"My Readings List" with links to online resources

My Readings List

As this book is short of bibliography or any citations, I am giving the sources from where I have drawn inspiration, over years, besides my own experiences. This list is neither exhaustive nor prescriptive. I am listing them with a brief note, in terms of how the source relates to this theory and how I applied, and also, provided online sources if any, for the reader’s benefit. Several books in this list I have read many times and some through different formats (e.g., audiobook, lecture) for “slow cooking” the ideas for better assimilation (* - indicates that I am still working on them).

By Paramhansa Yogananda (PY) and related to him - Entirely consistent with TCE

http://www.yogananda-srf.org/completeworks/Books_and_Recordings.aspx (all his works)

1.       “God Talks to Arjuna: Bhagavad Gita” * – One of his magnum opus dual, written towards the end of his life on earth. Besides compendium of all of his teachings, it also contains deep and fascinating symbolism of characters in the famous epic Mahabharata, which engrossed me since my exposure to spirituality. TCE concepts are entirely consistent with this comprehensive book, even in verbatim, and other works of him.

2.       “The Second Coming of Christ” * – The other of his magnum opus dual. An unprecedented and intuitive commentary on Bible with mind-blowing revelations. You will get the same message by reading either of the dual, depending on the reader’s background, which has liberal reference to Gita and vice-versa and covers the entire galaxy of the ideas he taught.[1]

3.       “Autobiography of a Yogi” (book, audible) – Most popular, widely-read spiritual classic. It churned many of my prior notions inside out yet it gripped me with an octopus-grip, despite my initial reluctance in accepting his ideology, as this book is peppered with Christ and Bible references[2].  Read this book free online: https://www.ananda.org/autobiography/

4.       “Whispers from Eternity” * - This is a very profound universal prayer and “demands” book, released first in 1929, with a stunning introduction of Cosmic Motion Picture. He mentioned in one of his poem: “Read my Whispers – eternally through it I will talk to you”. Consists of invocation to prophets to all great religions (Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, and Adi Sankara). Read a free photocopy version: https://archive.org/details/whispersfrometernityyogananda/mode/1up?view=theater

5.       “Man’s Eternal Quest”, “Divine Romance”, “Path to Self-Realization” *– Three volumes of his collected essays and speeches cover width and breadth of entire human civilization, through his characteristic, captive way on how to apply them in daily living.

6.       Collected Speeches – Audio (CD) - About ten or so of his speeches are in audio CD format (see the SRF link above). My all-time favorite is “Be a Smile Millionaire”. He weaves stories, humor, and deep wisdom that is pragmatic in an artistic manner.

7.       “The Science of Religion” – His very first book release around his arrival to the USA in 1920. Contains many of the key messages with the central theme of Bliss, in this short book. The style and form of language are not his typical as it is written jointly by his associate.

8.       Scientific Healing Affirmations & Metaphysical Meditations – Both are pocket-sized books with a collection of deep and short prayers and visualization techniques.

9.        “Holy Science” by his guru Swami Yukteswar Giri – written in English directly with Sanskrit aphorisms, in late 19th century, is a ground-breaking book that shows both Christianity and Hinduism have a common spiritual foundation and it covers the subject-matter in a comprehensive, consistent, and concise language while exploring the depths. Also, it includes a profound recalibration of ancient Yuga system, a diagram of Creation principles and the scientific approach.

10.    “Imitation of Christ” * by Thomas à Kempis – a 15^th century Christian classic with deeply devotional text, recommended by him (PY) for developing devotion. Read online for free: http://www.leaderu.com/cyber/books/imitation/imitation.html

11.   “Saints that Moved the World: St. Anthony, St. Augustine, St. Francis, St. Ignatius, and St. Theresa.”* by Rene Fulop-Miller – author was highly praised by him (PY) and he used to relate these saints stories in his speeches and consider St. Francis of Assisi, as his guardian angel, and the saint’s life, his divine persuasion of the not-so-spiritual pope and more in the book are so moving.

