Pathways to Joy: The Four Yoga Paths to God is made up of selections from some of the most inspired teachings on the ancient Vedanta Yoga ever offered. They were written or given in lectures throughout the 1890’s by Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), an Indian monk who came to America in 1893 to speak at the world’s first Parliament of Religions in Chicago. With his glorious message of Oneness, universality, and the divinity of the soul, he became the uncontested star of the Parliament, raising India for the first time in history to the level of spiritual teacher in the eyes and the hearts of countless lovers of wisdom throughout America and Europe. Vivekananda was the first realized master to teach the spiritual yoga wisdom and practices of ancient India to the West at large, and more than one hundred years after his death he is regarded by millions to be one of the greatest Yogi's of the modern era. Sri Aurobindo, perhaps the most beloved yogi of the 20th Century, had this to say,
The going forth of Vivekananda as the heroic soul destined to take the world between his two hands and change it was the first visible sign that India was awake…He was a power if ever there was one, a very lion among men. We perceive his influence still working gigantically in something grand, intuitive, upheaving…
No seeker of truth should be without these invaluable teachings, for they are great treasures of illumination and guidance for living a truly spiritual life in the modern world.
Enjoy some of the selections from the book that I have posted here, along with a wonderful account of Swami's triumph at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions, a biography, and links to some of the Vedanta Societies in the United States and the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in India that Vivekananda founded in 1896. There is also a link to the webstore at the Vedanta Society of Southern California where you will find one of the finest and most comprehensive catalogs of Indian wisdom on the internet.