Samnyasa Upanishads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c2: Preface
Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c2
- Language
- English
Preface
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Now that this task is complete, it is my duty to pay my debts to individuals and institutions who made it possible; would that all my duties were as pleasant! The Department of Religious Studies and the Office for Research of Indiana University at Bloomington supported this project with a variety of grants. Few institutions provide a better environment for personal growth and scholarly endeavors. My gratitude is heightened as I prepare to leave them after a seventeen-year association to join the University of Texas at Austin.
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The Wolfson College of Oxford University provided unparalleled resources and a beautiful environment during 1977–1978 and 1981–1982 to conduct research. The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Poona and the Theosophical Society in Adyar, Madras, were generous in accommodating even my most unreasonable requests. Research at Oxford and in India was supported by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institution, and the American Institute of Indian Studies.
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We owe an intellectual debt to all those from whose labors we profit. They are too numerous to name; some of them will appear frequently in the footnotes and the bibliography. To two of them, however, I owe a special debt of gratitude. This translation would have been much poorer but for the many works of Professor Joachim Friedrich Sprockhoff listed in the bibliography. Over innumerable cups of tea at his home I learned a great deal from the late Dr. V. V. Bhide—about the Vedic ritual, about the intricacies of Mīmāṃsā exegesis, but most of all about the way Brahmin pandits think and write. His untimely death is a great loss to Indological studies.
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Mary Jane Gormley read all the translations and helped me with more than commas and colons. Ross Vemeer assisted me in compiling the index. Anne Feldhaus read an early draft of the introduction; it is the better for it. Cynthia Read’s patience is matched only by that of my wife, Suman; to both a heartfelt thank you. To Meera this book is dedicated; contrary to Vedic theologians, she has proven that a daughter does indeed bring unsurpassable delight to a father and is “a light in the highest heaven.”
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*Bloomington, Ind.* P.O. *April 1991*