Samayasara or Nature of Self

Posted on | December 1, 2016 | No Comments

Samayasara or Nature of Self is a classic Jain discussion about the nature of the self and its relation to karma and moksha, meaning ultimate liberation or enlightenment. It was originally written more than 2.000 years ago, but this version has an introduction with comparisons between views and ideas about self in Christian, ancient Greek and newer European philosophical traditions.

Download the free PDF e-book here (406 pages/15 MB):

Samayasara or Nature of Self

Mundaka Upanishad PDF

Posted on | November 23, 2016 | No Comments

The Mundaka Upanishad – The bridge to Knowledge – is number 5 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads of Hinduism and it is considered one of the primary Upanshads. Contrary to most other Upanishads the Mundaka is not used for rituals but for meditation and for teaching spiritual topics. The Mundaka Upanisad teaches among other things the way to complete liberation, the difference between higher and lower knowledge and the truth about the nature of Brahman, the Self.

Download the complete scanned PDF of Mundaka Upanishad here:

Mundaka Upanishad

Isopanisad – Isha Upanishad

Posted on | November 21, 2016 | No Comments

Isopanisad or the Isha Upanishad is a part of the ancient Upanishades, the cornerstones of the Hindu religion. The Isopanisad is one of the more mystical ones and one of the oldest and shortest. It is here we find the core texts on Vedanta and the ideas of  Dvaita (dualism), Advaita (non-dualism) and Maya. This version was translated from the original sanskrit texts and it has commentaries by Kaulacarya Satyanande. If you are interested in other Upanishads do a search here on the site and stay tuned, I have more the coming weeks.

Download the Isopanisad here (94 pages/2.2 MB):

Isopanishad

TRISHASHTI SHALAKA PURUSHA CARITRA VOL 1-6

Posted on | November 8, 2016 | 2 Comments

Acharya Hemachandra

Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra – is a major Indian saga and one of the cornerstones in the Jain system of belief, one of the oldest ascetic religions of India. The title translates to “Lives of Sixty-Three Great Men” or “The Lives of the Jain Elders” and it was written by the scholar Acharya Hemchandra Sur from the Shvetambara sect of Jainism in the 12th century. He was widely respected by all Jains but also in the entire sanskrit world of the time, since he wrote extensively in Prakrit, Sanskrit, Apabhramsha and Old Gujarati. These volumes are the English translations of the Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra hagiographies of the 63 Great Men of the Jain tradition done by Dr. Helen Johnson and published for the first time in 1931 in India. The books describe the Jain saints, their asceticism and eventual liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth.

Download the works here:
Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra 1

Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra 2

Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra 3

Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra 4

Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra 5

Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra 6

Philosophy of Dreams

Posted on | November 2, 2016 | No Comments

Philosophy of Dreams is a book about dreams, dream states and spiritual work with dreams. It states that it is possible for a dreamer to remain cognisant during his dream state of the fact that he is dreaming. By learning to be the witness of your thoughts in the waking state, you can be conscious in the dream state that you are dreaming. You can alter, stop or create your own thoughts in the dream state independently. You will be able to keep awake in the dream state. If the thoughts of the waking state are controlled, you can also control the dream thoughts. This books describes the techniques and history from a hindu perspective behind working with dream and it also challenges the reality of the awaken, daily life experience.

Download the free PDF e-book here:

Philosophy of Dreams

The Complete works of Nostradamus PDF

Posted on | November 1, 2016 | 1 Comment

The Complete works of Nostradamus compilied in one PDF. 1 March 1555 the french scientist, doctor and astrologist Michel de Nostredam, better known these days as Nostradamus, sat down and wrote the foreword to his spectacular work Centuria. Centuria means ‘a hundred’, and it might refer to the span of years his prophecies reaches.  The foreword is written to his son, and the work was dedicated only to his son César, because he Michel feared the consequences from Inquisition if his prophecies would be published.  He writes:

“On numerous occasions and over a long period of time I have predicted specific events far in advance, attributing all to the workings of divine power and inspiration, together with other fortunate or unfortunate happenings, foreseen in their full unexpectedness, which have already come to pass in various regions of the earth. Yet I have wished to remain silent and abandon my work because of the injustice not only of the present time by the Inquisition but also for most of
the future. So in conclusion, my son, take this gift from your father M. Nostradamus, who hopes you will understand each prophecy in every quatrain herein.”

