INDEX

advaita-vāda 103, 201
Alexander 24, 26–27
Alexandrian(s) 16, 30, 93
America(n)(s) 9, 225, 227, 235
Anglican(ism) 68, 232
Anglo-Saxon(s) 137, 225, 227, 235
Arabic 50–51, 165, 221
Arab(s) 16, 44–45, 56, 73, 90, 166, 173, 207
Aristotelian 152, 178
Aristotle 27–28, 70, 76–77, 92–93, 98, 105, 115, 172–173, 177, 199
Arya-Samāj 233
Aryan 51, 123
Ashoka 139
Atharva-Veda 127, 166
Avalokiteshvara 142
Avatāra(s) 144, 160
Bādarāyana 200
Barth, Karl 139
Berber 44
Bodhisattva 142
Brahma 157, 159, 187, 191, 198, 201
Brahmā 159–160
Brahma-Samāj 232–233
Brahma-Sūtras 200
Brahman 159
Brāhmanism 112–113, 125, 232
Brahmin(s) 154–156, 207
Buddha 144
Buddhism 27, 46, 112–113, 123–124, 133–145, 147, 227, 230
Buddhist(s) 23, 26–27 46, 122, 133–4, 136–137, 142
Burnouf, E. 217, 226
Cartesian 101, 115, 171, 205
Caste (jāti/varna) 151–156
Catholic(ism) 68, 82 87, 122, 193, 219, 231
Chaldea 14, 30
China 27, 30, 44–45, 47, 51–53, 56, 63–67, 86, 89, 95, 111–112, 124, 143, 166, 208
Chinese 11, 13, 29, 46, 52–53, 63–65, 110, 113, 163
Chinese civilization 46–47, 52, 63
Christendom 48–49, 68
Christian(ity) 50, 60, 63, 67–68, 90, 144, 156, 218, 221, 227–228, 231, 233
Comte, Auguste 220, 222
Confucian(ism) 57, 63–64, 142
Coomaraswamy, A. K. 135†
darshana 162–164, 166–167, 169–170, 174–176, 185–186, 189, 191–193, 198, 204
Dayānanda, Saraswatī 233
Democritus 27
Descartes 94, 101
dharma 146–148, 153–154, 191–192, 196
dharma-shastra 150
Dravidians 123
Druids 34, 108
Durkheim, E. 61 n2
Egypt(ians) 14, 27, 30–31, 124
Etruscans 59
Fu Hsi 57, 124
French Revolution 16
Greco-Roman 10, 15, 18, 21, 58,
60, 62, 68, 90, 158, 218
Greece 24, 26-28, 35, 59, 89, 107-
108, 176
Greek(s) 10-11, 14-28, 30-31, 34,
49, 56, 58, 60, 67, 78, 80, 88-94,
98, 101, 107-108, 133-134, 139,
163, 165, 172, 175, 177, 179, 184
guna(s) 177, 183, 196, 221
guru 207
hatha-yoga 188-189
Hellenic 14, 59, 173
Hermes 124
Hindu civilization 22-3, 45-6, 51,
122-3, 125-6, 155-6, 194
Hindu doctrine(s) 1, 5, 26-7, 72,
77, 83, 95, 105, 118, 121, 138, 145,
210, 224, 230, 239
Hindu tradition 117, 122-3, 125,
127, 131, 136, 146, 232
Hinayāna 135, 140, 144
I Ching 57
India(n) 14, 16, 22-30, 35, 43-47,
53, 56, 63, 67, 89, 95, 112-3, 121-
4, 128-9, 131-4, 138-144, 147,
158, 162, 164-6, 169, 175-6, 204,
207, 210, 221, 228, 232-4, 251
Ishvara 157-159, 184-187, 191
Islam 44, 49-52, 56, 61, 63, 67-68,
77, 79, 88, 90, 110-111, 122, 221
Islamic civilization 12, 44-45
Islamic esoterism 111, 149, 189,
202
Islamic world 33, 43-44
Itihāsas 150
Jaimini 191
Jains 26, 122
Japan(ese) 46-47, 64-65
Jesuits 63-64
Jewish 56, 67, 90
Jews 90
jīvan-mukta 202-203
jñāna 192
Judaism 50, 67-68, 90, 111, 144,
221
Kabbalah 30, 111, 149, 165
Kanāda 26, 132, 176
Kant, Immanuel 115, 147
karma 146, 148, 177, 192, 196, 228
Kshatriya(s) 154-156
Kwan-Yin 142
Lakshmi 160
Leibniz 99
Locke, J. 137
Mahāyāna 140-142, 144
manas 149, 179, 182
mantra(s) 192-193
Manu 146-151, 193
Mazdaism 124
Mill, J. S. 204
Mīmānsā 167, 191-197, 228
moksha (mukti) 83, 202
Müller, Max 139, 187, 198, 218
Muslim(s) 12, 44-45, 49-50, 67,
84, 90, 122-123, 137, 193
Neoplatonist(s) 28, 30
Nyāya 167, 169-174, 176, 184
Oldenberg 145
Parvati 160
Patañjali 186-187
Persia 14, 27, 30
Persian(s) 14, 27, 30, 34, 45, 51, 90,
124
Plato 19, 31, 59, 173
Prakriti 181–184, 187
Protestant/ism 66, 68, 82, 98, 219, 228, 231–233, 235
Purānas 150, 160
Purusha 156, 182, 184, 186–187
Pythagorean 31, 230
rāja-yoga 188
Rāmakrishna [Mission] 235
Rāmānuja 201
Reformation 16, 48
Rig-Veda 127, 154, 166
Renaissance 16, 18, 48
Roman(s) 11, 18, 49, 59–60, 67, 98, 221
Rome 60
Roy, Rām Mohun 232–233
Sāma-Veda 127, 166
Sāņkhya 167, 174, 176–178, 181–187
Sanskrit 46, 90, 101, 124, 128, 164, 186, 228–229, 238–239
Sarasvati 160
Scholastic(s) 76–77, 79–80, 93, 99, 111, 172–173, 177, 191
Schopenhauer 136–137, 198, 235
Shaiva(s) 160, 201
Shaivism 157–161
Shakti/s 160
Shankarāchārya 138, 180, 201, 203, 234
Shinto 46, 64
Shiva 159–160, 179
shruti 150, 191, 193
Shūdra(s) 154–156, 234
Sikhs 122
smriti 150, 160, 164, 193
Spinoza 84
Tantras 160
Tantric doctrines 143
Taoism 57, 63, 77, 142–143, 149
Taoist 141–142, 196
Theosophical Society 227, 233
Theosophism 224–232, 235
Thoth 124
Tibetan Buddhism [Lamaism] 143
Upanishad(s) 112, 128, 139, 192, 198, 200
Upaveda(s) 166, 205
Vaisheshika 167, 174–182, 184, 204
Vaishnava(s) 160, 201
Vaishnavism 157–161
Vaishya(s) 154–55
Veda(s) 125, 127–132, 139, 164, 166–167, 180, 191–194, 198–200, 217, 233
Vedānga(s) 164, 166, 193
Vedānta 167, 190–192, 198–204, 232–235
Vedic 35, 130–131, 134, 150, 165, 192, 198, 233
Vishnu 159–160, 179
Vivekānanda 235
Vyāsa 124, 128, 149, 169, 200
Yajur-Veda 127, 166
Yoga 167, 185–190, 200
Yogi(s) 189, 202–203
Zarathustra [Zoroaster] 124
Zen 142
Printed in the United States
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9780900 588730
DATE DUE

