Customer Reviews

Man's Eternal Quest: Collected Talks and Essays on Realizing God in Daily Life

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I think this is the best of the books written by Yogananda (that I have read). The essays taken from his talks inform the reader about spirituality in simple and profound ways, but the real focus is upon experiencing this on one's own rather than memorizing the words of others or relying on them for proof. This book, as well as the others that I have read by the same writer, demonstrates the importance of finding God despite the distractions in everyday life, so I disagree with one reviewer's assertion that this occurs in caves, nature, etc. While it would be nice to get away from it all, the very practical nature of Yogananda's lessons shows what everyday people can do to improve their lives, one small step at a time.

The most eloquent down to earth writing on holiness available to the masses on God's green earth. A must for those who seek love, for this books warm monologue will bring you closer to realizing your own joy that is within. Take time out and read this book! It is good food for your soul!

In "MAN'S ETERNAL QUEST" The author shows a special talent and wisdom in his explanation of life's deepest questions in a straight and clear manner. Such precise use of the English language by a foreigner on spiritual material is remarkable.

These talks gave me understrandings that changed my outlook and my life. One can feel that His source of every word is truly from the Living experience of God's reality. And the energy of divine light and love shines through it.This book deepened my Quietest moments.

Among the many areas dealt with in this book, the author has some serious ideas about world peace and brotherhood,"We have everything necessary in the world today to bring about the millennium........A federation of all religions and all nations is necessary. But such a union will come only when every individual engages in that meditation which leads to direct contact with God". So Yogananda places great importance on the practice of MEDITATION in these talks, as well as how to live life more abundantly inevery way.

His knowledge stands out in practical matters as diet also- here talks in the 20's and 30's he gives us ahead of time the accurate knowledge of proper diet that science has only recently (in the 90's) been verifying from years of research. What was the source of his precise wisdom in all these matters??? Is this what comes from "contact with God"? The author proves the value of his own teaching in this and many other ways. I loved the originality and directness of the authors open and intelligent dealings in such a wide range of subjects...

CONTENTS:

How Seekers first found God....................... The Universality of Yoga...................... The Infinite Nature of God..................... Answered Prayers................................ Making Religion Scientific................... Understanding the Unreality of Matter............. Man's Greatest Adventure...................... Self-Analysis-Key to the Mastery of Life.......... Healing by ! God's Unlimited power.................. Nervousness-Cause and cure........................ The Spirital Rewards of Fasting................... Self-Realization-Criterion of Religion........... The Desire That Satisfies all Desires............. In God is All Happiness................... How to Be More Likeable.................. Developing Personality................. Reincarnation Can Be Scientifically Proven........ The Dream Nature of the World................. The Invisible Man.................. Christ and Krishna- Avatars of one Truth.......... Even Mindedness in a World of Change........... Increasing the Power of Initiative............ The Art of Developing memory................ The Missing Link Between Consciousness & Matter... Man's Eternal Quest................... The Art of Living.................... Who Made God?............... Have I Found God?............... Steps Toward the Universal Christ Consciousness... The purpose of life is to Find God.......... and More...........

Also Recomended:The Autobiography of a Yogi(SRF Publishers)........The Divine Romance............Wine of the Mystic (the Rubaiyat)..........Enter the Quiet Heart.......How You Can Talk With God..........Sanctuary of the Soul........(Search on "Yogananda" on Amazons home page for more great books by "Self-Realization Publishers").

This collection of fifty public talks and reflective essays spans an amazing universe of human issues from the perspective of a yoga master who was trained in his youth by one of the most revered sages of India and who went on to Europe and the Americas to train tens of thousands of westerners in the practicalities and spiritualities of RAJA YOGA. Raja Yoga means literally, 'royal' or complete yoga - not just the calisthenics of the average superficial class taught in a modern gym. Raja Yoga subsumes the same essence of ethical, cosmological, and practical teaching that runs like a silver thread through the original fabrics of Judeo-Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, and Hindu teachings (though ignored by dogmatic sectarians and muscle-bound materialists alike).