12.   “Conversations with Yogananda” by his disciple Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) - a book of about 400 several conversations of different length. This book brought our common guru as very personal to me. A slow paced read with anecdotes and other impromptu stories by the author himself with his beautiful Ananda Bhajan songs at the end (see below #24), through a short 20 mins video series: “A Way to Awakening Video Series - Swami Kriyananda - Available on YouTube (click this link)

13.   “God Alone”* by his advanced disciple, Sister Gyanamata (Edith Bissett) – it is a collection of her letters with her short biography. She is praised by her guru as exemplary and as a liberated saint. Her letters reveal the perfect attitudes that a disciple must keep towards his/her True Teacher. See here for PY’s tribute: https://yoganandasite.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/yoganandas-tribute-to-sister-gyanamata-srf-magazine-1952/

14.   Energization Exercises – A set of physical exercises, muscle control exercising using will, and breathing exercises together, discovered by him (PY). Especially, those who are constrained by space & time or cannot perform Yoga postures may find it more attractive. See here for demo: https://youtu.be/qIkZzwBZbiA (by Steve, an affectionate soul, whom I met in Delhi)

15.   Cosmic Chants & SRF Bhajans or group singing with mild music (book & audio) – Many deeply meaningful chants and bhajans, many translated from Sanskrit, Hindi, and Bengali and few directly composed by him (PY) in English. Most of them written in a very lyrical, repeatable style with melodious tunes, with the mix of Indian Classical Music (ragas). Very suitable for stress relief and/or to create ambiance for Meditation.

16.   “Awake: The Life of Yogananda” (Movie/DVD) – A wonderful introduction, capturing, “self-described” through his autobiography, with several celebrities, spiritual people, doctors, and scientists relating how his teachings were put to use.

Other Books I have read that were written by his disciple Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters): 
https://www.crystalclarity.com/topics/swami-kriyananda/books.php?pagenum=-1 (his available works)

17.   “Education for Life” – Understanding relationships – a comprehensive book on holistic education. Also, it includes how different temperaments unfold as we grow up in our early periods. The basis for Ananda Community’s alternative education system. More at: http://edforlife.org/

18.   “God is for Everyone” – Rewritten version of #6 but much expanded. Includes a very good compilation of world major religions and their attitudes.

19.   “Art of Supportive Leadership” – A concise book on leadership, written primarily keeping the secular audience in the corporate world, but based on the key principle: “Where there is righteousness (Dharma), there is success”.

20.   “Visits to Saints of India” – A good memoir of his visits to Anandamayi Maa, Yogi Ramiah who is an enlightened disciple of Ramana Maharishi, Sathya Sai Baba, Swami Chidananda, and few others. Through this book, I happened to visit Yogi Ramiah’s samadhi at Nellore and met with his “youthful” octogenarian disciple, Yogi Protoplasm, who was the interpreter during Swami Kriyananda’s visit. See Yogi’s video, about himself: https://youtu.be/UAjNE0i3wVs

21.   “The New Path” – His autobiography… a good portion of it covers his time spent with his guru.  Although it is not long (only 3+ years), his interactions were quite a few and cover a wide range.

22.   “The Essence of Self-Realization” (audible) – A summary of Paramhansa Yogananda’s teachings arranged by different topics conceptually. Some of these are found in Conversations (#12) book.

23.    “The Essence of Bhagavad Gita” and “The Revelations of Christ” – concise rewritten versions of Paramhansa Yogananda’s magnum opus dual (see #1 & #2) that consist of major concepts discussed in these dual in his (Swami’s) words.

24.   Ananda Bhajans or group singing with mild music (audio & some video) – Many beautiful songs and bhajans. 400+ own compositions plus his guru’s. Most of them written in very lyrical, simple English with melodious tunes, with the mix of Indian Classical Music (ragas). Very suitable for stress relief and/or to create ambiance for Meditation.

25.   “How to Meditate” by Jyotish Novak, Ananda’s successor to Swami Kriyananda – A simple, easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions on Meditation and Visualization.

