Author: Harry James Cargas
Eminent Contributors/
Foreword/Introductio: Harry James Cargas
Publisher: Chinmaya Mission Trust
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 84
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8175971940
Description
Solitude or Loneliness?
Solitude and loneliness – two words that sound somewhat similar to our ears – but do they describe one and the same state of mind?
We are born alone, suffer pain alone, die alone. Yet throughout our lives we seek to escape loneliness through acquisition of people and things. In this pursuit, we may feel satisfied at times, but never fully assuaged. The pain of loneliness again returns.
Then there are those who “execute a strategic retreat from the world”
(as Paul Brunton puts it) in order to create a solitude otherwise unknown. They seek out a state of aloneness as something positive and fulfilling.
Why?
Those who have sought to realize the higher purpose of existence have found a wellspring of joy in solitude. Learning to be alone with ourselves, facing ourselves instead of maneuvering escapes from our subjective reality, can bring a cleansing of the personality, a peace within, an inner strength that can be carried out into the work-a-day world.
“In solitude,” says Vimala Thakar, “many things are unlearned and many things are learned… your time in solitude… prepares you to be an adventurer into the unknown.”
Contents
Preface
Introduction
By Harry James Cargas
PART ONE:
PURIFICATION THROUGH SOLITUDE:
I. Silence in Action
By Vimala Thakar
Appreciating Aloneness
Exploring New Dimensions
II. True Freedom
By J Krishnamurti
Burdens of Yesterday
The Quiet Mind
The Need to Achieve
Silence
III. Calming the Mind
By Swami Sivananda
Prerequisites for Seclusion
Introspection and Meditation
PART TWO:
LIVING IN SOLITUDE:
VI. Communing with nature
By Swami Chinmayananada
Embarking on the Pilgrimage
Serenity Among the Snowpeaks
Timeless Moments with Renuciates
In a World of His Own
The Crown of Creation
V. Finding the way
By Swami Tapovan
Tranquility
Solitude: Aid to Contemplation
Divinity in Nature
Advice to worldly People
Sannyasa
Versus the Way of the Householder
True Vairagya
VI. The Virtues of Idleness and Solitude
By Dr. Paul Brunton
A Correspondent Decries My Retreat
Fostering Creativity
PART THREE:
SOLITUDE AMID THE MANY:
VII. Serenity of Mind
By Sri Raman Maharshi
Uplifting humanity
VIII. The Inward Solitude
By Thomas Merton
Respecting Others’ Solitude
True and False Solitude
The solitude of charity and Love
IX. The simplification of Life
By Thomas R. Kelly
Integrating Our Lives
Living from the Center
Inward Orientation