This is the fourth volume in an influential series that presents a basic revaluation of the nature of mysticism. Each provides a collection of solicited papers by noted experts in the study of religion. This new volume will explore how the great mystics and mystical traditions use, interpret, and reconstruct the sacred scriptures of their traditions.

Anthropologist and journalist Blank gives a new perspective to the 3,000-year-old Hindu classic, retelling the ancient tale while following the course of Rama's journey through present-day India and Sri Lanka.

Mystical experience is not really understood in our modern Western culture, but we have a rich history and traadition that can be traced from remote ages to the present day. It is a phenomenon common to all religions and races, differing in manifestation, but sharing a similar foundation#8212the realization from personal experience that all things are interdependent, that the source is One. The mystical experience is often brief, immediate, maybe mysterious#8212a last experience that rbings all-embracing emotion (love) into the bounds of concrete reality. Bruno Borchert brings mysticism into sharp focus by exploring ideas and concecpts from world religions and explaining Christian mystics in history, in perspective, and through art. He takes us from Zoroaster to European alchemists, explores the Hellenistic world, the feminine world-view, and the experience of God shard by saints and well-known mystics such as St. Theresa and St. Francis. Modern approaches explored by psychologists like Jung and Maslow, and the contemporary search for mystical love make this a necessary book for people who want to understand the spiritual path.

The greatest Indian epic, one of the world's supreme masterpieces of storytelling A Penguin Classic A sweeping tale of abduction, battle, and courtship played out in a universe of deities and demons, The Ramayana is familiar to virtually every Indian. Although the Sanskrit original was composed by Valmiki around the fourth century BC, poets have produced countless versions in different languages. Here, drawing on the work of an eleventh-century poet called Kamban, Narayan employs the skills of a master novelist to re-create the excitement he found in the original. A luminous saga made accessible to new generations of readers, The Ramayana can be enjoyed for its spiritual wisdom, or as a thrilling tale of ancient conflict. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.