Here are the latest additions to our online library:

• By Joseph L. Cumming, “The Principle of Love as the Key to Peacemaking in the Abrahamic Faiths and in the Teaching of Jesus”

The word “love” sounds nice, but what practical implications does it have in every day life? What would a “policy of love” look like?… In the teaching of Jesus, true love must be self-giving. That is, if we truly love another person, we will not only give them things, but we will be willing to give ourselves to them and for them.

• A classical collection of Hindu Songs of Love between Radha and Krishna, by Vidyapati Thakur (c. 1352–1448), with an introduction by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy on the relation between erotic and mystical love poetry.

“The narration is not the real point”; His Lila in Brindaban is eternal, and Brindaban is the heart of man.
It is not till the ear ceases to hear the outside world, that it is open to the music in the heart, the flute of Krishna.

• “Buddhist Scholars & Mystics”—from the pages of the Theravada canon (Anguttara Nikaya), a succinct vignette characterising “meditators” (jhana monks) and “those who devote themselves to the study of the sacred scriptures” (Dhamma-devotee monks), and showing why the world needs both.

• And finally two translations of classical Arabic Sufi poems by Martin Lings (Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj al-Din), recited in English for our Mystical Poetry Collection: the famous Khamriyya or Wine-Song by Umar Ibn al-Farid, and the also famous poem said to have been found at Al-Ghazali’s deathbed. Follow the links above to listen and to access the bilingual PDFs.