Favourite BOOKS

 It is for every reader to take from what they are reading the parts that they can identify with and the parts of the book that they dont agree with.  The idea is to broaden the thinking and perceptions and perhaps spark a new thought.

 

 The PERFECT POWER WITHIN YOU by Jack and Cornelia Addington published Santa Monica, California - This book has been my constant bedside companion for forty years. It has supported me through every crisis.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI  by Paramhansa Yogananda -  Read it a few times and a deep inspiration for me - bought it in the 1970's in the flower power era

PERFUME OF THE DESERT - Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom - by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut - A lovely book to take on a trip and read for some calm wisdom, lovely wording or a funny story.
here is just a little to show the flavour of the book - bought this in Kathmandu
As the seeker deepens her experience of the nature of God and of the soul, an astounding secret starts to derange her - she realizes that what she has read in the great mystical books of every tradition is not poetry, or enthusiastic exaggeration, but  a literal, and all shattering truth:that she and the Beloved are not separate but one and that the One she is looking for is also looking for her.
In this book there are also a few short folk stories that are wonderful.

MEDITATION by Eknath Easwaran - Commonsense Directions for an Uncommon Life published by Penguin -
My husband found this for me at a market in Sedgefield, South Africa.
Its a wonderful book and unlike a lot of books gets to the point without a lot of airy-fairy words.
I love the universal appeal of getting started with Meditation using the
 Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying (to self) that we are born to eternal life.
He goes on to say:-
"I hope you will understand that the word 'Lord' here does not refer to a white-bearded gentleman ruling from a throne somewhere near Uranus. When I use words like 'Lord' or 'God'  I mean the very ground of existence, the most profound thing we can conceive of.   This supreme reality is not something outside us, something separate from us. It is within, at the core of our being, our real nature, nearer to us than our bodies, dearer to us than our lives."

BUDDHIST MEDITATION  BY  G.Constant Lounsbery, published in 1935, foreword by W.Y.Evans-Wentz - Jesus College, Oxford - bought in India somewhere
Buddhism is an 'ethico-philosophical system" known in the East as the Dhamma, the Law, the Teaching of the Buddha Gotama -A very definite method of physical and mental training has been elaborated. By living a pure life (CAUSING NO HARM TO ANY LIVING BEING), by cultivating intelligence, reasoning from cause to effect, intuitive thinking also is awakened.

CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION -
by Swami Sivananda  - published by THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY - P.O. SHIVANANDANAGAR - UTTARAKHAND, HIMALAYAS, INDIA -  bought in Rishikesh a few years ago
Swami Sivananda has written a lot of books - all good -
He was born on the 8th September, 1887, to an illustrious family. His passion to serve mankind drew him to a medical career first and then on to become a doctor of body and mind and renounce his career. He settled down at Rishikesh in 1924, and shone as a great Yogi, saint and sage. He started the Sivanand Ashram in 1932 and in 1936 was born The Divine Life Society.

We were lucky to be in Rishikesh at the end of this concert and to attend a musical evening with Sitar music.  We sat cross legged on yoga cushions in a beautiful hall filled with people from around the world and be privileged to listen to the wonderful music. After the concert we walked back to our room at the Yoga Niketan Guest House.   Over the swing bridge across the Ganges river with a cold wind blowing down from the Himalayas.  Unforgettable! Cool!
Poster from the Festival at the Sivanand Ashram:- 2010

It is for every reader to take from what they are reading the parts that they can identify with and the parts of the book that they dont agree with.  The idea is to broaden the thinking and perceptions and perhaps spark some new thought.