By Others – Mostly Consistent with TCE but some external differences

26.   Holy Kural by Tiruvalluvar with Parimelazhagar commentary and several others - Known as “Tirukkural”, written over 2000 years ago, in my native Tamil language. It consists of 1330 couplets covering a wide range of topics: human pursuits, behavior, psychology, family, society, leadership, learning, friendship, administration, romance, etc. and does not cover the mystical aspects of spirituality. See Footnote 2 also. Although the language is different, this text is entirely consistent with TCE concepts. See here: http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/utf8/pmuni0017.html for a poetic & authentic English version and see http://kromphd.blogspot.com/ for my commentary on some of the couplets.

27.   Hindu Dharma by Kanchi Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati – “Deivathin Kural” in Tamil, consists of 7+ parts, each part runs close to 1000 pages, a compilation of his extemporaneous talks, covered a gamut of topics, given over his long innings of 100 years. Being a pontiff of the unbroken tradition of Adi Sankara (See Footnote 107), he was a strict Vedic traditionalist but highly regarded for his spirituality. His lucid commentaries on Vedic scriptures, Non-dualistic Advaita and the spiritual practices, several devotional compositions of Sri Sankara and several others are quite profound. His words had a deep impact on me in accepting my guru: "I met Paramahansa Yogananda in Calcutta in 1935. I have been following the accounts of his activities in America ever since. As a bright light shining in the midst of darkness, so was Yogananda's presence in this world. Such a great soul comes on earth only rarely, when there is a real need among men." See here for abridged English version: http://www.kamakoti.org/newlayout/template/hindudharma.html

28.   “All About Hinduism” by Swami Sivananda – Founder of Divine Life Society. A great yogi-saint. He has written so much 100+ books on Hinduism. This book covers a full range of Hinduism topics, including a brilliant summary of 6 systems of philosophies (3 of which mentioned in Footnote 1). Read this online: http://www.dlshq.org/download/hinduismbk.htm

29.   “The Mother” by Sri Aurobindo – A stalwart yogi-saint and written extensively on Yoga. This pocket size book describes how the aspirant’s attitude ought to be. My spiritual mentor, Pathanjali Krishnasamy (See How to get in touch?), is his devotee. Through him and my occasional readings of his works, I know, his many voluminous works are consistent with TCE, with terminology differences. See here for the chronological compilation of his works: http://intyoga.online.fr/text_idx.htm.

30.   “Life of Ramakrishna” & “Saying of Sri Ramakrishna” – A renowned saint of India, instrumental in reviving spirituality in India in the 20^th century, through his world-famous disciple, Swami Vivekananda, and several other illustrious disciples, his and his associates legacy have been spread throughout the globe. Their works are found at http://www.belurmath.org/

31.   “Who am I” by Ramana Maharishi – A master spiritual teacher of self-inquiry method. Attracted many students from the West (see #49). This great Q&A book is a great summary of his teachings. See his works: http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/resource_centre/publications/

32.   “Dialogues with The Guru” - Sringeri Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati – a spiritually highly regarded pontiff of the unbroken lineage of the famous monastery founded by Adi Sankara. He is known for his expertise in logic, etymological and debate studies. In this Q&A book, he covers few topics with deep insight – Fate vs. Freewill & Utility of God are great. Read online here (click the link).  

33.   Freedom from the known by J.Krishnamurthi – This small book consists core of his teachings. He was identified and brought up in West as successor by Anne Besant of Theosophical Society, but later he relinquished being the organization’s head per his teachings (See Footnote 60). Lived mostly in West and a world teacher on spirituality and has given lectures worldwide extensively. See his works at: http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/index.php

