Product Description

Vivekananda once said, "I have a message to the West, as Buddha had a message to the East." And the message was Vedanta. Vedanta: Voice of Freedom is culled from Vivekananda's collected works. This book presents in a clear and concise form the spiritual wisdom of India as it has evolved over five thousand years. Thus it evokes the living Vedanta put forth by an extraordinary mind.

Edited & with an Introduction by Swami Chetanananda of the Ramakrishna Order of India

Foreword by Christopher Isherwood

Preface by Huston Smith

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1874575 in Books
• Published on: 1990-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 328 pages

Review
Judiciously compiled from the works of the most articulate expounder of Vedanta, Vivekananda.
-- Kurt F. Leidecker, Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia

Swami Chetanananda has selected 104 powerful essays from Swami Vivekananda. No Vivekananda reader to date has done better.
-- Religious Studies Review, April 1988

The present volume. . . should be enough to whet the intellectual, spiritual, and moral appetite of every thinking individual.
-- Indian and Foreign Review, May 15, 1987

About the Author
About the Author

Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) was the foremost disciple of India's great holy man, Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886). In fact, Vivekananda brought Sri Ramakrishna's message -- the message of Vedanta -- to the West beginning with the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Those who knew Vivekananda say he walked with the glory, the power and the radiance of another world, and through that unearthly light he brought to life the world of the spirit for many people. Vivekananda taught with fire and authority, but most of all, he taught with the wisdom that comes from experiencing a higher reality, a reality beyond the physical and material life we lead.

About the Editor

Swami Chetanananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order of India, an author, and a spiritual teacher with students all over the world. He is the minister-in-charge of the Vedanta Society of St. Louis. He has written and translated more than two dozen books about the spiritual life, and he has collaborated in his writing with Huston Smith and Christopher Isherwood. Swami Chetananada has been teaching and writing about Vedanta in the United States for more than three of his four-plus decades as a monk. He came to the United States from Ramakrishna Order monasteries of the Himalayas and Calcutta. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Customer Reviews

The book to be read and to be forgotten.....................
This book is a compliation of lectures delivered by the great swami on the subject of vedanta.( I don't want to give any explanation onvedanta at the moment since I feel that that won't help you in anyway)But I believe that once the book is read, the reader willdefinitely find the truest meaning of the term " vedanta" by himself/herself through the instrumentality of Swamiji. Reading of chapters will not do. Alongwith,the reader should digest, atleast try to digest, the inner meaning of those lectures,to ponder over the same and to seek guide from those who mastered theart of living . Vedanta is not meant for one particular community or sect.as is widely believed. It's for everyone. The meaning of vedanta is " the end of knowledge". For those who feel " the frustration of anxiety "in life and those who feel " dullness from abundant availability" , this book is the penacca. It's justlike listening to the voice of Swamiji. If you dive deep into the teachings,not only you feel the warmth of Swamiji; you feel yourself too. I don't mind begging you to read this book. Advance congratulations...

A good overview of Vedanta
Vedanta is another name of Hinduism. The basic teaching of Vedanta is that man is inherently Divine and Free. It is a delusion that makes man feel impure, bound and limited. Thus the voice of Vedanta is a clarion call to manifestation of the Divinity and Freedom to which we truly are heirs. Swami Vivekananda was the first Indian in modern times to effetively spread this message in the West. This book contains a brilliant compilation from Swami Vivekananda's lectures, writings and letters. The book is compiled by Swami Chetanananda, a senior monk of the Sri Ramakrishna Order, which was founded by Swami Vivekananda. The book is well organized. The language is very clear and forceful. The book is a very good introduction to anyone who is interested in Indian Philosophy and Religion, especially Hinduism, ie. Vedanta. Readers who are already in touch with Hinduism will get their ideas much more clearer and well organized by reading this book.

Final Relief
If you want true relief from numberless false hopes, unsatisfied desires of sensual pleasures, incomplete joys of everyday life, thankless tasks in corporate environment, unrewarded loves in personal life and unrecognized human emotions everywhere in your life, find a place here, in Vendanta, which is for ALL regardless of religion. You will find a personal guide, complete freedom of soul and eternal bliss if you can digest this book.