Hey guys, I am trying to get my hands on digital copies of Geeta, Mahabharat, Ramayana, Vedas and Upanishads that have been translated to Hindi/English with the critical analysis and background references within them, and obviously CORRECTLY TRANSLATED versions without distortions from white and Mughal invaders.

Amazon eBook links are welcome. I am looking for a way to support good books and publications.

And free alternatives ( because the texts are more than 100 years old and are no longer needed to copyright ) are also welcome.

Links to libgen/zbook etc are welcome as well as long as the books are legit and good translations.

Please help a fellow bhrata and most importantly

Do give your own contributions for other classical texts that are well translated

Jai shree raam.

Assuming that ones religion claims revelation from a perfect being called God, in whom no fault can be found and who has delivered his message through a priest, prophet or messiah, i argue that the use of the Bible, Quran, Torah or other revealed works are not sufficient sources when attempting to argue the specifics of a religion and its claim to uniqueness.

My reason for this is modern mans complete lack of ability to verify the sources of texts this old and the myriad of denominations and sects within major religions who differ on the context and content of the message.

When using this religious texts in debate one must take into account that a majority of the words in these texts must be taken on belief as opposed to evidence, which I not a valid technique to use because it is entirely subjective.

(Sorry for the typos,English is not my native language)

Since this is my first post here,let me present myself.I'm a 18M,ex-Orthodox Christian from Montenegro,one of the most religious countries in Europe,with up to 94,6% religious people (72% Orthodox Christians,19.1% Muslims and 3,4% Catholics) with the rest being either Jews,agnostics or atheists.Well,maybe not one of the most religious,but people here are batshit crazy about religion,and would aggressively attack anyone who attempts to question their beliefs.As you can already guess,atheists aren't welcome here.I kind of try understand this,since religion played a big role in the survival of the Montenegrin people and the state during the Ottoman era,but things got out of control.It got up to the point where religion now plays a big role in our politics,our government members spend more time in churches than in their offices,and the Orthodox people in the country are divided between the supporters of MOC (Montenegrin Orthodox Church) and supporters of SOC (Serbian Orthodox Church),with both churches,mainly the latter one always making big ceremonies with lots of people gathering,which is obviously not a very good idea since we're dealing with this COVID thing,not to mention small number of people are wearing masks or keeping the distance.Also not to mention the SOC last year had a few of its church leaders killed by COVID.But I guess God works in mysterious ways and he just wanted them to be safe in his hands,right? Now that I represented myself and my country to y'all,let's begin with the story.

So,today I was chatting with my friend.We were sitting and talking about certain subjects,like immigrants,ISIS and shit they did in Europe.Nothing related to religion,but that didn't stop him from turning religion as the main subject here.He was talking about how the terrorist are brainwashed by thinking they will end up in Heaven if they kill someone who is not a member of their religion.Then I said how they are also brainwashed by believing they will end up in heaven after death,because nowhere in the Bible or Quran it says some ghosty thing will leave our bodies after they expire.Rather,it says we sleep in our graves until we get revived in the Resurrection Day.Of course,he accused me of lying,started talking about God,souls,and asked me what I think happens after death.As an atheist,I said "well,you die,get buried,rot,and that's it".He asked me to prove that,and said I will go to hell if I don't belie

I am looking to read all the major religious texts.

I would love any advice on which ones to include and in what particular order should they be read (if that may make a difference)?

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Note: I would need to read the English translations of all of these texts, I would love any recommendations on particular translations as well!

Thanks!

Not only am I interested in the ratios, but also the clear and succinct wording that people overlook (especially those who back these "teachings") because it is obviously pure lunacy.

Also, however, I would like to highlight the positives have been expressed in our modern religions, and to see if these are the same virtues/values/lessons expressed by the dead religions of our ancestors.

I'm not talking choice words, but paragraphs, "chapters", stanzas.. I do not know the proper terminology. I hope you catch my drift.

If there is not one, anyone willing to help get it going ?

Which Vedas, and to what layer of each would be relevant to the vedic religion? Also are the two epics relevant to the vedic religion?

