Realization- The Quintessence of Religion

“Whatever can be termed as 'religion' in this entire world, has its origin in ‘experience and unless one gets the direct experience of the Truth which he preaches, he cannot be ‘religious' in the true sense, this is the unequivocal teaching of every religion, Christianity, Buddhism and so on without any exception. The thing which has its origin in direct experience and whose very nature itself is direct experience, how can it be just a matter of keeping faith and remaining calm and contented with it, doing nothing? As is proclaimed by Rev. Swami Vivekananda “Religion is realization” – religion means direct experience, the realization of the Truth, the ultimate Reality.”

In commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, we are very happy to present to the readers, this precious treasure in the form of a book on the fundamentals of religion, entitled “Realization-the Quintessence of Religion”. It was originally written in Marathi by Swami Shivatatvananda and published by Ramakrishna Math, Nagpur in the year 1968.

Religion has an inevitable and extremely important place in human life and is the only science for moulding a truly ideal life. From this point of view it is extremely essential to understand the real nature of true religion and bring it in actual practice. Though religion has such a great significance, many have strange ideas about it, at times even in an abnormal or perverted form. There are indeed various misinterpretations and misconceptions regarding religious or spiritual experiences and about how they are attained. This book will truly be of immense help for the aspirants in order to remove these misunderstandings and other strange ideas and to understand the real nature of spiritual experiences or realization. In the same way it is essential to know the meaning and nature of the sādhanā which is required for attaining true spiritual experiences or realisation. The present book deals with detailed, scripture-based exposition of all these factors which will be very enlightening for the sādhakas in their spiritual progress.

By knowledge of religion and its actual experience, personal and communal life develops and evolves. Along with the individual, society also benefits and human life becomes fulfilled from all angles. May all attain this fulfilment – is our humble prayer to the Lord!

**Contents and Sample Pages**