34.   Silence Speaks by Baba Hari Das – A yogi-saint, moved to USA in 1970s and formed a spiritual community. This book is a collection of his teachings, in the form of Q&A, arranged topic-wise, from the answers he wrote on chalkboard, as he maintained silence vow since 1950s. I was fortunate to have his personal counsel (See Acknowledgements), and he was in his 80s when I knew him and was so vibrant. Well-disciplined, so humble, a great teacher who wrote commentaries on Yoga Sutras of Sage Patanjali. He considers 80+ inmates of his orphanage, in India, as his own children. We happened to witness it ourselves, during our visit. His works are available at:  https://www.mountmadonna.org/

35.   Apprenticeship to a Himalayan Master by Sri M. – Sri M. was born as Mumtaz Ali Khan, in a muslim family in South India, but reached heights of Yogic mysticism. In this out-of-the-world book, he explained his life journey. Since he dealt mostly incomprehensible in this book, only a very little from this book is included in TCE. However, his philosophy is consistent with TCE (See this vibrant master’s website: http://satsang-foundation.org/resources/). The reason I included here is that he mentioned about his association with several Sufi Islamic saints and Quran phrases in this book. I hope, he may shed more light on relating Quran’s concepts to the universal spiritual concepts.

36.   Isavasya Upanishad, Mundaka Upanishad commentaries by Swami Guruparananda (audio lecture in Tamil) – These are part of Vedanta teachings, elaborated with Adi Sankara’s commentary. Hear here for free: https://www.poornalayam.org/classes-recorded/upanishads/. These lectures were done following the tradition of Swami Dayananda (See http://avgsatsang.org/ ) & his mentor Swami Chinmayananda (http://www.chinmayapublications.com/vedanta-texts), both of whom through their untiring service made the Vedanta teachings accessible worldwide.

37.   Mahabharata of Sage Vyasa – abridged versions by Rajaji, Cho, B.R.Chopra TV series – Rajaji’s Tamil version was my first read on spirituality. It fascinated me so much about the story’s characters, its complexity, historical connection, Lord Krishna’s role, embedded spiritual treasure: Bhagavad Gita, and later when I read the symbolism mentioned in Paramhansa Yogananda’s magnum opus (#1), it opened up a new dimension to the story as a detailed human psychology[3].

38.   Secret of Health (“Arogya Rahasyam” in Tamil) by V.N.Kumarasamy – A well-written, easy to follow do-it-yourself book on Yoga-Asana (postures), in Tamil, released as a magazine series in 1950s. I learnt this sequence of about 12 postures and takes about 30 minutes to do them. Check out my YouTube channel Phd Siva for a demonstration.

The following short philosophical works of saints

Of different “religious” traditions of Hinduism (See Foot note 107). I used these to cross-check with TCE concepts and they are suitable for personal devotion & meditation.

39.   Kandar Anubhoothi by Saint Arunagirinathar, in Tamil – a philosophical poem describes the spiritual stages mentioned in Human Evolution picture (See Figure 9).

40.   Siva Puranam by Saint Manikkavasagar, in Tamil - a philosophical and devotional poem.

41.   Vinayakar Agaval by Saint Avvaiyar, in Tamil – a philosophical poem

42.   Lalita Sahasranamam – Traditional – A litany of 1000 Divine names of various glorious powers. 

43.   Abirami Andhadi by Abirami Bhattar, in Tamil – a beautiful, devotional & philosophical poem.

44.   Subramanya Bhujangam by Adi Sankara, in Sanskrit – a devotional & philosophical poem.

45.   Shatpadi Stotram by Adi Sankara, in Sanskrit – a devotional & philosophical poem.

46.   Ganesha Pancharatnam by Adi Sankara, in Sanskrit – a devotional & philosophical poem.

47.   Soundarya Lahari * by Adi Sankara, in Sanskrit – a devotional & philosophical poem.

48.   Upadesa Unmai by Saint Ramalinga Vallalar, in Tamil -  a devotional & philosophical poem of aspirant’s plea.

The following are others works that is covered partly by or related in TCE

49.   A Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton – a pragmatic, not-so-easy-to-believe British journalist’s journey through British India for the search for Truth. This book describes his eclectic experiences of meeting several holy men, some of them are quacks as well, finally finding his True Teacher: Ramana Maharishi. Also, narrates his thrilling encounter with a snake that was disarmed by Yogi Ramiah (mentioned in #20). His ideology is consistent with TCE.

