Sadhana : The Realisation of Life

"Perhaps it is well for the author to explain that the subject-matter of the papers published in this book has not been philosophically treated, nor has it been approached from the scholar\'s point of view. The writer has been brought up in a family where texts of the Upanishads are used in daily worship; and he has had before him the example of his father, who lived his long life in the closest communion with God, while not neglecting his duties to the world, or allowing his keen interest in all human affairs to suffer any abatement. So in these papers, western readers will have an opportunity of coming into touch with the ancient spirit of India as revealed in our sacred texts and manifested in the life of to-day.

 A word may be added about the pronouncing of Sadhana: the accent falls decisively on the first a, which has the broad sound of the letter. The meaning of the living words that come out of the experiences of great hearts can never be exhausted by any one system of logical interpretation. They have to be endlessly explained by the commentaries of individual lives, and they gain an added mystery in each new revelation. To the authors verses of the Upanishads and the teachings of Buddha have ever been things of the spirit, and therefore endowed with boundless vital growth; and the author have used them, both in his own life and in his preaching, as being instinct with individual meaning for him, as for others and awaiting for their confirmation, his own special testimony, which must have its value because of its individually." (jacket)