Seeing God Everywhere- A Practical Guide to Spiritual Living

Preface The genesis of Seeing God Everywhere: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Living was an unexpected phone call from Swami Shraddhananda, requesting that a book be created from his writings. (The request was particularly surprising coming from him. A man of great self-effacement, he had summarily dismissed all earlier suggestions that his uniquely inspiring writings be made available to a larger reading audience.) When he was assured that such a project would be considered an honor, he warned with a hint of glee in his voice,"1t is a stupendous task!"

The adjective was correct in more ways than one. First, as a prolific writer, Swami Shraddhananda had a stupendous body of written material, scattered over three continents in a variety of publications.

But the material in these articles is "stupendous" in the larger sense: Swami Shraddhananda's writings are illuminating and ennobling. The joy of mystical experience emerges from these articles; they assure us that seeing God everywhere is possible; they tell us that one day we shall have this experience. In a very practical way, we are shown how we can begin to make this experience a reality in our own lives.

The "stupendous" task was achieved through the help of many people whose unselfish labor brought this book into existence. Many thanks to Amala Kenny for her many hours of typing and for her helpful suggestions. Endless gratitude is owed to Anne Lowenkopf whose editorial ability is second to none, and who was always cheerfully and generously available for consultation. Thanks are also due to Audrey von Silberstein whose awesome close reading skills were put to the test. Pravrajika Anandaprana was a consistent source of help and support from the books inception to the last page of the last proof sheet. Enthusiastic from the beginning, her. careful reading and judicious advice were invaluable.

Swami Swahananda was a great source of help and support, as well as Swami Sarvadevananda who kindly helped in locating even the most obscure references. Shelly Lowenkopf volunteered his expertise to provide the book's fine index; many thanks are owed to him. Jim Aeby format- ted the book and created the beautiful cover;" more than that, Jim was, as always, a joy to work with and his creative input gave the book the quality it deserves.

Special thanks are due to Lalita Maly for allowing us to use her "Instructions to a Disciple" letter which adds so much to the Spiritual Guidance section. We would like to express our gratitude to the Advaita Ashrama in Calcutta for their permission to reprint Swami Shraddhananda's articles which appeared in Prabuddha Bharata. We would similarly like to thank the Ramakrishna Math in Madras for their permission to reprint from The Vedanta Kesari; to the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Narendrapur to reprint from Sri Ramakrishna Dipika; to the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre in England to reprint from Vedanta for East and West, and to the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Kanpur to reprint from the Banga Bharata Souvenir. Their kindness and cooperation has been invaluable.

Finally, we are all grateful to Swami Shraddhananda for having written these articles in the first place. All of us who have worked on the book have felt that it was truly a . blessing to do so. We are happy to be able to offer this blessing in tangible form to the world at large.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages