A thorough, well-referenced study of Vedanta philosophy's view of the individual, from the physical through the mental and other subtler sheaths to the inmost Divine Self. Reincarnation and the law of karma are explained in detail. Concludes with a discussion of the Vedantic perspective on life?s aims, both secular and spiritual. Many comparisons with Western thought are provided.
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