Gitanjali – Song Offerings is the magnum opus of Rabindranath Tagore and the work that gave him the Nobel Prize. This is the English translation, Tagore wrote in Bengali and translated to English himself. The book consists of 103 poems rooted in the ancient spiritual wisdom of India. Most of the poems found in Gitanjali are prayers written when Rabindranath Tagore experienced difficult times, he lost both his father, wife, a daughter and a son in a short time. This pain and deep devotion to God are captured in the moving prose-verses of Gitanjali, which Tagore dedicated as “Song Offerings”. One of the most cited verses is Where the mind is without fear:
Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action —
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore – Poet and Dramatist is the biography of Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) by Edward Thompson. Rabindranath Tagore received the Nobel Price in literature in 1913, as the first Asian to receive the price, and second after Roosevelt outside Europe. He was awarded for his numerous poems, inspired by medieval
Indian literature and ancient Hindu spiritual verses, the
atavistic mysticism of Vyasaamong others. Rabindranath Tagore is most known for his poetic work Gitanjali – Song Offering, but he also wrote thousands of songs, short stories and he drew hundreds of paintings among other artistic expressions. His rise to fame in India and abroad let him meet with the most influential individuals of the time, among them Albert Einstein and he became a close friend of
Mahatma Gandhi, with who he shared political views on the British supremacy and Indian nationalism. Rabindranath Tagore’s original gold Nobel Prize from 1913 was stolen from a safety vault from the Visva-Bharati University in March 2004. – Fun fact: did you know, the next Indian Nobel Prize winner from 1914, Kailash Satyarthi, had his statue stolen in 2017?
Download the biography of Rabindranath Tagore here (343 pages/7.MB):
Fundamental Philosophy by Walter Wilson. I am so pleased every time a writer asks me for help to publish their works for a broader audience. During the last couple of weeks, this happened a couple of times. Recently Walter Wilson asked me to post his book about Fundamental Philosophy here and here it is:
“The Most Scientific Law Of Knowing and Seeing, The Key to Constant Perfect Creativity In All Professional Fields and All Ways Of Life”.
The book draws on the author’s personal spiritual experiences from which he deduces general teachings and step-by-step paths to further enlightenment. Download the free e-book here (47 pages/1.1MB):
The Buddha’s Teachings – An Introduction by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is a short but precise biography of The Buddhas life and the events that led to his enlightenment and teachings. The book describes key concepts such as Samsara, rebirth, the handful of leaves, the noble truths, Nirvana and the importance of generosity in Buddhism. From the book:
The Buddha said that he simply points out the path to true happiness. You, yourself, have to follow the path. The results you get will have to depend on the effort you put into mastering the Buddha’s skills. The more skillful your actions, the more reliable and harmless the happiness they bring you—all the way to a happiness totally free from conditions, beyond the dimensions of the cosmos, a happiness that totally ends suffering. It’s up to you to decide if your happiness is important enough to test these claims and if you are willing to train yourself in the skills required to make yourself a reliable judge of the test.
Download The Buddha’s Teachings – An Introduction (33 pages/350KB):
Butterflies are Free to Fly with the subtitle A New and Radical Approach To Spiritual Evolution by Stephen Davis was published in 2010 freely for non-commercial purposes.
The book examines how topics such as quantum physics and recent scientific experiments are radically changing our understanding of life, the nature of our reality, and our spirituality. The book proposes a new model for the way our universe works and practical steps toward personal fulfillment and joy and peace of mind.
Download the free e-book Butterflies are Free to Fly here (300 pages/3.5MB):
The Book of Spirits was sent to me by the author last week. It is a short book he wrote for himself in order to “help me a little through this strange
rabbit-hole we call life.” The author, his real name is not Funky Looking Monkey, writes us:
“Reality is constant and always changing. I am always creating my reality consciously and subconsciously. This book gives an introduction to how we can do so more consciously. Yet, the purpose of the book is not to give the sensation of having all answers but to trigger curiosity and questions and create an open and safe space for you and me to freely explore our amazing minds and beings.”
Download the free PDF e-book here (7 pages/200kb):
The Craft of the Heart by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo gives the full range of his teachings on the practice of the Buddha’s craft, from the observance of the five precepts to the attainment of total liberation. Even though the chapters are designed for different readers at different stages the reader is advised to read, not judgmentally, but judiciously—taking whatever is useful for his or her own practice, and leaving the rest for others. The structure of the book, with its two overlapping parts, is explained by the fact that the two parts were originally written and published separately, Part II appearing in 1936 as The Training of the Heart, and Part I the following year as Precepts for Laypeople. In 1939 Ajaan Lee revised and expanded both parts, putting them together as self-sufficient but complementary halves of a single volume. Later, in the early 1950’s, he revised the book once more.
