24 May 2008 Question

Q60: Best book?

Question 60:
“What is the best book that you read recently? What did you learn from it?”

To post your answer, click on ‘Add Comment’. Please make your answer brief and clear.

Join the conversation! 28 Comments

  1. The Secret of Inner Peace by Swami Ramakrishananda Puri.
    I read it again, and saw inner peace. Thank you beautiful Swami and Blessed Amma, my Guru.

  2. AMMAs Biography
    It is all about love, pure love without any expectations.
    Divine love that works wonders in devotees. Loving all alike without any distinction. Parama Prema (supreme love). To learn this and try to adopt in our life we need grace and blessings from AMMA.

  3. ‘On the road to freedom’, (vol.2) by Swami Paramatmananda. He tells us about the tests he had to overcome on the spiritual road. His long stay in India, especially around Amma, lead him to an interior transformation. I learnt so many things when i read this book that i don’t know what to start with. 1/ we shouldn’t get angry at a person who is unrighteous. 2/ we should try to be free from the law of karma. 3/ Renunciation is the way. 4/ All the stories told by Swami Paramatmananda. Om Namah Shivaya.

  4. ‘The Path’ by a French woman ,Madhurii, who travelled to India after the Second World War to meet her guru, Papa Ram Das.She travelled throughout India and spent time with Anandamayi Ma and Swami Shivananda as well as other lesser known teachers.This book is beautifully written in the third person and transmits an uncanny feeling of gentle peace and detachment. I think I came to appreciate a little more that ” it is not necessary to wish to know, for in the end one learns in due time what one must learn and one always goes where one must go. Then there is no more anxiety,no more agitaion,the mind is freed of it’s desires and put in a state of perfect peace”

  5. ” Torrential Love ” by Swamini Krishnamrita Prana.

    I learned how important it is to be selfless in thoughts and actions. Sad thing is i am selfish.

  6. Torrential Love by Swamini Krishnamrita Prana …
    Learn to use words as precisely as the author wishes …

  7. Matruvani !!. i just wait for this book every month. Amma’s message comes as if providing a solution to some doubt or problem. also guiding me throughout. thanks Amma.

  8. Torrential Love, by Swami Krishnamrita Prana. I love her writing style!

  9. The second Best book which I read is “An autobiography of a Yogi”
    It gives a picture of our spiritual masters in several genarations and their teachings. Have noticed different masters (about forty) each of them are having a particular sidhi (special power). This book helps the reader to understand a little about AMMA and AMMA’S Ananda (endless) Bhavas and endless qualities of God and about the Supreme Love.

  10. The Tattva Boddha from Shankaracarya, a very good teaching to start Vedanta. (easier to study with someone who knows it than just reading it)
    Many things are so clear now, like Viveka (how to make the difference between Satyam and Mithya, (what is real or not and why it is real or not).
    And the best of all is the Bhagavad Gita from which i still learn every day.

  11. The best book i have read is Ammas Biography. Whenever i read it, it is new and fresh -it takes me into Ammas world so deeply, so much love is present. All Ammas books are good. The recent one i read is Eye of Wisdom. Reading Ammas books as a daily habit helps to remain close to her.

  12. Matruvani May 2008 issue. I anxiously wait for the maturvani to come. The whole month through which I go I get all the solution in the isuue. It is a key to my life. I bow to the lotus feet of my beloved AMMA

  13. Amma’s Biography is a book very very close to my heart. I read the book after having Amma’s darshan for the first time. I was in standard 8th then, and reading the book got me very close to Amma. I read what Amma had gone through when she was my age and I instantly felt connected to Amma. I used to re read the chapter when Amma mainfested Krishna Bhava and felt very sad that I didnt see her in Krishna Bhava. I also loved the Experiences of Devotees in the book, where amma would save her children from troubles. From then on, I have always looked at Amma as my Divine Mother.

  14. I recently read three beautiful books that are spiritually rich and deeply inspiring. One was written by a Hindu philosopher, the other by a Sufi poet, and the third by a Buddhist monk. Their message is essentially the same: Go inward to discover who you are.
    (1) The Message of the Upanishads, is a compilation of rich and soulful lectures delivered by by Swami Ranganathananda of The Ramakrishna Mission.
    (2) In The Essential Rumi, each poem is the yearning soul’s prayer to God, culminating in a song of pure Advaita. The Iranian Sufi mystic’s use of metaphors is delightful and intensely spiritual.
    (3) Mindfulness in Plain English by the Buddhist monk Bhante H. Gunaratana, is one of the best books on the practice of developing mindfulness in daily life, which is a pre-requisite for spiritual growth.

