You are not signed in. Sign in.

List Books: Buy books on ListBooks.org

Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita »

Book cover image of Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita by Ram Dass

Authors: Ram Dass, RAM
ISBN-13: 9781400054022, ISBN-10: 1400054028
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Date Published: October 2004
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Find Best Prices for This Book »

Author Biography: Ram Dass

Ram Dass has served on the faculty at Stanford and Harvard Universities. In the 1960s, he traveled to India, where he met his guru. Since then, he has pursued a variety of spiritual practices, including guru kripa, devotional yoga, karma yoga, many forms of meditation, and Sufi and Jewish studies. Many of his books, including Be Here Now, are international bestsellers and classics of their kind.

Book Synopsis

For centuries, readers have turned to the Bhagavad Gita for inspiration and guidance as they chart their own spiritual paths. As profound and powerful as this classic text has been for generations of seekers, integrating its lessons into the ordinary patterns of our lives can ultimately seem beyond our reach. Now, in a fascinating series of reflections, anecdotes, stories, and exercises, Ram Dass gives us a unique and accessible road map for experiencing divinity in everyday life. In the engaging, conversational style that has made his teachings so popular for decades, Ram Dass traces our journey of consciousness as it is reflected in one of Hinduism's most sacred texts. The Gita teaches a system of yogas, or "paths for coming to union with God."

In Paths to God, Ram Dass brings the heart of that system to light for a Western audience and translates the Gita's principles into the manual for living the yoga of contemporary life.

While being a guide to the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, Paths to God is also a template for expanding our definition of ourselves and allowing us to appreciate a new level of meaning in our lives.

Library Journal

Dass, long exiled from the faculty of Harvard for "psychedelic research," is well known as the author of Be Here Now, a book that gave a phrase to the language. His latest is an updated summary of a series of lectures that he gave in the mid-1970s. Despite its title, it is less a guide to the Gita than a tour through Dass's own post-Buddhist-like spiritual musings, with the Gita acting as a kind of springboard. Still, Dass's reflections are often interesting and stimulating; he is as well qualified as anyone now writing to "rediscover ways of honoring the sacred." For most collections. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents

Backward and Forewordxiii
Introduction1
1Context and Conflict13
2Karma and Reincarnation34
3Karma Yoga55
4Jnana Yoga73
5Brahman94
6Sacrifice and Mantra107
7Renunciation and Purification127
8Devotion and the Guru159
9Social Aspects of Sadhana182
10Dying204
Conclusion228
The Course Syllabus
AKeeping A Journal249
BContemplation251
CMeditation255
DThe Witness256
EGiving and Receiving259
FSilence262
GTapasya265
HHatha Yoga Asanas and Pranayam267
IJapa Yoga270
JGoing to Church or Temple272
KKirtan274
LSatsang Collaboration276
MPuja Table278
NKarma Yoga280
The Supplemental Syllabus
AVipassana Meditation285
BMindfulness Meditation on Food288
CBuddhist Mealtime Meditations291
DSatsang Meditation297
EHow to Use a Mala299
FThe Chakras301
GThe Yoga of Psychedelics304
Notes307
Glossary311
Resources319
Index321

Subjects