The Essence of Self Realization – Book outline:
The core inspiration of most religions leads to the yearning for a compassionate, spiritual, and selfless life lived in the seeking of the love of the supreme. In this book, Swami Paramhansa Yogananda answers the most frequently asked questions during the many interactions with devotees and skeptics. One of his devotees, Swami Kriyananda shares Swami’s responses.
What’s the core message?
Dissolve the ego that is attached to the material world and seek instead, the merging of energy with that of the cosmos. The essence of self realization is not in the attainment of our full potential as mere physical, mortal beings but rather in the use of our existence as vessels that carry the love and goodness of the divine. All good that we can do, we must, with the recognition that we are the vehicle and are channeling the good of the supreme through us.
How do these concepts compare with points raised in other books?
Swami Paramhansa, speaking with audiences in the West shares the teachings of the Vedas and Yoga highlighting the commonalities in the many faiths from across the world including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. For instance, he shares how each has a special energetic sound like the AUM of the Vedas, Amen of Christianity, and others that invoke spiritual energy and unity with the Cosmos. His answers focus on uniting for a common purpose, which is that of seeking our very best ability to live on earth as a well-mannered guest within our bodies while treating them as the temples of god – keeping them clean, strong, and healthy for the purpose of serving others in the way the positive cosmic energy would expect us to.
What the book does well.
The book does an excellent job of giving short answers accompanied by supporting analogies, stories, or insights. It presents insights for a seeking mind to further understand ourselves. Swami Paramhansa shares his interpretations on Karma, Yoga, and Meditation and other tools and techniques as the art and science of self-realization.
What could have made this book better?
Books about dialog on faith have the impossible task to convince the reader that what they say is believable and that the reader should live in accordance with the teachings of the book. This book rightly does not ask the reader to believe in anything it says. It makes the point that each of us must question and follow our inner compass. This point could have been emphasized more.
Who would benefit from reading this book?
Everyone should read books like this to sharpen their own understanding of their relation to mortal life and the after-life. While the book has a perspective that the author presents, he repeatedly asks the reader to take self-pulse on investigating and embracing what he/she is ready to accept.
How it affected me
Once again, this book was a reminder that the essence of self-realization is not about just our individual optimization of our full potential, but our ability to channel the goodness of the eternal spiritual cosmic energy that can flow through us when we can remove our earthly egos from the path of the flow of positivity. This effort is worthy of every thinking person gifted with intelligence. The challenge we must resolve is the trading off of necessary obligations of the materialistic world that runs by its rules and seems to contradict the wisdom of channeling the spirituality espoused by the yogis of a selfless, co