For thousands of years extraordinary and supernatural phenomena have been studied, investigated, and generalised, the whole ground of the religious faculties of man has been analysed, and the practical result is the science of Raja Yoga. In the modern times Swami Vivekananda has been the most authoritative oracle to propound this age-old science of God-realization. The main theme of the book is concentration of mind as a means to superconscious state. The first part of the book comprises several lectures to classes delivered by the Swami in New York. The second part is a rather free translation of the aphorisms of Patanjali, with a running commentary. This is a book invaluable for all the practitioners of meditation
I have been asked many times, Why do you laugh so much and make so many jokes? I become serious sometimes--when I have a stomachache! The Lord is all blissfulness. He is the reality behind all that exists. He is the goodness, the truth in everything. You are His incarnations. That is what is glorious. The nearer you are to Him, the less you will have occasions to cry or weep. The further we are from Him, the more will long faces come. The more we know of Him, the more misery vanishes.
-Swami Vivekananda