Cherished throughout India and much of Asia for centuries, it has been faithfully preserved and passed on through poems, folk tales, music, dance, drama, sculpture, painting, even film and graphic novels. This story and its characters have captured the hearts and minds of countless generations. Revered through the ages for its moral and spiritual wisdom, it is an uplifting tale of romance and high adventure, recounting the odyssey of Rama, a great King of ancient India.

    They hold the secrets of the divine and have inspired generations of devotees by their vision and inexhaustible spiritual powers. Now everyone, from serious scholars to spiritual seekers, can glimpse into the texts that have shaped a vital spiritual history.

    Yet, each moment of joy is only that: momentary, showing up the rest of our lives to be unsatisfying, somehow lacking and incomplete. On the other hand, Vedanta, the body of knowledge found at the end of the Veda, asserts with breathtaking boldness that one's true nature is completeness and limitlessness. Vedanta also promises that moksa, liberation from all forms of limitations that seem to bind a human being, is possible here and now. In this lucid, lively introduction to Vedanta, Swami Dayananda shows how man's constant struggle to overcome these limitations through the ceaseless pursuit of security and pleasure are predestined to failure for the simple reason that they are misdirected: they stem from a failure in understanding the real nature of the fundamental problem itself. All effort howsoever great or unremitting being limited, the result of such effort is also bound to be equally limited, inadequate. The road to freedom from limitation, then, can scarcely lie that way. Indeed, asserts Vedanta, it is only to be found in the correct knowledge of one's true nature as absolute. This vital first step, a clear understanding of man's fundamental problem of ignorance and error about his real nature. Is what this book is all about.

    Moody, cofounder and director of the Brookdale Institute of Aging, reveals the spiritual passages that the vast majority of us encounter in life and explores the opportunities those spiritual stages offer us in achieving a sense of inner fulfillment.At some point in our lives, most of us begin to question what life is all about, what the purpose of our existence is. The first of the passages in our spiritual lives often arises as the result of the death of a parent or other loved one, the birth of a child, or any number of life-changing events that force us to rethink who and what we are. Described as The Call, it may lead some back to traditional religion, to community work; to mysticism. The Call is an opportunity to reflect on one's inner life, to explore and fulfill a deeper part of one's self. In The Five Stages of the Soul, Dr. Moody goes on to identify the four additional spiritual stages most of us go through on the quest for inner fulfillment, bringing together the psychology of our spiritual development with insights from Western and Eastern spiritual masters to illuminate our passage through the labyrinth of life.Written in richly textured narrative that constantly inspires as it offers a detailed road map of our spiritual lives, The Five Stages of the Soul is reminiscent in its approach of the best work of M. Scott Peck and Thomas Moore.

    It has three parts: the Pledge, the Turn, and the Prestige. In Divine Magician, each part comes into play as he explores a radical view of interacting with the world in love.Rollins argues that the Christian event, reenacted in the Eucharist, is indeed a type of magic trick, one that is echoed in the great vanishing acts performed by magicians throughout the ages. In this trick, a divine object is presented to us (the Pledge), disappears (the Turn), and then returns (the Prestige). But just as the returned object in a classic vanishing act is not really the same object--but another that looks the same--so this book argues that the return of God is not simply the return of what was initially presented, but rather a radical way of interacting with the world. In an effort to unearth the power of Christianity, Rollins uses this framework to explain the mystery of faith that has been lost on the church. In the same vein as Rob Bell's bestseller Love Wins, this book pushes the boundaries of theology, presenting a stirring vision at the forefront of re-imagined modern Christianity.As a dynamic speaker as he is in writing, Rollins examines traditional religious notions from a revolutionary and refreshingly original perspective. At the heart of his message is a life lived through profound love. Just perhaps, says Rollins, the radical message found in Christianity might be one that the church can show allegiance to.

    Find enlightenment with these one-hundred twenty-two traditional Buddhist Zen koans -- stories, dialogues, questions, or statements, used in Zen-practice to provoke the "great doubt," and test a student's progress in Zen practice.

     "A fascinating and helpful book for everyone trying to make sense of our crazy world." -- Joe Hyams, Author of Zen in the Martial Arts Joseph Cardillo, Ph.D and top-selling author, reveals the philosophy behind the martial arts techniques that lead to a creative and fulfilled life in this entertaining and insightful guide. Using the techniques outlined in this book, you will feel more deeply and gain confidence in your ability to take care of yourself.

    This work covers in detail all aspects of the practice and includes useful chapters on its effects on the spine, muscles, vital organs and endocrine system. A practical book for teachers and students.

    An excerpt: "The simple process of chanting the names of Krsna will reveal what one is, what God is, what the material and spiritual universes are, why we are conditioned, how we can get out of that conditioning - and everything else, step by step."

