vivekananda ramakrishna conversations bhagavad-gita

books:

2 reviews
Christopher Isherwood

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1988

Giving life & self a chance
"The World in the Evening" is the story of Stephen Monk in the years before and during World War II. After his second marriage implodes, he retreats to his former home, a Quaker town in Pennsylvania, where he is forced to reflect on the whole of his life: his first marriage, his affairs, his inability to emote truthfully. Years ago, Stephen & his first wife travelled to the Canary Islands, where ...

Mr Norris Changes Trains

1 review
Christopher Isherwood

Vintage, 2005

Alan Cumming has SUCH passion for Isherwood!
I have a bunch of audio books narrated by Alan Cumming, and I have to say that Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye To Berlin are the two best I ever heard. Maybe it's because that Alan was the Emcee in the musical Cabaret, for which these two books lent inspiration to. But for whatever reason, Alan brings you into the magical world of divine decadence in pre-war Berlin with Arthur Norris, the ...

The Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God (Mentor)

6 reviews
Anonymous

Signet, 1954

aptly named, "the song of God."
Perhaps the greatest piece of truly inspired spiritual literature ever written. Considered by many to be the epitome of the vast collection of writings that is Vedanta. Its the story of Lord Krishna's holy teachings and advice to a warrior whose heart is in great distress on the eve of battle. And aren't we all warriors on the eve of the battle of daily life? Lord Krishna explains the various ...

Conversations With Christopher Isherwood (Literary Conversations Series)

1 review
Christopher Isherwood

University Press of Mississippi, 2001

The Best There Is!
Better than the literary crit stuff that has been published on Isherwood, and miles ahead of the various attempts at biography, these 'Conversations' give a portrait of the whole man. It really is the best there is on the life of Christopher Isherwood

Meditation and Its Methods According to Swami Vivekananda

1 review
Swami Vivekananda, Christopher Isherwood

Vedanta Press, 1976

Excellent book
Each chapter in this book is inspirational; it contains the vitality and magic of Swami Vivekananda. You will certainly feel the force of his words in every sentence, and reading this in seriousness will undoubtedly give a new direction to your life.

Isherwood on Writing: The Lectures in California

2 reviews
Christopher Isherwood

Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2007

Isherwood on Writing is a moving and memorable book that provides a wonderful resource for writers and readers
Christopher Isherwood is considered a major Anglo-American novelist. He was a pioneer in the gay liberation movement and the founding father of modern gay writing. In the late 1950s and early 1960s Isherwood presented a series of lectures at various California universities on the theme "A Writer and His World." In this series of lectures Isherwood for the first time commented openly about his ...

Ramakrishna

6 reviews
Christopher Isherwood

Simon & Schuster, 1965

Meeting a Master's Mandala
Ramakrishna is an interesting case-an Avatar of God born and living in an age of imperial rationalism, a master famous for teaching Advaita and for his worship of a personal God, and a man often fearful of women while remaining intensely devoted to the black Mother goddess, Kali. Even his closest disciples found him a mystery, and could not always bring themselves to agree with him (c.f. ...

I Am a Camera

3 reviews
John Van Druten, Christopher Isherwood

Dramatists Play Service Inc, 1998

Stunning
I'm a sucker for plays, and this play is no exception. I was fascinated by the title and read it without having any idea as to what the content was. It is wonderfully written and stark for the time it was written. It tells the story of Christopher Isherwood and the time he spends in Germany during the Second World War. You confront frank subjects and controversial topics in this book, and ...

Intimate Journals

2 reviews
Charles Baudelaire

Hyperion Books, 1993

"Man is an animal which adores"
Living from 1821 to 1867, primarily in Paris. Charles Baudelaire was his centuries poet of discontent. Religious, blasphemous, elitist and anti-snob, all at once, he seemed from the start to be a life driven to self-destruction. Absinthe, opium, and a mistress were his only relief. And in the end, the were what killed him. The epitome of the tortured soul. Most of us know of him now only by ...

My Guru and His Disciple

4 reviews
Christopher Isherwood

University of Minnesota Press, 2001

Highly Recommended
This book is a superb honest portrait of Isherwood's Guru, Swami Prabhavananda and the former's major character flaws. Basically, the author admits to his Guru that he is a homosexual and therefore not fit to be in the spiritual path. However, the Swami beautifully reassures Isherwood that this is NOT a flaw as Christopher is very sincere about his spiritual practices and his relationship with ...

