Swami Vivekananda chose the orthodox Swami Ramakrishnananda to establish Sri Ramakrishna?s teachings in southern India, because he felt that he was 'unsurpassed in his worship and meditation on God'. This book contains his life and work, reminiscences about him, and a selection of his sayings.
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