In each of the ten lectures collected in this book, the author, a master of Vedantic elucidation, speaks to the average spiritual aspirant — one who desires spiritual enlightenment, but is not yet willing to let go of worldly pleasures. He shows us a gradual way — not a way of compromise, but a way of steady and sure advancement toward the ultimate goal of illumination. In these lectures he tells us how to go about it and why it is the only natural and rational thing for human beings to do.
Let each one of us pray day and night for the downtrodden millions who are held fast by poverty, priestcraft, and tyranny. Pray day and night for them. I care more to preach religion to them than to the high and the rich.
-Swami Vivekananda