Download the full-length PDF e-book The Craft of the Heart here (136 pages/1.5MB):
Karma Q&A – a study guide is a newer book (2018) about the concept of Karma as it is understood and used in the Theravada branch of Buddhism. It discusses the origin of Karma and how it might have older roots than Buddhism and what the implications of this for a modern audience in the West might be. The author, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, argues that Karma is not Indonesian cultural luggage adopted by Buddha, but a universal concept, valuable for all cultures.
Download the free PDF e-book on Karma here (99 pages/ 1.5MB):
Abiding in the Retreat by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. One of the Chenrezig practices in Tibetan Buddhism is the Chenrezig practices is the
nyung nä. It is a powerful and intensive practice that takes place during a two days retreat. This book
Abiding in the Retreat is a commentary to a
nyung nä sadhana composed by Kelzang Gyatso, the Seventh Dalai Lama, according to the
nyung nä lineage originating from Bhikshuni Lakshmi (Gelongma Pälmo), an Indian princess who cured herself of leprosy and achieved enlightenment through
nyung nä practice.
Download Abiding in the Retreat here (329 pages/3.6MB):
Majjhima Nikaya. This comprehensive work offers a complete translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, one of the major collections in the Sutta Pitaka or “Basket of Discourses” belonging to the Pali Canon. This vast body of scriptures, recorded in the ancient Indian language now known as Pali, is regarded by the Theravada school of Buddhism as the definitive recension of the Buddha-word, and among scholars
too it is generally considered our most reliable source for the original teachings of the historical Buddha Gotama.
This translation is an extensively revised version of an original draft translation made by the distinguished English scholar-monk, Bhikkhu Nanamoli (1905-1960). During his eleven years’ life in the Buddhist Order, passed entirely at the Island Hermitage in south Sri Lanka, Ven. Nanamoli had rendered into English some of the most difficult and intricate texts of Pali Buddhism, among them the encyclopedic Visuddhimagga. Following his premature death at the age of 55, three thick hand-bound notebooks containing a handwritten translation of the entire Majjhima Nikaya were found among his effects.
I have edited this scan for a better quality/file size ratio and removed empty pages. It is still a huge file (about 1.406 pages/33 MB) Enjoy.
The Mysteries of Mind by Yuvacaria Mahaprajna is an in-depth guide to meditation based on the ancient Jain-tradition. This Preksha meditation consists of practices for purifying emotions and conscious and realizing the own self. It helps in leading a peaceful life and is a system of meditation for attitudinal change, behavioral modification and integrated development of personality. The book describes a strict system of practices and rules for what to eat, how to communicate, behave etc. From the intro:
We are aware of the power of thoughts, but we are unacquainted with the power of perception. Thinking tires knowledge-tissues whereas perception energizes and activates them. Perceptive consciousness is natural. In whatever part of the body it enters, consciousness releases the current of vital energy in it. The flow of the current of vital energy in sufficient quantity arouses the dormant centers of consciousness in the body. The process of the arousing of the consciousness-centers has been briefly touched upon in this book.
Download The Mysteries of Mind here (278 pages/500 Kb):
Necronomicon is the book that never existed, or at least that is what I believe, even though more than a dozen of books claims to be the original translation. You can find lots of sites discussing the Necronomicon especially in the satanistic and urban shamanistic corners of the Internet. The myth, that was brought forward by H. P. Lovecraft in his book History of the Necronomicon, which is generally considered pseudo-history, is about a book originally named Al Azif –
azif. It was written circa 730 A. D. in Damascus in Syria by Abdul Alhazred – The Mad Arab. It was translated to Greek 950 A. D. as Necronomicon by Theodorus Philetas and burnt by Patriarch Michael 1050 but a Latin version emerged in 1228. Al Azif – azif was suppressed By Pope Gregory IX but it was translated and printed in German, Italian and Spanish in the 16’th century. There are consistent rumors that copies are kept in behind locks today in libraries because the content is so dangerous for the reader. In several stories written both by Lovecraft and other authors, just reading or possessing the Necronomicon leads to insanity …or even worse. The legend of the Necronomicon has been fuelled by H. R. Giger, who published a dark art book under the same name, and numerous literary references from other books. For the straightforward story of the Necronomicon, I would suggest that you read the Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necronomicon
For the more speculative you should read The Necronomicon Anti-FAQ:
http://www.digital-brilliance.com/necron/necron.htm
Or this: http://www.reocities.com/clorebeast/necpage.htm
Here you will find both the complete works of H. P. Lovecraft and a number of works about or claiming to be the Necronomicon.