I read in an article that the Bible does condemn homosexuality, but it also condemns short hair on women and long hair on men. Someone else told me that because somewhere in the bible it is said that you can't do anything with pigs, awesome stuff like bacon and football are also condemned.

I know that "religious" people focus on the shit they want to condemn, and ignore the shit they don't, but is there a full list of things that religious texts frown on?

Hypothesis: Entering into a debate built on good faith demands that both sides of the debate hold valid possibilities of truth. There is no current religious text that meets the very first standard of validity. Therefore, artificially elevating any supernatural text to the same level as testable data (for the sake of debate) shouldn't be allowed in honest exchange.

Explanation: If someone wants to argue in favor of any supernatural text, event, or construct, the supernatural must first meet the lowest bar of being a valid position to argue, and it simply doesn't. You can't win a debate based on nothing more than faith and hope.

As of this date 7/23/2022, no event, object, or theory has met the basic rules of testability, reproducibility, falsifiability, or scrutiny. Therefore, claiming the supernatural to be the cause and structure of the universe is not a valid position to argue in the face of alternative theories that do produce testable data... such as biological evolution or the age of the earth.

While supernatural forces may exist, these forces have yet to rise to the position of legitimate argument. At this point, the supernatural does not represent any kind of real or alternative reality. No where in our day-to-day lives so we see the supernatural ever floated as a valid answer to any question. No court, no bank, no insurance company, and no law enforcement agency would allow anyone to inject the supernatural as a valid option.

If someone wishes to argue in favor if a supernatural creation, or in favotpr if supernatural text, the only valid behpgining is to concede that this position is wholly conjecture based on inference. I'm that person won't concede to this reality, no honest debate can take place.

I've been thinking about the idea that time is an illusion, (a shadow of the body) and essentially predetermined, volition, of course being one of the Skandhas and am curious about any sacred Buddhist texts related to niyati or fate. Brearing in mind, of course, the well-known stories of Zen masters knowing the time and place of their death.

This scene from the scifi show, Devs, got me thinking... (The programmers build a quantum computer simulation of the universe that contains the universe and then look 1 sec into the future.)

This might be more of a venting than a question. My apologies for the long narrative.

This weekend I barely made it through the annual tithing settlement fight with my wife. Last year because of the pandemic tithing settlement was kind of an afterthought for the bishop and we didn’t have a big fight. That was nice. This year we’re back to in-person shakedowns, which means my wife gets a reminder that we’re “below standard” and my aversion to giving the church more money reminds her I suck and makes her double down on church stuff. On top of that we had my 11 year old son’s temple preparation class the same day (yes, he’s 11 and they did a temple preparation class). I don’t have a recommend.

I pointed out that because of medical costs and other expenses, our annual increase was actually a decrease. Our savings is lower and our debt is higher. My argument is that with no increase, we pay no tithing. Her rebuttal is that we had no increase because we didn’t pay tithing.

This went back and forth and she finally said that if she knew I’d think like this, she wouldn’t have married me. She also said she just wants to be married to someone she can be married to forever.

That cut me pretty deep. I married HER because I love HER. I’d go to outer darkness if that’s where she was. I want to spend forever with HER. But now I kind of feel like her goal is to go to the Celestial Kingdom and the person she’s there with is only a secondary consideration. Like a lab partner on a school project. Someone who’ll help get the project completed and do a halfway decent job, but someone you wouldn’t hang out with after school. I was surprised because I thought we were soulmates, but maybe she just just views me as a means to a celestial end and my disaffection is jeopardizing that. It sounds weird, but do TBMs want to marry someone forever or not at all? “I’m going to divorce you if I can’t be with you forever.”

I’ll add that I recognize not once does the temple sealing/marriage process mention love. It’s all about covenants and getting to the CK.

He has been calling her satanic, devilish, in line with the devil, she should be ashamed of herself, and other insults and disruptive talk. He has been spamming these to the group chat, zoom chat, discussion board, etc. Can she report him for being a disruption to class? I was wondering because she doesn't have the time to go through the rules.

I have way too many books as it is, but I need more to add to my shelf! What's your favorite? I've got a few from Alan Watts, the Ramayana, two from Dada, two from Krishna Das, etc.