B 130
.G8213
2001

Guâenon, Renâe.
Introduction to the study of the Hindu doctrines

DEMCO
René Guénon (1886-1951) was one of the great luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of intellectual fashion. His extensive writings, now finally available in English, are a providential treasure-trove for the modern seeker: while pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, they direct the reader also to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the need for affiliation with a revealed tradition even while acknowledging the final identity of all spiritual paths as they approach the summit of spiritual realization.

René Guénon's first book, Introduction to the Study of the Hindu Doctrines, came (in the words of the eminent scholar S. H. Nasr) 'like a sudden burst of lightning, an abrupt intrusion into the modern world of a body of knowledge and a perspective utterly alien to the prevalent climate and world view.' In this book Guénon establishes the criteria which formed the basis of his later works and set the tone for the Traditionalist School that came after him: the meaning of Tradition, the relationship between 'religion', 'theology', 'metaphysics', etc.—all leading up to an exhaustive definition and comprehensive overview of Hinduism, which Guénon saw as the most ancient and most complete spiritual tradition on earth, embracing the most profound and explicit metaphysics. The West is now overrun with many brands of compromised Hinduism, whose 'gurus' are considered charlatans by traditional Hindu authorities. For anyone drawn to the Hindu tradition, searching for a way to separate the wheat from the chaff and dedicated to gaining an understanding of the universe that is Hinduism in its own terms and not those imposed by modernist Western assumptions, this book is indispensable.

The Collected Works of René Guénon brings together the writings of one of the greatest prophets of our time, whose voice is even more important today than when he was alive.

Huston Smith, The World's Religions

Guénon established the language of sacred metaphysics with a rigor, a breadth, and an intrinsic certainty such that he compels recognition as a standard of comparison for the twentieth century.

Jean Borella, Modern Esoteric Spirituality