Spirituality - Transformation Within and Without

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

From the back of the Book

Today, we have access to every conceivable kind of knowledge about the world around us, yet few of us have even the dimmest knowledge of our innermost selves. Swami Rama-one of the most influential yogis to visit the Western world in the twentieth century-was raised in the cave monasteries of the Himalayas, where the central tent of education was to first know one's own inner being. Leaving the idyllic world of the meditation masters behind, Swami Rama was shocked by the ignorance and corruption he found every-where around him.

In spirituality: Transformation Within and Without, Swami Rama calls on us all return to fundamental values of mankind, especially as they are articulated by the sages who founded the world's great religions. He asks us to integrate these values with the insight of science to create a more enlightened society, and to find our own inner truth.

"Nothing is more mysterious than life itself, and there is no peace without penetrating that mystery. The mystery lies deep in the stream of life. There is an eternal knowledge, not in the outer world, but in the center of Consciousness."
-Swami Rama

About the Author

Born in 1925 in northern India, Swami Rama was raised from early childhood by a great yogi and saint of Bengal who lived in the Himalayas. In his youth he practiced the various disciplines of yoga science and philosophy in the traditional monasteries of the Himalayas and studied closely with many spiritual adepts, including Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, and Rabindranath Tagore. He also traveled to Tibet to study with his grandmaster.

He received his higher education at Bangalore, Prayaga, Varanasi, and Oxford University, England. At the age of twenty-four he became Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham in south India, the highest spiritual position in India. During this term he had a tremendous impact on the spiritual customs of that time: he dispensed with useless formalities and rituals, made it possible for all segments of society to worship in the temple, and encouraged the instruction of women in meditation. He renounced the dignity and prestige of his high office in 1952 to return to the Himalayas to intensify his meditation practices.

After completing an intense meditative practice in the cave monasteries, he emerged with the determination to serve humanity, particularly to bring the teachings of the East to West. With the encouragement of his master, Swami Rama began his task by studying Western philosophy and psychology, and teaching Eastern philosophy at Western universities. He worked as a medical consultant in London and assisted in Para psychological research in Moscow. He then returned to India, where he established an ashram in Rishikesh. He completed his degree in homeopathy at the medical collage in Darbhanga in 1960. He came to the United States in 1969, bringing his knowledge and wisdom to the West. His teachings combine Eastern spirituality with modern Western therapies.

Swami Rama was a freethinker, guided by his direct experience and inner wisdom, and he encouraged his student to be guided in the same way. He often told them, "I am a messenger, delivering the wisdom of the Himalayan sages of my tradition. My job is to introduce you to the teacher within."

Swami Rama came to America upon the invitation of Dr. Elmer Green of the Menninger Foundation of Topeka, Kansas, as a consultant in a research project investigating the voluntary control of involuntary sates. He participated in experiments that helped to revolutionize scientific thinking about the relationship between body and mind, amazing scientists by his demonstrating, under laboratory conditions, precise conscious control of autonomic physical responses and mental functioning, feats previously thought to be impossible.

Swami Rama founded the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust in India, and many centers though out the world. He is the author of numerous books on health, meditation, and the yogic scriptures. Swami Rama left his body in November 1996.