The Oceanic Feeling: The Origins of Religious Sentiment in Ancient India.

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson.

ISBN 10: 9027710503 / ISBN 13: 9789027710505

Published by D. Reidel Publishing, Boston, MA, 1980

About this Item

Near Fine in Very Near Fine DJ: The Book shows only minute indications of use: a bit of wrinkling to the front free endpaper and the half title page; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. The DJ shows just a touch of wear to the extremities; unclipped; mylar-protected. Virtually 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 213pp. (Studies of Classical India Series). First Edition, unstated. Hardback with DJ. Seller Inventory # 43722

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Oceanic Feeling: The Origins of ...

Publisher: D. Reidel Publishing, Boston, MA

Publication Date: 1980

Binding: Hardcover

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

Edition: First Edition, unstated.

About this title

Synopsis:

By way of a personal note, I can reveal to the reader that I was led to Sanskrit by an exposure to Indian philosophy while still a child. These early mystical interests gave way in the university to scholarly pursuits and, through reading the works of Franklin Edgerton, Louis Renou and Etienne Lamotte, I was introduced to the scientific study of the* past, to philology and the academic study of an ancient literature. In this period I wrote a number of books on Sanskrit aesthetics, concentrating on the sophisticated Indian notions of suggestion. This work has culminated in a three-volume study of the Dhvanyaloka and the Dhvanyalokalocana, for the Harvard Oriental Series. Eventually I found that I wanted to broaden my concern with India, to learn what was at the universal core of my studies and what could be of interest to everyone. In reading Indian literature, I came across so many bizarre tales and ideas that seemed incomprehensible and removed from the concerns of everyday life that I became troubled. Vedantic ideas of the world as a dream, for example, to which I had been particularly partial, seemed grandiose and megalomanic. I turned away with increasing scepticism from what I felt to be the hysterical outpourings of mystical and religious fanaticism.