The complete works of Nostradamus contains nearly 400 pages of prophecies, all of them written vaguely enough for many speculations. It has been said that he predicted the World Wars, 9/11  and how about this piece, could it be about Donald Trump?:

The false trumpet concealing maddness
will cause Byzantium to change its laws.
From Egypt there will go forth a man who wants
the edict withdrawn, changing money and standards.

Download The complete works of Nostradamus here:

The complete works of Nostradamus

Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian church

Posted on | October 24, 2016 | No Comments

Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian church is an immense work in 14 volumes of early christian writings. It complements the series on the Ante-Nicene Fathers, we also have here on holybooks.com. Together the writings outline the progress of Christianity through the life and works of the very early christian scholars and thinkers that led to the foundation of the churches and the great theological controversies of the fourth through sixth centuries. These works have for decades been the standard reference for those interested in the church fathers, the origin of Christianity and history in general.

Download the books here (35-55 MB each):

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Asimov’s Guide to the Bible

Posted on | October 12, 2016 | No Comments

Asimov’s Guide to the Bible is a huge classic companion to reading the Bible. In this version the two volumes has been compiled in a single. Asimov’s Guide to the Bible features a number of  maps and it goes through the books of the Bible in the order of the benchmark bible the King James Version and explains the historical and geographical setting of each one, including the political and historical influences that affected it, as well as biographical information about the main characters. Asimov’s Guide to the Bible is a huge fact based reference, almost 1.300 pages.

Download  Asimov’s Guide to the Bible here (28 MB):

Asimov’s Guide to the Bible

Starting Out Small

Posted on | October 7, 2016 | 1 Comment

Starting Out Small by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu builds upon talks that Ajaan Lee gave to groups of people while they were meditating. Ajaan Lee  covers the questions that occur to people new to meditation. -Why meditate? How should I meditate? And why in that particular way? —and in his own style he provided not only straightforward answers to these questions but also vivid analogies, to help his listeners relate their meditation to familiar activities. One aspect of Ajaan Lee’s teachings that might strike you as foreign is his analysis of the body into four properties: earth, fire, water, and wind. This mode of analysis dates back to the time of the Buddha, although Ajaan Lee develops it in a distinctive way. Think of this analysis, not as an attempt at biology or chemistry, but as a way of analyzing how the body feels from the inside. This is an aspect of awareness often overlooked and that, in English at least, we have a poor vocabulary for describing.

This expanded 2016 edition contains translations of two new talks that have never been published before—“Merit” and “On Target”—along with complete translations of the talks “The Art of Letting Go” and “At the Tip of Your Nose,” both of which were excerpted in Lessons in Samādhi.

Download the free PDF e-book here:

Starting Out Small

Dhamma Verses – Dhammapada A Book of Ethical Teachings

Posted on | September 29, 2016 | 1 Comment

The Dhammapada is probably the most popular book in the Pāḷi Canon, and has had innumerable translations into most modern languages. The timeless ethical teachings contained in these verses are still considered relevant to people’s lives, and they are presented as a guide to living well. Together with the commentarial stories that accompany the verses, along with the Jataka verses and stories, they have formed the backbone of the teaching of Buddhist ethics for well over 2,000 years. The verses and stories are well known in traditional Theravāda Buddhist cultures, and most born and brought up in those societies will be able to recite many of the verses, and relate the stories that go with them, even from a young age.
This is not at all surprising as the verses are often memorable, and the stories that accompany them equally so. They provided a framework for understanding what are good and bad actions, and what the consequences of both will be, which is central to the Buddhist teaching on ethics.

The collection consists of 423 verses, organised into twenty-six chapters, most of which are fairly short.

Download the free PDF e-book here (356 pages/3.6 MB):

Dhamma Verses