This book presents a selection of essays by the Indian philosopher J.L. Mehta on the topics of hermeneutics and phenomenology containing many original reflections on questions of interpretation and the creative retrieval and renewal of meanings from ancient traditions. Beginning with essays on sources of modern phenomenological methods, the work goes on to articulate principles of phenomenology and to apply them to the interpretation of Hindu traditions and texts. The final group of essays consider the problems of East-West understanding and issues of intercultural relationships and the possibilities of planetary thinking. Mehta was a rare kind of international thinker. In his mature essays his thinking came full circle having grown from Hindu origins, expanding through Western psychology and continental philosophy, and returning to re-assess profound questions in Indian thought.