Not since Autobiography of a Yogi, has there been such an intimate expression of one's path of suffering, yearning and devotion. Principles of Higher Living is a vivid expression of one soul's journey on the path to enlightenment. Throughout the book, Swamiji interweaves personal accounts of his own expedition, with priceless wisdom, talks and discussions with his disciples. This book offers a bird's eye view of a Master in a continual state of evolution. It is a must read for anyone who is sincere on the path.
Prior to reading Priniciples of Higher Living, I thought that enlightenment was reserved for monks, priests, and ascetics; generally, individuals that left the material world in search for the spiritual. Enlightenment seemed a far away concept not fit for a western lifestyle, or, not agreeable with a western lifestyle. Enlightenment seemed to be this high ideal I felt I could not reach unless I ran away into the mountains or to a monastery or ashram. In Principles of Higher Living, Swami Sai Premananda sheds the reader of all these false concepts and guides them toward the insight that enlightenment, realization, liberation, satori; is possible for anyone anywhere - as long as they do the work. And in terms of the work, Swami Sai Premananda gracefully outlines what the individual needs to do to reach this state of being in a simple and intelligent manner. Swami Sai Premananda details the soul's journey to enlightenment with direct experiences he himself had as a western individual on the path to liberation. Swami Sai Premananda's Principles of Higher Living is without a doubt a roadmap to realization for our world and time.
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Source: Principles of Higher Living: The Western Experience Upon the Shores of Eastern Wisdom
Contributed by: Gaia Team.
Some people say, “Oh no, if I take up a spiritual life I can’t live in the world.” What foolishness is this? Look right here. You can talk, you can move, you can function, yet this level of peace is there within you, deeply. It’s like an undercurrent of your being that will always be there. I am free to laugh and joke and dance and yell and argue and do anything I want. That undercurrent is always there. Nothing takes it away. Nothing in the world can take it away. This is the state. So the same way you can laugh and talk and listen to me but still hold on to this feeling, the same way you can be in the world.
Source: Principles of Higher Living: The Western Experience Upon the Shores of Eastern Wisdom
Contributed by: Gaia Team.
When you’re with stillness, you merge on some level with everything around you. You can’t pin-point where it’s coming from. From inside? From outside? Where? It just is. It is just this moment of peace and stillness. This is what you should be experiencing in your meditation. When you become very good at it, you will have the stillness with you all the time. It doesn’t leave. It never leaves. It is constantly with you—a sense of being. A sense of completion. And a sense of silence. A level of peace is with you at all times.
The aim of Principles of Higher Living is transformation. The context is Bhakti, devotion. This is a book about opening our hearts and calling to God from deep within, the very first step of the journey inward. This yearning then becomes the impetus for evolution as we sacrifice more and more of our ego selves to please God, our Beloved. Swami Sai Premananda, a Master in this art of God-love, reminds us of how we can call to God most pleasingly—with humility, simplicity, and naturalness—through his own life stories (from his Western upbringing to his time with Masters in the East), modernized examples, and jovial intimacy.
Swamiji shows us how to please God by practicing the universal principles of love, truth, non-violence, and peace. Creation, our very being, is founded on these principles; accepting them is accepting our very selves, and rejecting them is denying our selves and the evolutionary impulse. The process of evolution itself is unavoidable, moment by moment and day by day, but by accepting these principles, we gain the power of conscious evolution–the power shifts from unconscious evolution through suffering and confusion to conscious evolution through an awakening of the heart and the wisdom derived thereof. In essence, Principles of Higher Living shows us how we can harness the power of conscious evolution through leading a principled life driven by devotion and naturally yielding the peace and joy of our higher selves.