50.   My Experiments with Truth, an autobiography by Mahatma Gandhi – a very candid, introspective, down-to-earth narration on how he, the great soul of India, was made up from his childhood. His deep spiritual faith is quite consistent with TCE, although his major contribution was in political.  Read online: http://www.mkgandhi.org/autobio/autobio.htm

51.   Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher – Oxford-trained economist, this book was released in 1973. Influenced by Gandhi’s rural development ideologies and offered a small-scale owner-worker model. In this essay-compilation type book, Buddhist Economics and Education stand out. A brilliant brief snapshot of how modern society’s psyche was influenced by Freud, Darwin, Newton, etc. is noteworthy and also, his definitions of convergent and divergent problems. The “bigness evils” of what he foresaw back then, unfortunately, have become worsened more by massive mechanization. See this link about his sadly forgotten economic ideas.

52.   Tao of Physics – Fritjof Capra – a Quantum physicist who drew parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern spirituality. Lucid explanations on Newtonian physics limitations and on Modern physics concepts, written for non-scientist types, are worth reading. 

53.   Molecular Biology of the Cell* – Bruce Alberts, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, and Peter Walter. This book is considered a bible for genetic studies & research. I was more impressed by the clarity in conveying complex subject to the non-biology student like myself and beautiful illustrations. Although I don’t agree with their philosophy of confining only to the physical plane, their altruistic attitude of making this book available for free is commendable. Here is a searchable version (liberal results on common words in headings can be found): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21054/

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[1] Although Paramhansa Yogananda wrote an intuitive commentary on Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a Sufi Islamic saint of 11^th century, and wrote invocation of Prophet Mohammed in #4, he did not write commentaries on Quran or covered Islam as extensively as Christ & Christ’s teachings, perhaps due to his life was spent in the US & the West. He is considered as “Father of Yoga in the West” and many celebrities all over the world (Steve Jobs, George Harrison, Ravi Sankar, Virat Kohli, Rajinikanth and…) endorsed his Autobiography as remarkable.

[2] Growing up as Hindu in India, excesses of unethical proselytization by church-funded Christians and violent Moghuls destructions and forced conversions to Islam have always remained a sore point. As I got to learn more of Paramhansa Yogananda’s teachings, I understood his approach of, what I call, “religious integration”, instead of “religious conversion”, using One spiritual canopy to cover all religions under its shade. This is the only bloodshed-less way for humanity to have respect for each other’s religion and differences which are at best extraneous. A similar method was used by the celebrated scholar-saint of India, Adi Sankara, a millennium or more ago, who combined different prevailing six “religions” of different forms of God and symbolisms under one Vedic framework. Hinduism’s continued existence to this day owes to him a great deal. 

[3] Symbolism in Mahabharat characters (revealed by Sri Lahiri Mahasaya, a disciple of Himalayan Master, Mahavatar Babaji – more about them in #3): Bhishma (ego), Dhritarashtra (sensory power – manas), Pandu (intellect – buddhi), 4 main antagonists: Duryodhana (material desire), Karna (attachment), Dushasana (anger), Sakuni (delusion), 5 protagonists: Yudhishtira (calmness), Bhima (love & pranayama), Arjuna (self-control), Nakula (adherence to Truth), Sahadeva (relinquishing untrue). Other important characters: Draupadi (life-force), Drona (habit), Drushtadyumna (intuition), Sanjaya (introspection), Salya (pride), and many more. The fascinating part in the elaborate Yogananda’s magnum opus is how each tendency conflict with the corresponding opposite tendency or be friendlier. All of them are woven so well into the larger Mahabharat story of mega-genius Sage Vyasa (mentioned in Foot note# 50, on Vedanta) that one can relate every important event, dialog, or conflict in the story can be related to mental tendencies within oneself, as a detailed psychology guide to study one’s own mind.