    Containing simple narrative, ecstatic poetry, complex argument, and discourse, Adi Da’s autobiography reveals the miraculous story of his unique incarnation and revelation in the west for “the sake of liberating all beings.” The revised edition includes an expanded description of Adi Da’s early life leading up to his divine reawakening in 1970, as well as revelations about the spiritual work of the great realizers in his lineage. "From time to time, there is a book that challenges, and eventually changes, the entire perspective of a civilization. In modern times, Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was such a book–and, centuries before Darwin, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres of Copernicus (the first publication of the theory that the earth orbits the sun). The Knee Of Listening is such an epoch-making book–in an entirely different way. Appearing at the beginning of the third millennium of the Common Era, it carries a Revelation that has the potential to transform all future time. This book is not about how life on earth physically evolved, nor the design of the solar system (of which this planet is a part). The Knee Of Listening is about Reality Itself, the Reality within which this earth and its cosmic locale arise—the Blissful, Effulgent, Conscious Force of Being which is always so, and which can be located and enjoyed under every possible condition, and in every dimension of space-time."—from the Introduction by Carolyn Lee, PhD

    S. Lewis’ works have become timeless classics for adults and children around the world. Here in one concise volume is the essence of his thought on subjects ranging from love and faith to ethics and morality and myth and literature that will throw open the windows of the soul and provide readers with bite-sized nuggets of wisdom and inspiration from one of the best-loved writers of the 20th century. This lovely little gift book will provide sustenance, wisdom, and hope for both believers and seekers. And, most importantly, it will provide an entry point for those unfamiliar with Lewis that will make them want to explore his fiction and nonfiction works. Selections from C.S. Lewis’ Little Book of Wisdom:“If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where should I be now?” “Surely arrested development consists not in refusing to lose old things, but in failing to add new things…” “Do not dare not to dare.” “We are mirrors whose brightness is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us.” “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

    Many men have written about Tibet and its secret lore, but few have actually penetrated it to learn its ancient wisdom. Among those few was Madame Alexandra David-Neel, a French orientalist. A practicing Buddhist, a profound historian of religion, and linguist, she actually lived in Tibet for more than 14 years. She had the great honor of being received by the Dalai Lama; she studied philosophical Buddhism and Tibetan Tantra at the great centers; she meditated in lonely caves and on wind-swept winter mountains with yogi hermits; and she even witnessed forbidden corpse-magic in the forests. Her experiences have been unique.Magic and Mystery in Tibet tells the story of her experiences in Tibet, among lamas and magicians. It is neither a travel book nor an autobiography but a study of psychic discovery, a description of the occult and mystical theories and psychic training practices of Tibet. She tells of great sages and sorcerers that she met; of the system of monastic education; the great teachers and their disciples; Tibetan folklore about their spiritual athletes; reincarnation and memory from previous lives; elaborate magical rites to obtain siddhis; the horrible necromantic magic of the pre-Buddhist Bonpa shamas; mental visualization exercises to create disembodied thought forms (tulpas); visions; phenomena of physical yoga, control of the body heat mechanism; breathing exercises; sending “messages on the wind”; and much similar material.An unusual aspect of Madame David-Neel’s book is that she herself experienced many of the phenomena she describes, yet she describes them with precision and in a matter-of-fact manner, permitting the reader to draw his own conclusions about validity, interpretation in terms of psychology, and value. Particularly interesting for the modern experiencer are her detailed instructions for tumo (the yoga of heat control) and creation of thought projections.

    Here, Chögyam Trungpa discusses bardo in a very different sense: as the peak experience of any given moment. Our experience of the present moment is always colored by one of six psychological states: the god realm (bliss), the jealous god realm (jealousy and lust for entertainment), the human realm (passion and desire), the animal realm (ignorance), the hungry ghost realm (poverty and possessiveness), and the hell realm (aggression and hatred). In relating these realms to the six traditional Buddhist bardo experiences, Trungpa provides an insightful look at the "madness" of our familiar psychological patterns and shows how they present an opportunity to transmute daily experience into freedom.

    It offers a vast variety of insightful selections from various literature and provides a lifetime of ideas and images to contemplate and evolve with you.

    Propelled since childhood by the untimely deaths of his parents, Elliott traveled the globe to meet with these luminaries and directly find out their answers to the fundamental questions of existence: What is life's purpose? What is God or Ultimate Reality? Why do people suffer? Does a part of us live on after death? The list of people he met is both diverse and impressive. Not only do they represent every major religious tradition, from Rober Schuller, Rabbi Harold Kushner, and Norman Vincent Peale to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Jack Kornfield, but also an exciting variety of perspectives, from Ram Dass to Mother Teresa to psychologist B.F. Skinner.Time and again, the sages included here warmed to Elliott's heartfelt longing for meaning in the world. Their views are framed by Elliott's endearing voice, engaging and perceptive, and by his wonderfully warm sense of humor. Tying Rocks to Clouds is sometimes sad, often funny, and always filled with freshness and joy as it reveals wisdom collected from across the world.