Professor Edwin Bryant Answers: Are Hindu Gods Mythological or Real?
Vedanta Talks - Swami Sarvapriyananda
Vedanta Society of New York
4.8 • 714 Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2025
⏱️ 114 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr. Edwin Bryant received his Ph.D in Indic languages and Cultures from Columbia University. He taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years, and is presently the professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University where he teaches courses on Hindu philosophy and religion. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, published six books and authored a number of articles on Vedic history, yoga, and the Krishna tradition. In addition to his academic work for the scholarly community, Edwin's Penguin World Classics translation of the Srimad Bhagavata Purana, the traditional source for the story of Krishna's incarnation, is both for Indology specialists as well as students and those interested in Hinduism from the general reading public and the yoga community.
Links to Prof. Bryant's Website and Books:
“The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary” — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0865477361
“Bhakti Yoga: Tales and Teachings from the Bhāgavata Purāṇa” : https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Bhakti+Yog...
“Krishna: A Sourcebook” — https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Krishna+So...
“The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo‑Aryan Migration Debate” — https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Quest+for+...
“The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant” — https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Hare+Krish...
“Indo‑Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History” — https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Indo-Aryan...
► To support the Vedanta Society of New York: http://www.vedantany.org/donate
Vedanta NY Archives: 
/ vedantanewyorkarchives
Web: http://vedantany.org
Soundcloud: 
/ vedantany
iTunes Podcast: http://bit.ly/vedanta-talks-itunes
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5IrDmqX...
Facebook: 
/ vedantany
ABOUT VEDANTA
Vedanta is one of the world’s most ancient religious philosophies and one of its broadest. Based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India, Vedanta affirms the oneness of existence, the divinity of the soul, and the harmony of religions.
ABOUT US
Vedanta Society of New York is affiliated with the Ramakrishna Order of India. In fact, this is the Order's first Center started by Swami Vivekananda, in 1894. It was a historic event, for the seed of the world-wide Ramakrishna Movement was sown here in New York over a century ago. Swami Sarvapriyananda is the present Resident Minister and Spiritual Leader of the Vedanta Society of New York.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Good morning, everybody and welcome on this gorgeous day. |
| 0:09.0 | Thank you. We happily welcome as our speaker today, Professor Edwin Bryant, |
| 0:18.0 | Professor of Hindu religion and philosophy at Rutgers University. Professor Bryant received |
| 0:25.6 | his PhD in Indic languages and cultures from Columbia University, where his thesis culminated |
| 0:33.7 | in his first book, the quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture. |
| 0:39.3 | Before coming to Rutgers, he taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years. |
| 0:45.6 | He has published eight books and authored a number of articles on Vedic history and culture, |
| 0:52.9 | Yoga Philosophy and the Krishna tradition, and has received |
| 0:56.7 | numerous awards and fellowships. As a personal practitioner of Bhakti Yoga for over 50 years, |
| 1:05.6 | a number of them spend in India studying with traditional teachers where he returns yearly, |
| 1:14.1 | Professor Bryant strives to combine academic scholarship and rigor with appreciation |
| 1:20.6 | towards traditional knowledge systems. His translation of and commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is specifically dedicated to contributing to the growing body of literature on yoga. |
| 1:37.8 | His sequel to this book entitled Bhakti Yoga, tales and teachings from the Bhagavada Purana, |
| 1:47.8 | also seeks to ground the practices of Bhakti in the traditional Krishna-centered framework of the |
| 1:59.2 | Rindavan devotional traditions. |
| 2:02.8 | Professor Bryant has translated the Bhagabad Gira with a new edition, |
| 2:07.3 | including original Sanskrit romanized transliterations and detailed explanations and commentaries |
| 2:15.9 | from classical sources, |
| 2:18.3 | and has been working with his late sister on translating his penguin translation |
| 2:24.3 | of the tenth book of the Bhagavad Purana into Italian, their mother language. |
| 2:30.3 | And another book, in defense of a god with form, is currently in progress. |
| 2:37.7 | His previous talks here have proven to be amongst the most popular on our YouTube playlist. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vedanta Society of New York, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Vedanta Society of New York and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.