Take as a first gift, chapter one: How Seekers First Found God. For perhaps the first time in the English we have a clear explanation and follow-up to Christ's puzzling pair of directions: Seek first The Kingdom / The Kingdom of God is within you. Yogananda gives us an unsurpassed overview of thousands of years of yoga experimental scientists studied HOW to "seek the kingdom within:" Here we learn WHY we are instructed to "be still and know that I am God" (PS 46:10) -- because stillness is necessary for us to go deeper (and higher) than sense perception to hear the omnipresent whispering of Spirit to our souls. Because the press of "civilization" urges us to be active and outer-directed, we are strangers to the very qualities that would help us experiences our soul-natures and our souls' yearning to express its divinity. The yoga methods of relaxation for body, breath and mind are beneficial to pursuers of ALL religions -- even to those of NO religion who yearn to awaken a higher level of functioning in mind and purer health in body -- for yoga is truly the original WHOLISTIC system. Raja Yoga shows how ALL human functioning can be optimized, including (if you're so inclined) the human search for its divinity.

Throughout the variegated chapters of this volume you will find that the lotus of yoga blossoms in every realm of human existence: health, personal relationships, psychotherapy, and all spiritual searches. As the "complete" yoga instruction, Raja Yoga considers the importance of evolving your human work as spiritual work: in outer activity, heart-felt devotion, and discriminative rationality. But Yogananda always takes the reader back to the unique CORE of Raja Yoga: deep, single-pointed meditation upon the Unifying Source of our beings.

It is impossible to describe the volume because it is so EXPANSIVE in the applications it makes of yoga teaching. Yet it offers a fundamental yoga lesson because it is also FOCUSED... in ever returning you to the unifying principle of all religions, all human yearnings, all quests: the empowerment of your being with the experience, knowing, and love of the soul.

PS: You might reasonably doubt the authority of any author to offer advice that promises so much. The preface by Sri Daya Mata to this volume gives a close student's tantalizing glimpse of the author's stature and of his practices-what-he-preaches authenticity. For a look in more depth at the genuine humility with which this exalted soul expressed his insights, please see his Autobiography of a Yogi in his expanded 1951 edition, in either quality paperback...or mass paperback...

I am not looking for any other book. This book was the end of my search. I love it. It's my Guru. Go and read seriously for yourself. You will become a different person. Even though we petty readers should not even try to Judge such a great book, I would give this book 10 Star. I am going through Other books "Divine Romance" & "Journey To Self Realization". But I think reading this one is all that one needs to improve his or her life. Go and Enjoy your reading. Good Luck.

This book changed the way I look at life, and my way of thinking. It is a must for people on the Spiritual path.
Thank you for this book Yogananda!

I wish to do a qucik comparison of the two!! I find this book very, very useful. I have many books on spirituality & yoga, but most of them are convoluded! The message is very cryptic and subject to much interpretation as with Swami rama. This book is well written, paramhansa has an excellent command of the english language, very profound, very clear and articulate. Swami rama books are often disjunctive and too advanced for the beginner! Every sentence in Rama's book is cryptic and is not at all introductory. I got more out of this book than the 40 other books I have from different people. Must read this book!! This is a journey, you really feel connected to the author.

Another masterful book by the Yogi.

Reading this book is like walking through a waterfall into another world full of magic that explains your own.

This is a guide to the machine under the bonnet of our existence.

I hope you take the time to read this ... importantly, you will need an open mind ... just because you dont understand something it is not necessarily false ..... the earth was understood to be flat not to long ago, remember?

I had borrowed this book from a friend of mine, it totally changed by outlook of life.I got so attached to this book that I kept my friend's book and purchased him a new one. This is a must read book for everybody who is interested in sprituality.

MANS ETERNAL QUEST contains a literal wealth of clear spiritual inspiriation and direction about many religious and spiritual subjects, spoken with clarity and authority. This work is a great asset to understanding what Jesus was really telling us when he said to his disciples "for you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but for others it is not.........". As a result, the higher teachings were left out of the N.T. As it was the tradition of those times. It is now here in Yogananda's writings, this is full and clear wisdom from the Great Ones. Savour this inspiring revelation! A must read for all who challenge the common view of Jesus the Christ.