"This important book fills a gap in our knowledge.... Highly recommended."Â -- Library Journal "... highly recommended... " -- Choice "With admirable clarity and remarkable brevity, Jackson surveys the history of the movement and raises... important issues... " -- The Journal of American History An important history of the Ramakrishna movement, the very first and in many ways the most important Asian religious group to appear in the United States.

Discover how the crown jewel of Hindu teachings can enrich your life and spirituality. Guarded for centuries by saints and ascetics in the forests and mountains of India, the universal principles of Vedanta were deemed too precious to be understood by the masses until Swami Vivekananda first introduced them in the West at the end of the nineteenth century. Today Vedanta’s principles of self-awareness, self-knowledge and self-control are available for anyone who wants to enrich their life by following this ancient tradition. Fusing science, philosophy, meditation and contemplation, these timeless teachings encourage spiritual growth by inviting critical inquiry, encouraging honest doubt and providing realistic explanations of the mysteries of spiritual quest. This comprehensive guide examines in detail the tenets of Vedanta, its relationship to other spiritual paths and its applications for your own spiritual journey, such as: Re-establishing Contact with the Ultimate Reality Acting in the Living Present Awakening Spiritual Consciousness Mastering the Restless Mind Grasping the Essentials Liberating the Soul And much more ...

The pieces collected here were written over a ten year period crucial to the development of Sangharakshita's thought and expression. From visionary early writings to the later articles leavened by deep reflection, there emerges the unmistakeable voice of the writer of A Survey of Buddhism. There is a wide range of subject matter from explorations of the entire field of Buddhism to the encounter of Buddhism with western culture and modern life and brilliant expositions of the implications for humanity of the Buddha's teaching of selflessness.

‘The Life of M. and Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita’, is a publication that all persons who attach importance to spiritual values, and especially those whose interest in this subject has been generated through the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, would welcome with utmost eagerness and warmth. For, in this age of ours, when cart-loads of books are turned out by your commercialised publishing houses – books which entertain, bore or debase, but seldom instruct and much less inspire – ‘The Life of M. and Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita’ comes as a refreshing shower on a parched desert. Sri Ramakrishna’s life has been described by Mahatma Gandhi as a life that ‘enables us to see God face to face.’ In making this precious heritage of the Master’s life available to mankind through a faithful and realistic account of an important phase of it, when the fully blossomed flower of the Master’s genius was attracting large numbers of spiritual seekers like swarms of honey-seeking bees, Mahendra Nath Gupta, under the pen name of M., has done to mankind a service of a magnitude which few other authors can equal or excel. - from the Foreword to this book.

The constant refrain of the book is that globalization, in addition to being an economic phenomenon, is concerned about the restructuring of society and the way we live. It delves into the core of globalization, its drawbacks and how the religions of the world and the Ramakrishna movement can help us learn to live with it and adapt it to our needs. The 33 articles in the book have been authored by monks of the Ramakrishna Order, renowned authors and authorities in various disciplines. They were first published in 1999 in the annual issue of the Vedanta Kesari, the monthly magazine of the Ramakrishna Order.

By any measure, Swami Vivekananda had a multifarious and multidimensional personality. He was a great saint, thinker, scholar, educationist, organiser, nationalist, traveler, writer, poet, musician, ambassador of Indian Culture to the West, and what not! To study the personality and message of such a diverse person is surely a rewarding and enriching experience, both individually and collectively. No wonder, Swamiji continues, and will continue to, inspire millions of people the world around. This book, focusing on various aspects of his manifold personality and ever-inspiring message, is a tribute to the greatness and majesty that is Vivekananda—on his 150th Birth Anniversary.

This classic work of research published by Advaita Ashrama, a Publication centre of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, India, brings under a single volume around 600 persons inspired by the ideals of Sri Ramakrishna and his disciples. Notable personalities whose connection with the Vedanta Movement in the West is delineated include Aldous Huxley, Arnold Toynbee, Albert Einstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, Mark Twain, J D Salinger and Joseph Campbell among others. For the scholars it is a mine of information presented precisely, and for the devotees of Ramakrishna, it is an inspiring account of western admiration for Ramakrishna and his disciples. (Pdf version).

This book is a collection of lectures delivered in Bangalore and Philadelphia by Swami Yatiswarananda, a disciple of Swami Brahmananda and the Vice-president of the Ramakrishna Order. The lectures were published in the magazines The Vedanta Kesari, Prabuddha Bharata, Vedanta and the West, and Vedanta for East and West. The lectures extensively deal with pursuing religious life, overcoming obstacles in religious life, achieving inner peace and harmony, and attaining religious experience. Spiritual seekers can derive the much-needed inspiration and succour from these invaluable lectures.