Prose Supplements - Shop now
$7.00

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Raghavan N. Iyer
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Meditation and Self-Study (The Aquarian Series Book 4) Kindle Edition

by Raghavan N. Iyer (Author), The Editorial Board of Theosophy Trust (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 8 ratings
See all formats and editions
Even the better products of contemporary culture scarcely have even an indirect awareness of secondary and third-order reflections of the seminal ideation of the vanguard of the Fifth Sub-Race. To break this destructive cycle of degradation, it is necessary to go beyond the outward ephemera of contemporary culture by developing the power of meditation with a degree of continuity and skill that is paralleled by the development of a responsible detachment, rooted in the fact that one had discharged all one's duties. Only when one fulfils all one's familiar obligations in many spheres can one become truly detached – free to contemplate and free to go beyond the claims of the world – and also free to give full support to an arduous programme of systematic and continuous spiritual meditation. The true aim of this esoteric practice of self-transformation is to engender the priceless seed of bodhichitta, which in the bloom of enlightenment becomes the Self-Governed Sage. By meditating upon, by adoring, by even thinking of oneself in relation to the Self-Governed Sage – intensely, persistently and with unconditional will, heart and mind – one may gestate the embryonic Bodhisattva in oneself. So it is that in the Deity Yoga of Tibetan Buddhism, detailed rules for meditation and purification are given in relation to the meticulous consecration of the field, the mandala, the magnetic sphere and the central image upon which the rapturous meditation is based. All are integral parts of a systematic discipline which can only be helpful if used with the assured guidance of an accredited guru, with an authentic spiritual lineage (Guruparampara). Raghavan Iyer earned first-class honors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, a doctorate in Philosophy, and then was selected to be an Oxford Don in philosophy and politics. He lectured throughout Europe and also in Africa, and his extensive writings have been published by Oxford University Press and Concord Grove Press. He also lectured for many years at the United Lodge of Theosophists in Santa Barbara, where he also founded the Institute of World Culture.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Book 4 of 5
    The Aquarian Series
  2. Print length
    498 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    August 11, 2010
  5. File size
    1.2 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details

Shop this series

See full series
See included books
Shop this series
There are 5 books in this series.
Bundle price: Kindle price
$18.99
Bundle price: Kindle price
$32.99
By placing your order, you're purchasing a license to the content and you agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.

This option includes 3 books.

This option includes 5 books.

Something went wrong.
Please try again.
Bundle price: Kindle price
$18.99
Bundle price: Kindle price
$32.99
By placing your order, you're purchasing a license to the content and you agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.

Customers also bought or read

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Previous page
  1. THEOSOPHY - The Wisdom Religion
    Kindle Edition
    $7.50
  3. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
    Kindle Edition
    $7.00
Next page
Loading...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Raghavan Narasimhan Iyer was born in Madras, India on March 10, 1930, the son of Narasimhan Iyer and Lakshmi Iyer. He was educated at the Universities of Bombay and Oxford. At Bombay he received first class honors in Economics and won a variety of commendations and prizes, including the Chancellor's Medal. At the age of 18 he became the youngest lecturer in the University of Bombay, at Elphinstone College. After being awarded his master's degree in Advanced Economics in Bombay, he was sent as the sole Rhodes Scholar for India for 1950 to Magdalen College, Oxford. He secured First Class Honors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and later received the D. Phil. Degree in moral and political philosophy. While a student at Oxford, he was elected President of the Oxford Union, the Voltaire Society, the Oxford Majlis, the Oxford University Peace Association, the Oxford Social Studies Association and several other societies. In 1956 he returned to Oxford, where he taught Moral and Political Philosophy for eight years. He was Fellow and Lecturer in Politics at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oslo, Ghana and Chicago. He also lectured at the College of Europe in Belgium, the Erasmus Seminar in Holland, and at Harvard, Bowdoin, Berkeley, U.C.L.A., Rand Corporation and the California Institute of Technology. He was actively associated with the world federalist movement in Europe, participated in many television and radio programmes of the B.B.C. and lectured at various international conferences in Sweden, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia and Japan. He settled permanently in Santa Barbara in 1965, where he was a Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara until his retirement in 1986. He became a Consultant to the Fund for the Republic, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Academy of World Studies and the Management Development Institute of the State of California. From 1971 to 1982 he was a member of the Club of Rome, and from 1978 to 1988 he was a member of the Reform Club in London. In the Spring of 1985 he was Alton Brooks Visiting Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California. He was also a member of the American Society for Legal and Political Philosophy,