A Single Man

16 reviews
Christopher Isherwood

Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1996

Read this book!
This short novel follows one day in the life of George, a 58-year-old English professor at San Tomas State College in Los Angeles, CA. From the moment he wakes up and shuffles to the bathroom, we are immediately thrust into his perception of life both as a gay man in the 1960s, and without his partner Jim who died in a car accident. His views are based upon both of these events, sometimes ...

The Berlin Stories

25 reviews
Christopher Isherwood

Dove Entertainment Inc, 1990

"Even now I can't altogether believe that any of this has really happened."
Christopher Isherwood's "Berlin Stories" is perhaps most famous for having inspired the stage and screen masterpiece Cabaret, but those who are looking for an exact match between the two will be disappointed. The divine Sally Bowles does make an appearance (her charisma and verve are the book's high point), but only briefly, and her story only contains only seeds of what would become Cabaret's ...

Christopher & His Kind: A Biography

5 reviews
Christopher Isherwood

North Point Press, 1987

Isherwood discovers Berlin and boys
Christopher Isherwood makes it clear in his introduction that this book will be candid about his homosexuality. It begins with his move to Berlin and covers the time up to his move to America. There are fascinating anecdotes: the character of Sally Bowles (later made famous by "Cabaret") was named after the then unknown but handsome American Paul Bowles. Isherwood read E.M. Forster's "Maurice" ...

Vedanta for the Western World

1 review
Christopher Isherwood

Vedanta Pr, 1985

Understanding religion in spite of years of Sunday School
For thirty years I have read and inquired about the major religious traditions in the world, studying them like the historical linguist I was, trying to find the common threads that would reveal to me the basic truths of the universe. I read history by Trevor Ling, theory by Bhagavan Das, practice by Tarthang Tulku and Lama Govinda, commentaries and scriptures in translation. This collection ...

Wishing Tree Christopher Isherwood On My

1 review
Christopher Isherwood

Harpercollins Publisher, 2002

Excellent Reading on Spiritual Living
I knew Chris for many years. He had a wonderful irreverence for rules and organized religion, but was a deeply spiritual man. By the end of his life, you could feel a warmth of heart that came from his spirit. Chris's approach to Vedanta is a delight for people who are interested in the true essence of religion. I also appreciate his sense of humor that comes into the writing, as when he ...

Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination

7 reviews
Swami Prabhavananda, Christopher Isherwood

Vedanta Press, 1970

Best Definition/Description of God
We are currently witnessing a spate of atheistic and agnostic, generally scientistic, denials of the existence of God (Often perceived as appropriate responses to the ongoing onslaught of machinations of the fundamentalist media). Alongside these inceasingly popular books, we have a lengthening list of works which approach religion and the objects of its concern from a phenomenological ...

Prater Violet

5 reviews
Christopher Isherwood

University of Minnesota Press, 2001

a little novella about nostalgia, film, and Hitler
I reread this lovely novel earlier this year. In a way, it's better than Berlin Stories because of its conciseness and the humor is more sophisticated. What had been funny looms like familiar smells over everything when history steps in. I laughed so much and felt so much as I read and that is the reason why we must keep reading Isherwood and slowing down time so that we can perceive when one ...

Where Joy Resides

1 review
Christopher Isherwood

Methuen Publishing Ltd, 1991

You Do Know Who Isherwood Is?
Christopher Isherwood's name and the breadth of his work is completely overshadowed by a musical adaptation of just one of his short stories. One of the best writers of memoir, reportage and fiction of the twentieth century, his work will one day appear on required reading syllabi alongside Hemingway, Faulkner and Fitzgerald. In the meantime, please read and share this book. The ...

Down There on a Visit

3 reviews
Christopher Isherwood

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1987

One of Isherwood's Best
After A Single Man, this is my favorite Isherwood book. The four stories interconnect in several fascinating ways. They say a lot about the passage of time, about European history and Isherwood's personal history. They also say plenty about various forms of detachment. In fact, "Variations on Detachment" could be the book's sub-title. Isherwood has a way of gently underscoring the ...

How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Pantanjali

20 reviews
Swami Prabhavananda

Mentor New American Library, 1969

A Gem of a Book
The Yoga Sutras (thread of aphorisms) of Patanjali are one of the six darshanas of the Hindu or Vedic schools. "How to Know God" is a beautiful translation of those. The book is relatively short (pocket sized with just over 200 pages) and very readable. It offers one of the clearest explanations of the practice of yoga and meditation that I have read. It is surprisingly practical. I value it ...

search for books
bhagavad-gita, conversations, discrimination, ramakrishna, vivekananda

Impressum / about us