  15. “On the Road to Freedom” (Volume 1 & 2)
    Both volumes of this book was extremely inspiring. Swamijis quest for a Guru (Vol-1) gives us an insight to the life and teachings of Great Mahatmas of India. It gives an enlighting experience of how a true aspirant reached his Great Guru (our Amma)
    Vol-2 touches our heart as it describes the life , teachings and sufferings of AMMA and Her first deciples in those early days till the setting up of the Ashram. We are indeed Blessed to get such a Divine Mother as our GURU

  16. After reading a lot on the subject of my university research, which was on a very interesting topic i decided to read stories. I bought a book of jewish stories. The last thing i learned there, was that wisdom always finds a way to do the right thing. With Om Shanti.

  17. God talks with Arjuna,The Bhagavad Gita, Royal Science of God-Realization, Paramhansa Yogananda. I found the ultimate book and every word Amma says is in the book explained so well. This book makes me appreciate a little better what the nature of a Sat Guru like Amma is. I feel blessed to be reading this book and at the same time having a Sat Guru like Amma in my life. I think it is internally changing me with greater understanding of the importance of a spiritual life.

  18. of late i have’nt had much time to spend on reading..
    Yet, there are certain books which have created stir in my heart,the reason being very simple-they carry a subtle message which i can relate to, mostly the answers to questions which have been haunting me for long… ‘Eleven minutes’ by Paulho Coelho (a brazilian author), an episode on true love, which is beyond all physical forms….then Amma’s Upadeshamritam, my only source of solace and advice when im in trouble….

  19. The book i recently completed is “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Swami Paramahansa Yogananda. What i felt has already been explained by ammasdasan. Now I am reading “Lectures from Colombo to Almora” by Swami Vivekananda. Have learned a lot from it. Let me quote some of the points here. “In hurting anyone I am hurting myself, in loving any one I am loving myself”. “Always first learn to be a servant, and then you will be fit to be a master”. The book is very inspiring just like any other book of AMMA.

  20. I read Amma’s books by her senior disciples and for a while I felt everything else as so unnecessary. But recently I picked up Only Love (Daya Mataji) and saw Amma’s message re-inforced in a different language. The change was good to get over the blocks in understanding.

  21. For quite some time the only books I was inclined to read were books from the ashram about Amma and Her messages. One of my favorites as others have also written are the 2 volumes of “Road to Freedom” by Swami Paramatmanandaji. I also eagerly await to read “Immortal Bliss”.
    Recently I have started reading books by other spiritual guides and one that I like is Eckhart Tolle’s “Power of Now”. Another one I liked is “Peria Purana” about the Shaivite devotees.

  22. I don’t know. I haven’t read a book that I liked in a while. A lot of them have been non fiction books about depressing matters for school

  23. The book that really started my spiritual quest was “An Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yoganadaji, many years ago. My favourties now are almost all Awaken Children volumes, i read them every night and Amma’s words bring a tear to my eyes always. The last book i re-read was Swami Ramakrishananda’s “Racing along the razor’s edge” a very good book part of daily readings. My all time favourite book of Amma’s senior disciples has to be “On the road to freedom” (both Volumes) by Swami Paramatmananda, makes you feel as if you were there, amazingly written!

  24. The best book i read recently was “The Tenth Insight” by James Redfield. It’s very inspirational and motivating. From it, i learned a lot about how to choose my afterlife and do my dharma in a better way.

  25. No doubt.. “Bhagavad Gita…” Its the all time best…. We get all we want from it…

  26. Recently Tattvabodham by Sri Adisankara. It is a very good text. Sadhana chadhushtayam (four fold qualifications,six fold wealth, The three bodies, three states, universe, Maya ,the evolution of of the five elelments, Man of realisation, freedom from the bondage of action etc. are the contents. very very effective for sadhaka.

  27. Autobiography of a Yogi. the love and bond that Swami Paramahamsa Yogananda and His Guru shared and the power of his complete childlike faith is so inspiring. everytime i miss Amma i read a part of this book and i am assured that Amma is never away from us. anything is possible by Amma’s grace. just a moment of intense longing is enough to feel Amma’s presence and blessing in everything we do. i am convinced that it was Amma who made my mother gift this book to me to understand the depth of a Guru’s love for his disciple and remind me of our great fortune to have reached Amma’s Lotus Feet to be in Her care forever.

  28. Torrential Love by Swamini Krishnamrita Prana and Amma’s Biography is a book very very close to my heart and i learned for them, how important it is to be selfless in thoughts and actions.
    The Secret of Inner Peace by Swami Ramakrishananda Puri.
    I read it again again and found inner peace.

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