In these five volumes, comprising the illuminating lectures, writings, articles, books, and epistles etc, of the author, we find the author's marvellous intellect, her lyrical powers of expression, the intensity with which she held her beliefs and convictions, her capacity to see the soul of things straightaway, and above all, her love for India that overflowed all bounds. Her deep study of Indian literature combined with her keen intellect and deep comprehensive mind, helped her to understand India as a whole. This works stands as, perhaps, the best appraisal of India by a western mind.
Those who have succeeded in attaching or detaching their minds at will have succeeded in Pratyahara, which means gathering towards, checking the outgoing powers of the mind, freeing it from the thralldom of the senses. When we can do this, we shall really possess character; then alone we shall have taken a long step towards freedom. Before that, we are mere machines.
-Swami Vivekananda
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