Rating: 
Summary: THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT TRILOGY!
Review: How can I out do the review by ASTRAL? His review is a work of poetry. And yes, I did vote for it. I read this book many years ago. I found it deeply inspiring. I have seen the spiritual eye many times (as I've stated many times!). Please read the chapter titled "Jesus: A Christ of East and West" to find out a description about it by Yogananda. It is THE most beautiful thing that YOU will ever see. I'm a kriyan or Self-Realizationist yogi. This book is truly a gem. But I follow all of Master's (NOTE: "MASTER" means one who is able to deal with all of life's situations - not like Frankenstein! ) teachings. If you really want to get into Yogananda's teachings, here is the book for for you. Okay. BUT IF YOU ARE A SELF-REALIZATIONIST, PLEASE STICK WITH THE SRF LESSONS BEFORE JUMPING INTO OTHER BOOKS. Yes, you can read them if you have the time. Brother Bhaktananda clipped my wings a little. He was a devotee of Yogananda's while Yogananda was still living. I sent him some of my reviews. I especially wanted him to hear about his reaction to my review, "God Talks to Arjuna", which was translated by Yogananda. It's over a thousand pages and my favorite book. Brother Bhaktananda said, "It's very good! Now what are you going to do with it?" Ouch! So this book is wonderful for those who want to jump right into Yogananda's teachings BUT ARE NOT SELF-REALIZATIONISTS. First study the lessons. Then the service readings. Then the books and recordings. I think the recordings and videos can be very inspiring if you live half-way across the world. If this book tastes good, then buy the second in the trilogy, "The Divine Romance". Then "Journey to Self-Realization". I've been very lucky. SRF, which is my church, has given me permission to practice Insight Meditation for psychotherapeutic reasons along with any other spiritual paths that may help my depressive disorder. SRF is not a "cult" simply because they do not believe that thier way is the ONLY way. This is another reason to buy Man's Eternal Quest. You can dip your beak wherever you want with SRF! It's not a closed system. Please read Astral's review for more details on this book.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book One can find on this planet
Review: I am not looking for any other book. This book was the end of my search. I love it. It's my Guru. Go and read seriously for yourself. You will become a different person. Even though we petty readers should not even try to Judge such a great book, I would give this book 10 Star. I am going through Other books "Divine Romance" & "Journey To Self Realization". But I think reading this one is all that one needs to improve his or her life. Go and Enjoy your reading. Good Luck.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book One can find on this planet
Review: I am not looking for any other book. This book was the end of my search. I love it. It's my Guru. Go and read seriously for yourself. You will become a different person. Even though we petty readers should not even try to Judge such a great book, I would give this book 10 Star. I am going through Other books "Divine Romance" & "Journey To Self Realization". But I think reading this one is all that one needs to improve his or her life. Go and Enjoy your reading. Good Luck.
Rating:
Summary: The book that changed my life
Review: I had borrowed this book from a friend of mine, it totally changed by outlook of life.I got so attached to this book that I kept my friend's book and purchased him a new one. This is a must read book for everybody who is interested in sprituality.
Rating:
Summary: Yogananda's best
Review: I think this is the best of the books written by Yogananda (that I have read). The essays taken from his talks inform the reader about spirituality in simple and profound ways, but the real focus is upon experiencing this on one's own rather than memorizing the words of others or relying on them for proof. This book, as well as the others that I have read by the same writer, demonstrates the importance of finding God despite the distractions in everyday life, so I disagree with one reviewer's assertion that this occurs in caves, nature, etc. While it would be nice to get away from it all, the very practical nature of Yogananda's lessons shows what everyday people can do to improve their lives, one small step at a time.
