The Hindu Way of Awakening: Its Revelation, Its Symbols - Swami Kriyananda (mobi, epub, pdf) {aumtatsat}

There are two aspects to Hinduism, as there are to every religion. One is outward and concerns ritual worship, traditions, and patterns of social behavior. The other is inward. This other is essential in both senses of the word: It contains the essence of that religion; it is, moreover, essential that this essence be understood for Hinduism really to be understood at all. This second, this essential aspect of the Hindu religion concerns the individual's relationship to God, and to higher truth.

... The outer teaching of Hinduism, which Swami Kriyananda called the Hindu Way of Belief, developed out of an inner vision of this universal goal of life. To understand the outer way is not possible without first probing the inner.

The purpose of this book, then, is primarily to clarify certain deep teachings that lie, like the ocean, beneath the bewildering profusion of surface waves.

The secondary purpose of this book is to analyze a few of the symbols people commonly encounter from their very first exposure to Hinduism.

The essential truth in all religions, like the central point of a circle, is one. The path inward to that center is the Way of Awakening in every religion. The Ways of Belief are like lines radiating outward from that center. No two of these lines are parallel; each one radiates out in a different direction. The longer these lines, moreover, the more widely separated they become from one another. The circle is a necessary concept for understanding the universe. And there would be no circle, and no center, were there but one straight line.

This book is delightful reading for anyone interested in spirituality and the deeper meanings of religion. A master of word imagery, Swami Kriyananda brings order to the seeming chaos of symbols and deities in Hinduism. This book reveals the underlying teachings from which the symbols arise, the truths inherent in all religions, and their essential purpose the direct inner experience of God.

Divided into two sections of ten chapters each, the author leads the reader to clarity as can be done only by someone who has achieved that clarity himself.