Vivekananda: The Yogas and Other Works
His whole life and teaching inspired my generation . . . . he brought his great spirituality to bear upon his patriotism and thus his message was not confined to India only, but was for the whole world. I pay my homage to his memory.  --Jawaharlal NehruHis words are great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of Handel choruses.  I cannot touch these sayings of his, scattered as they are through the pages of books at thirty years' distance, without receiving a thrill through my body like an electric shock.  And what shocks, what transports, must have been produced when in burning words they issued from the lips of the hero!  --Romain Rolland author and Nobel LaureateMy homage and respect to the very revered memory of Swami Vivekananda . . . .after having gone through [his works], the love that I had for my country became a thousandfold.  --Mahatma GandhiThe man [Vivekananda] is simply a wonder for oratorical power . . . the Swami is an honor to humanity.  --William JamesThis book brings together the main teachings of Swami Vivekananda in an easily accessible and readable form.  I hope that in these days of uncertainty and confusion of mind Vivekananda's teachings may prove an enlightenment to many troubled souls.  --S. Radhakrishnan, author, philosopher, and former Vice-president of the Indian RepublicThis is a learned and illuminating selection from the works of a religious prophet of modern India.  Swami Nikhilananda's introduction is an extremely helpful interpretation to the West of the life and wisdom of a key figure in the religious culture of the East by a responsible scholar thoroughly at home in both cultures.  --Irwin Edman, Columbia UniversityTo convey Hindu meanings in English words is exceedingly difficult.  The difficulty arises from the fact that the reader inevitably reads modern western, rather than ancient Hindu, meanings into the English words.  The problem of any expositor or translator, therefore, is that of so wording the English translation of the Hindu doctrines that the Western philosophical or psychological meanings of the English words will not be introduced to the reader.  Especially in his exposition of Jnana-Yoga, Vivekananda showed himself to be the expert in this.It is important, therefore, that Swami Nikhilananda has brought out a revised edition of Vivekananda's works beginning with his Chicago addresses of 1893.  It is important also for an understanding of Vivekananda's insistence upon developing Hinduism in ways that will permit his incorporation of Western science that Swami Nikhilananda has provided us with a biography of Vivekananda which shows his intellectual development. --F.S.C. Northrop, Yale University[Vivekananda is] one of the very greatest historical figures that India has ever produced. When one sees the full range of his mind, one is astounded.  --Christopher Isherwood, author