In the Sanctuary of the Soul: A Guide to Effective Prayer [Hardcover]

Paramahansa Yogananda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

Beautifully rendered, this guide presents Yogananda's insights on how people can experience God's presence directly in their lives, and clearly sets forth principles of effective prayer for receiving God's response. A remarkable blending of East and West, the teachings offered here embrace universal spiritual laws that will inspire people of all faiths to deepen their spiritual practice. The brief reflections and accessible formats make this an ideal devotional guide.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Spiritual concerns are central to Hispanic life in this country, and here are some titles that could expand your collection beyond the obvious. Casteneda, here represented by a compilation of quotes from his major works, is of course ever-popular. While Yogananda's work may not seem as natural a fit, his autobiography has in fact been available in Latin America since the 1950s, where it is considered a classic of spiritual literature.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Hailed as "the father of Yoga in the West", Paramahansa Yogananda is regarded as one of the great spiritual figures of our time. Born in northern India, he came to the United States in 1920, where for more than 30 years he taught the ancient science of Kriya Yoga meditation and the art of balanced spiritual living. That same year he founded Self-Realization Fellowship, to disseminate his writings and teachings worldwide. Through his best-selling classic, Autobiography of a Yogi, and his numerous other books, he has introduced millions throughout the world to the spiritual principles of yoga meditation and the universal truths underlying all world religions.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 136 pages
• Publisher: Self-Realization Fellowship; 1st edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876121717
• ISBN-13: 978-0876121719
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #486,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hailed as "the father of Yoga in the West," Paramahansa Yogananda - author of the bestselling classic "Autobiography of a Yogi" - is regarded as one of the great spiritual figures of our time. Born in northern India on January 5, 1893, he devoted his life to helping people of all races and creeds to realize and express more fully in their lives the true beauty, nobility, and divinity of the human spirit. After graduating from Calcutta University in 1915, Yogananda took formal vows as a monk of India's venerable monastic Swami Order. Two years later, he began his life's work with the founding of a how-to-live school since grown to twenty-one educational institutions throughout India where traditional academic subjects were offered together with yoga training and instruction in spiritual ideals. In 1920, he was invited to serve as India's delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston. His address to the Congress and subsequent lectures on the East Coast were enthusiastically received, and in 1924 he embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. Over the next three decades, Paramahansa Yogananda contributed in far-reaching ways to a greater awareness and appreciation in the West of the spiritual wisdom of the East. In Los Angeles, he established an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, the nonsectarian religious society he had founded in 1920. Through his writings, extensive lecture tours, and the creation of Self-Realization Fellowship temples and meditation centers, he introduced hundreds of thousands of truth-seekers to the ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its universally applicable methods of meditation. Today, the spiritual and humanitarian work begun by Paramahansa Yogananda continues under the direction of Sri Mrinalini Mata, one of his closest disciples and president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India since 2011. In addition to publishing his writings, lectures and informal talks (including a comprehensive series of Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for home study), the society also oversees temples, retreats, and centers around the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE MOST LASTING GIFT-INSPIRATION !, September 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Sanctuary of the Soul: A Guide to Effective Prayer (Hardcover)

It is wonderful that this universally appealing guide to the sacred art of Prayer is published in a Gift edition. With ecumenical expression and clear instruction, Yogananda shows the reader of any faith how one can successfully commune with God through Prayer. How to really get results in doing so, and how to become a more devoted folower of your chosen spiritual path. Yogananda's wisdom can effectively take one's faith from a surface to an inner and real experience. All you gain from the teasures of this book will be with you and bless you always. The author is a great Yoga Master who speaks from his own direct experience. Whoever receives this gift "In the Sanctuary of the Soul" could have a life transforming experience.

Also be sure to read, " Enter the Quiet Heart" by Daya Mata, and "Autobiography of a Yogi"(by Self-realization Publishers) by Paramahansa Yogananda.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Speaking Intimately with Divine Power, August 10, 2003

By 

richardpinneau.com (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: In the Sanctuary of the Soul: A Guide to Effective Prayer (Hardcover)

Perhaps you are wondering how a mortal could presume to be an authority on how to "get the ear" of the Creator? Then you have probably not read Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi" ( ISBN 0876120834 ), because he describes there his life-long (and successful) search for communion (and union) with The Infinite. During his search, Yogananda made insightful study of the great world scriptures, especially those of India and Judeo-Christianity; more importantly, he studied for ten years directly under one of the most revered yoga masters of India. From Yogananda's search, from his own relentless prayer and meditation, and from his personal experience teaching other seekers he concluded that there is no approach to God has the spiritual potency of this prescribed combination: yoga-deepened meditation plus devotional practice. This handsome little introduction to the highlights of Yogananda's teaching culls from his numerous published works scores of explosive insights for dynamiting difficulties along your spiritual climb. Unlike authors that parrot wisdom they have heard from others, Yogananda speaks from the authority of one who has experienced the view from the mountain top - and the glimpses he gives you of the view will take your breath away. The yoga master's guidance is divided into six sections:

I. Real prayer is a demand of the soul; and the soul has only one need: re-union with its Creator. Wants and wishes are endless... and unreliable. Attuning to and encouraging the need of the soul to realize its immortality, its divinity empowers your prayer. Yogananda urges the reader to cultivate prayer from that depth and explains the vastness of the power you tap thereby.

II. Concentrate the mind's force through yoga. In Shakespeare's HAMLET, even the fratricidal Claudius can see the meaningless of seeming to pray by merely mouthing words -- without the mind and feeling really focusing there [ "My words fly up; my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to Heaven go." ]

III. Know what to pray for. While conceding that you are free to ask for anything from your loving Creator, Yogananda argues persuasively for enabling the Omniscient One to help you pray wisely.

IV. Have a clear conception of God: a conception that you can love, that you can trust, that you can feel intimate with; a God whose essence is love and who is readier to help you than you are to ask.

V. Praying with dynamic will power. Yogananda was a teacher of irrepressible determination to adhere to the highest principles and accomplish the greatest service to humanity. As an Eastern teacher in the conservatively Christian America of the 20's and 30's, the obstacles to his mission were Himalayan. His advice on developing super-human *dynamic* will is based on the principles that he used to establish against all odds a world-wide community of spiritual education that continues vibrantly fifty years after his passing.

VI. Reclaiming your inner sanctuary. The last pages contain some of Yogananda's most beautiful guidance on how to cultivate and sustain your inner peace, your connectedness with omnipresent Spirit -- the state from which prayer becomes natural, intimate, and essentially one with the divine response.

Besides making a superb gift for a friend who may be struggling spiritually, the gems in this collection are excellent to keep at the desk or bedside of a seasoned spiritual aspirant: ideal for random opening to see what encouragement Spirit has for any moment.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DIRECT AND CLEAR AND INSPIRING!, June 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Sanctuary of the Soul: A Guide to Effective Prayer (Hardcover)

Pramahansa Yogananda takes us directly to the heart of the importance of contacting God. In the most simple and direct language and instruction, this great Yoga Master of the century guides the aspiring seeker into effective and practical approaches to lifes greatest quest - cummunion with God.

The significance of this short and simple presentation is that it can be used effectively by the followers of all religions. Communing with God is the one true religion at the heart of all faiths. It is the key to mutual harmony connecting all true religions.

Recommended reading:AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI - MAN'S ETERNAL QUEST - JOURNEY TO SELF-REALIZATION - ONLY LOVE -GOD TALKS WITH ARJUNA(BHAGAVAD GITA) - THE DIVINE ROMANCE - FINDING THE JOY WITHIN YOU........