A Treatise for Spiritual Aspirants

One of the most renowned Masters of Ramakrishna Order has been Swami Yatishwaranda. He has written several books for the spiritual aspirants.

“Meditation & Spiritual Life” is a treatise and a guidebook for spiritual aspirants. The author was vice-president of Ramakrishna Mission, whose headquarters is in Belur Math. Incarnated on this Earth in 1889, he was a disciple of Swami Brahmananda, a brother disciple of Swami Vivekananda and a direct disciple and spiritual son of Ramakrishna Paramhansa. He propagated the message of Vedanta philosophy worldwide. He has written several books on Vedanta, Meditation & Spirituality. The great master took his Maha Samadhi in 1966.

The book has 4 parts:

1.  The Spiritual Ideal – the why of spirituality?
2. Spiritual Practice – Preparation & Techniques – importance of Guru, self-surrender and devotion & yoga
3. Spiritual Experience – the reality
4. Spiritual tidbits

The book is full of quotations from “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna”, “Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda” and other great works.

Some excerpts from the book:

1. …. “Shashi, Shashi, I have spat out of my body”; it was a familiar voice, and he instantly recognized it to be that of Vivekananda. (49)
2. In divine ecstasy the Swami cried out: I am the shepherd boy. Put anklets on my feet. I want to dance with Krishna. Can’t you see him. Haven’t you eyes to see? My play is over…. (49)
3. To the extent we dissociate ourselves from the false personality (ego-mind), and identify ourselves with Spirit (Infinite) we get fearlessness and strength, purity & peace. (231)
4. The task in spiritual life is to recollect our true nature and raise our consciousness, from the lower centers to higher centers. (333)
5. Your attitude towards others depends on your attitude towards yourself. If you look upon yourself as a mind-body, you see only human bodies all around you. If you look upon yourself as a luminous Self inhabiting the body, you will see the same light shining in all beings around you. (444)

With more than 650 pages of spiritual knowledge the book will overwhelm you several times. You will need a pen/pencil to underline the important points on almost every page. It is definitely a must read, if you are reading this article. Take your time to grasp through & try to inculcate the principles mentioned in the book.

Please buy the book only from Ramakrishna Mission’s book stalls or website (Advaita Aashram). On other websites, I have seen this book being sold for profit.