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005H8GD42
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 11, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.2 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 498 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Raghavan N. Iyer

Raghavan N. Iyer

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Professor Raghavan N. Iyer was an internationally known philosopher and political theorist who devoted his life to the intellectual and spiritual uplift of human society. The only Rhodes Scholar from India in 1950 to Oxford, he secured First Class Honors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and later earned a D. Phil. Degree in moral and political philosophy. For eight years, he was Fellow and Lecturer in Politics at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, then Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oslo, Ghana and Chicago, and lectured at the College of Europe in Belgium, the Erasmus Seminar in Holland, and at Harvard, Bowdoin, Berkeley, U.C.L.A., Rand Corporation and the California Institute of Technology. He was professor of political philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara for 21 years.

His books include Utilitarianism and All That, The Moral and Political Thought of Mahatma Gandhi, The Moral and Political Writings of Mahatma Gandhi (three volumes), The Glass Curtain Between Asia and Europe, Parapolitics: Toward the City of Man, and The Jewel in the Lotus (as editor), and co-authored, with Nandini Iyer, The Descent of the Gods: The Mystical Writings of G.W. Russell-A.E. His books were initially published by Oxford University Press, subsequently by Concord Grove Press (Santa Barbara, CA) and Theosophy Trust Books, and remain available.

During the last years of his life, Prof. Iyer edited these three volumes of The Gupta Vidya, which are a compilation of his writings appearing over 14 years in the journal Hermes, a monthly Theosophical publication. Prof. Iyer saw humanity as socially, politically and spiritually evolving within the turbulent and radically changing world of the 20th and 21st centuries. His message is that a renewed humankind is now emerging, and the contents of these volumes address the causes of the global situation, the nature of this evolution, and the manner in which individuals can participate fully in this collective transformation.

Thus, Prof. Iyer's writings are analytical, visionary, and eminently practical.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
8 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Anita Hall
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Value of this Book
    Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2018
    The earlier reviewer seems to miss the point of this book. It is a series of essays on meditation and its flip-side self-study. There are numerous books on the science and systems of meditation. This book does not advocate one system, the details of which require an individual guide to pursue carefully, since much can go wrong for one entering a radically new interior activity. Rather, this book looks to the fundamentals underlying meditation and its purpose and goal. Showing how the condition of the individual determines the starting point of a process that can deepen one's spiritual awareness, clarify the mind and thinking, and manifest in increasingly ethical and compassionate action. It also shows how meditation requires self-study, dispassionate review and inventory of one's thoughts, feelings and actions, not to beat oneself up but to engage in a process of transformation that connects one with the world in increasingly more meaningful ways. The book shows that turning within goes hand in hand with turning without. Put simply, the book shows how transformation into greater wholeness occurs. It helps one start from where one is spiritually, psychologically, socially situation, looking at one's own dispositions and discerning the lens through which one sees and reacts to the wrorld. And if meditation is to be meaningful, this is where one must start. Those who are advanced in meditation and self-study will recognize the luminous insights of this volume. Those interested only in the neuroscience applied to meditative practices, fascinating as it is, will miss the point of this book, which is to deepen and individual's awareness of self and others and to live an increasingly meaningful life.
    8 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • a
    2.0 out of 5 stars Until 1) you guys can openly engage the public with ...
    Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2016
    Until 1) you guys can openly engage the public with their questions 2) simplify your style 3) simplify all these essays and articles to a digestible number of simply put and well-supported, essential, clear, consistent and coherent assertions, propositions and pointers 4) give a thorough and detailed biography of the author of the articles ... assimilating multiple eyewitness account points of view 5) deal justly and honestly with questions and criticisms 6) answer why you have virtually no following or readership and lastly 7) deal primarily with only scientifically verifiable (whether objectively or subjectively) thesis ... I don't see this really going anywhere.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report