1 This volume marks the first wide-ranging and multi-vocal academic survey of the major types and categories of Hindu contemplative praxis from a breadth of scholarly viewpoints that reflect both (a) the variegation in types of contem- plative practices within the Hindu traditions and (b) the use of Hindu internal hermeneutical perspectives for expanding the concept of contemplation beyond definitions that – though incrementally enriched by content from Buddhism – are still normatively constrained by Christian understandings of the concept. Part of the reason that the field remains fairly unrepresentative of the breadth of religious lives across cultures lies in the dearth of academic works, from scholars of diverse religions, on the subject of contemplative studies. Contemplative Studies, as a discipline, 1 can be approached via several avenues: (a) a rigorous focus on religious practices of contemplation, their history, and function within the context of one or more spiritual traditions; (b) the secular and interdisciplinary field of the study and pedagogical application of contem- plative practice and experience which may include methods extracted from reli- gions or developed in engagement with other areas of inquiry; (c) neuroscientific approaches that analyze the effects of contemplation, and (d) its study and ther- apeutic applications in the health sciences. Finally, there are programs, which call for a transdisciplinary research methodology, 2 integrating Social Sciences, Psychology, Neurobiology, Organizational Applications, Health Sciences, and the humanities (including, at times, Religious Studies), Social Sciences, Psychology, Neurobiology, Organizational Applications, and Health Sciences. Whichever way Contemplative Studies is approached, it makes space for direct personal experience with specific forms of prac- tice. In this way it challenges the denial of embodied experience and 1 CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES AND THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF HINDU CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE An introduction Rita D. Sherma