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Summary: A PRACTICAL- COMMONSENSE VIEW OF LIFE AND RELIGION
Review: In "MAN'S ETERNAL QUEST" The author shows a special talent and wisdom in his explanation of life's deepest questions in a straight and clear manner. Such precise use of the English language by a foreigner on spiritual material is remarkable.These talks gave me understrandings that changed my outlook and my life. One can feel that His source of every word is truly from the Living experience of God's reality. And the energy of divine light and love shines through it.This book deepened my Quietest moments. Among the many areas dealt with in this book, the author has some serious ideas about world peace and brotherhood,"We have everything necessary in the world today to bring about the millennium........A federation of all religions and all nations is necessary. But such a union will come only when every individual engages in that meditation which leads to direct contact with God". So Yogananda places great importance on the practice of MEDITATION in these talks, as well as how to live life more abundantly inevery way. His knowledge stands out in practical matters as diet also- here talks in the 20's and 30's he gives us ahead of time the accurate knowledge of proper diet that science has only recently (in the 90's) been verifying from years of research. What was the source of his precise wisdom in all these matters??? Is this what comes from "contact with God"? The author proves the value of his own teaching in this and many other ways. I loved the originality and directness of the authors open and intelligent dealings in such a wide range of subjects... CONTENTS: How Seekers first found God....................... The Universality of Yoga...................... The Infinite Nature of God..................... Answered Prayers................................ Making Religion Scientific................... Understanding the Unreality of Matter............. Man's Greatest Adventure...................... Self-Analysis-Key to the Mastery of Life.......... Healing by ! God's Unlimited power.................. Nervousness-Cause and cure........................ The Spirital Rewards of Fasting................... Self-Realization-Criterion of Religion........... The Desire That Satisfies all Desires............. In God is All Happiness................... How to Be More Likeable.................. Developing Personality................. Reincarnation Can Be Scientifically Proven........ The Dream Nature of the World................. The Invisible Man.................. Christ and Krishna- Avatars of one Truth.......... Even Mindedness in a World of Change........... Increasing the Power of Initiative............ The Art of Developing memory................ The Missing Link Between Consciousness & Matter... Man's Eternal Quest................... The Art of Living.................... Who Made God?............... Have I Found God?............... Steps Toward the Universal Christ Consciousness... The purpose of life is to Find God.......... and More........... Also Recomended:The Autobiography of a Yogi(SRF Publishers)........The Divine Romance............Wine of the Mystic (the Rubaiyat)..........Enter the Quiet Heart.......How You Can Talk With God..........Sanctuary of the Soul........(Search on "Yogananda" on Amazons home page for more great books by "Self-Realization Publishers").
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Summary: Is this an Unreal Book because the author says so?
Review: Man's Eternal Quest is a cocktail compendium of Yogananda talks given at his church. The book consists of talks where Yogananda spoke without preparations, often deviated during his speeches on the spot and that followers took down notes that later were edited into the talks and lectures in the book. This is explained by the publishers in a long footnote.
Some find them interesting and inspiring at first. But only at a price of discarding one of his basic teachings, also found in the book: He teaches that the world is unreal. It makes no sense to get inspired by pretense-stuff.
Page references below are to the first edition.
Now, there are certainly many snags involved. The guru author speaks to the mind sets of people in sunny California mostly, and from 1920 to 1952. The accomodated lifestyle the well-known guru advocates may leave little time for coping, and is not ideal in a harsh environment.
So some Yogananda sayings don't fit the world. He blatantly calls it an ILLUSION, a DREAM. "There is no material universe; its warp and woof is . . . illusion." [Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 30] And in the present collection of discourses: "The world is nothing more than a cosmic dream." [p. 237]. "This life is a dream." [p. 240] WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE HIM, his teachings, his followers, his books?
In the book the author also interferes with Holy Church doctrine about God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the soul - in part by improper definitions. Two chapters in the book reveal it very nicely.
Yogananda's teaching is: "Hinduism teaches the soul (atman) is immortal." [p. 297] The gospels teach that both soul and body can be destroyed. [Matthew 10:28, Luke 12:4-6; Matthew 5:29].
His very deviant understanding of the Trinity is covered in particular in two articles around p. 300.
The guru calls Christians by presenting "original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ". But on close inspection it does NOT hold water. A professor of the Catholic Church, Father Mateo, says it too, online. It should be fine to be made aware that the guru's teachings about Christianity are deviant teachings.
As for personal fulfillments, Yogananda calls for having sex very seldom as part of the lifestyle. Much can be forsaken. But is there really a need to be purified by his kriya yoga and a need for his doctrine if the universe is the trick he writes of (in that trick)? I hardly think so.
I find his basic teachings - about the world and all in it - very, very inconsistent - and dangerous accordingly. Does he not imply fully that he himself is unreal, his teachings, and you yourself? If so,no devil with a tail once attacked the guru in a hotel room and made his heart stop (Self-Realization Magazine, Summer 1976, p. 8-9). Further, if the world is unreal, which he sometimes says, there is no real road to God - and it cannot be directed by an unreal person in it either.
He should change his teaching, is the suggestion. It is clear to me that the author has undermined his own best efforts by false teachings of this and that. One cannot debunk the universe with debunking himself and all else in it.
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Summary: Love letters from your best friend: your higher self!
Review: The most eloquent down to earth writing on holiness available to the masses on God's green earth. A must for those who seek love, for this books warm monologue will bring you closer to realizing your own joy that is within. Take time out and read this book! It is good food for your soul!
Rating:
Summary: The road to God directed by a Realised Master.
Review: This book changed the way I look at life, and my way of thinking. It is a must for people on the Spiritual path.
Thank you for this book Yogananda!
Rating:
Summary: The road to God directed by a Realised Master.
Review: This book changed the way I look at life, and my way of thinking. This book is a must for all people on the Spiritual path. Thank you for this book Yogananda!
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