Swami Vivekananda and Non-Hindu Traditions: A Universal Advaita

by Stephen E Gregg

Scholarship surrounding the Hindu thinker Swami Vivekananda is dominated by hagiography and his (mis)appropriation by the political Hindu Right. Swami Vivekananda and Non-Hindu Traditions challenges this approach and goes back to source by examining what Vivekananda said about non-Hindu traditions to understand how this affected his re-formulation of Hinduism which he exported to the West. Demonstrating that Vivekananda was consistently critical of 'low level' spirituality, not only in non-Hindu traditions but also within Hinduism, the book will be of interest to scholars of both Hinduism and South Asian religion and of South Asian diaspora communities more generally.

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Published February 1, 2019