This is the first volume of the collection of the books, lectures, letters, poetry of Swami Vivekananda.
This Special Master Edition has been crafted with great care in a 7.5" x 9.5" two-columns format.
Contents
Addresses at The Parliament of Religions
Response to Welcome, Why We Disagree, Paper on Hinduism, Religion not the Crying Need of India, Buddhism, the Fulfilment of Hinduism, Address at the Final Session.
Karma-Yoga
Karma in its Effect on Character, Each is great in his own place, The Secret of Work, What is Duty?, We help ourselves, not the world, Non-attachment is complete self-abnegation, Freedom, The Ideal of Karma-Yoga.
Raja-Yoga
Preface, Introductory, The First Steps, Prana, The Psychic Prana, The Control of Psychic Prana, Pratyahara and Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, Raja-Yoga in brief Patanjali's Yoga Aphorisms: Introduction, Concentration: Its spiritual uses, Concentration: Its practice, Powers, Independence, Appendix.
Lectures and Discourses
Soul, God and Religion, The Hindu Religion, What is Religion?, Vedic Religious Ideals, The Vedanta Philosophy, Reason and Religion, Vedanta as a Factor in Civilisation, The Spirit and Influence of Vedanta, Steps of Hindu Philosophic Thought, Steps to Realisation, Vedanta and Privilege, Privilege, Krishna, Gita I, Gita II, Gita III, Mohammed, Vilvamangala, The Soul and God, Breathing, Practical Religion: Breathing and Meditation.
"In the volumes of the works of the Swami Vivekananda we have what is not only a gospel to the world at large, but also to its own children, the Charter of the Hindu Faith. What Hinduism needed, amidst the general disintegration of the modern era, was a rock where she could lie at anchor, an authoritative utterance in which she might recognise her self. And this was given to her, in these words and writings of the Swami Vivekananda.
For the first time in history, as has been said elsewhere, Hinduism itself forms here the subject of generalisation of a Hindu mind of the highest order. For ages to come the Hindu man who would verify, the Hindu mother who would teach her children, what was the faith of their ancestors will turn to the pages of these books for assurance and light. Long after the English language has disappeared from India, the gift that has here been made, through that language, to the world, will remain and bear its fruit in East and West alike. What Hinduism had needed, was the organising and consolidating of its own idea. What the world had needed was a faith that had no fear of truth. Both these are found here. Nor could any greater proof have been given of the eternal vigour of the Sanātana Dharma, of the fact that India is as great in the present as ever in the past, than this rise of the individual who, at the critical moment, gathers up and voices the communal consciousness." — Sister Nivedita
Editor's Note: This Special Master Edition has been crafted with great care. In order to be more enjoyable during reading and research, it has been set in a 7.5" x 9.5" two-columns format. All our publications are carefully crafted, both in terms of typography as well as design.
Swami Vivekananda is responsible for revitalizing Hinduism and building its stature as a major world religion. He not only introduced Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the foreign soil but is solely responsible for the enthusiastic response of these Indian spiritual self-improvement techniques in the West. He is none other than Swami Vivekananda - a Hindu monk and chief disciple of Ramakrishna.
Born in a noble Bengali family, Vivekananda espoused the path of spirituality early in life. Right from a young age, he was fascinated by ascetics and took to practicing meditation. However, life wouldn't have been the same for this spiritual genius had he not met his mentor and guide - Sri Ramakrishna.
Ramakrishna was the powerful force behind Vivekananda who channelized the commanding intellect and power of this young man to unite with God. The two shared an extraordinary bond amongst themselves which became one of the most unique guru-disciple relationships in the history. Vivekananda spent most of his life preaching the Vedanta philosophy to people across the world. A globe trotter, he became a sanyasi at the young age of twenty five and since then devoted his life for the betterment of mankind. He advocated the importance of secular and spiritual education, which he thought was the only way to enrich and inspire the life of the masses.
