Philosophies of India

by Heinrich Zimmer

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Philosophies of India is a monumental work.

The book is divided into three main sections: The Highest Good- a discussion of Eastern and Western thought and their meeting, and a presentation of the foundations of Indian philsophy; the Philosophies of Time- the philosophies of success, of pleasure and of duty; and lastly, The Philosophies of Eternity- Jainism, Sankhya and Yoga, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Tantra. 

The author presents the subject in very readable manner yet his book can be used by serious students of the subject.

About the Author:

Heinrich Zimmer (1890-1943) was a Indologist and historian of South Asian art. He was born in Greifswald, Germany.

Zimmer began his career studying Sanskrit and linguistics at the University of Berlin where he graduated  in 1913. Between 1920-24 he lectured at Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University in Griefswald, he then moved to Heidelberg to fill the Chair of Indian Philosophy. In 1938 he was dismissed by the Nazis, and he emigrated to London where between 1939-40 he taught at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1942 he moved to New York to accept a Visiting Lecturer position in Philosophy at Columbia University. He died there the following year (1943).

Heinrich Zimmer was one of the people who introduced C.G. Jung to the ideas of the Hindu sage Ramana Maharshi. Jung met Zimmer in the 1930's when Zimmer was Professor of Sanskrit at Heidelberg. Most importantly, Zimmer translated some of Ramana's writings into German in a book entitled "Der Weg zum Selbst [the Way to the Self]". Jung wrote an introduction to the book, which was published in 1954.