercing the veil of Maya, paths like the jnana, bhakti and karma marga, and the author touches upon each of these. There are various pre-requisites in terms of self-purification and self-development, like viveka, vairagya etc., before one can even embark on the journey of self-realization. The author delves into all these pre-requirements, as well as on concepts like maya, lila, nature of Brahman and explains them in a lucid manner. The book has a definite structure and flow:

1. Hindu Religion and Philosophy
2. Vedanta
3. Hindu Society
4. Translation of Sanskrit Hymns
5. Some Miscellaneous essays

In the very first chapter, “The Two Paths of Life”, the author sets the tone of the book. He delves straight into the metaphysics of Advaita (non-dualism) using various Upanishadic texts as well as Vivekachudamani.[3] The difference between sukha (temporary happiness) and ananda (eternal bliss) which is a crucial concept in Hindu philosophy is dealt with at the very beginning itself.[4] Nithin illustrates this through the notion of pravritti marga (path of temporary happiness) and nivritti marga (path of permanent bliss) very well. He puts this in the context of purushartha, or the basic aims of our life – dharma, artha, kama and moksha. On the relevance of rituals in modern Hindu society, he very categorically says that rituals are more relevant today than ever and not only to Hindus but to humanity at large. He clearly shows that one-size-fits-all approach does not work in Hinduism. Rather our rishis had devised a graded approach to spiritual emancipation. Hence japa, homam, dhyana, yajna and puja are all distinct yet overlapping ways of spiritual development.

Tantras and Agamas

Apart from shastras and darshana, the author touches upon some important contemporary matters like our general misunderstanding of Tantra, the way we have diverged from our Dharmic paths, the need for a narrative and other issues clouding our perception of Hindu Dharma. With respect to tantra, the author clarifies that the tantras are not opposed to the Vedas in any way, but rather espouse the same esoteric knowledge using different symbolisms. He is appalled at the gross misconception around tantra and its inherent association with sex and demonstrates that sex as a means of attaining moksha was recommended for a very small group of advanced initiates.

It is Victorian puritanical authoritarianism which condemns any mention or depiction of sex. Hinduism on the other hand, recognizes the role of sexual desires in human lives. The sexual depictions in some of the temples were meant to not only educate the people about role sex in householder’s life, but also to help those who were involved in sexual sadhanas (penance) for enlightenment. (p59)

The Tantras and Agamas are a much larger sophisticated spiritual system absolutely indistinguishable from modern Hindu practices but have been severely misunderstood and misinterpreted for a variety of reasons. [5]

Feedback for Second Edition

While the content of the book is excellent, in terms of formatting, there are some slight inconsistencies which will hopefully be resolved in the second edition. The Sanskrit transliterations need to be uniform and the spellings of certain Indian words in both South Indian and North Indian style need to be standardized. Thus in some places for few words we find the North Indian spelling, while in others we find the South Indian spelling with extra “h”.[6] Also I feel that section on hymn translation and miscellaneous essays ought to be developed into separate books rather than being a part of this book, so as to keep the current one sharp and crisp. In fact I would request the author to add more essays and insights on Advaita and other schools of Indian philosophy, so that it would help beginners locate Advaita within the broad Indic framework and also provide non-experts a panoramic view of the vastness of Hinduism and of the sophistication of Advaita specifically. A detailed glossary of philosophical terms at the end would be an added bonus.

Final Words

Overall this is an excellent book and I am eagerly looking forward to a full series of books where the author takes up each topic as a separate book. Wishing the author all the best for his future endeavors.