New Book by one of our list members.

[Guest guest]

Dear List Members (copy to Kendra)

 

Kendra has sent me the book she was preparing.

 

It is called Selections from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Annotated and Explained by Kendra Crossen Burroughs.

Published by Skylight Paths www.skylightpaths.com

 

In the Preface, Kendra has kindly acknowledged the

help from members of the Ramakrishna list towards her work.

 

I have not had a chance to read through the whole book but from

what I have seen I can say that the presentation and material

chosen are both very impressive.

 

I would like to ask Kendra (through the list):-

How has preparing this book influenced her personally?

 

regards

jay

[Guest guest]

Jay wrote:

> Selections from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

> Annotated and Explained by Kendra Crossen Burroughs.

> Published by Skylight Paths www.skylightpaths.com

 

> I would like to ask Kendra (through the list):-

> How has preparing this book influenced her personally?

 

Hi, Jay. Thanks for your kind words.

First, let me just point out that the book is part of an " annotated and

explained " series, for which I also did (first) the Bhagavad Gita. These books

were not my idea but were commissioned by the publisher, and I felt blessed to

be offered the opportunity. The series is aimed at people encountering the texts

for the first time, without any previous background knowledge, so I was asked to

" explain " things that would probably be unfamiliar to such readers. So sometimes

the explanations are very basic things, but I tried to introduce some depth to

the annotations, to the best of my ability. Swami Adiswarananda of the

Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center in NYC served as consultant to make sure I didn't

make any big blunders.

I enjoyed the research very much, and in making the selections and writing

the annotations, I had a chance to include my favorite passages as well as

favorite quotes from Swami Vivekananda. I had been reading both the Gita and the

Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna for about 30 years (since I was in my twenties), so I

was well acquainted with them. Over those years, after reading the entire Gospel

once, I continued to read parts of it every few years (along with Vivekananda:

The Yogas and Other Works, which I had found in a church rummage sale for 50

cents in 1974). I had also edited Lex Hixon's Great Swan. Also, my sister has

been an adherent of Advaita Vedanta for several decades (as a student at the

School of Practical Philosophy, www.practicalphilosophy.org). But it was not

till I had to write the annotations for the Gospel that I really delved into it

intimately.

During the work I had a couple of inspiring dreams in which Sri Ramakrishna

made an appearance. In one he seemed to affirm that it was OK for me to do this

book even though I am not a scholar and had no special knowledge--however, I

think my appreciation for the material is strong, and that is certainly an

advantage; I mean that my interest in it is not simply academic but is a concern

of primary importance in my life. I have the conviction that Sri Ramakrishna is

a Perfect One and that everything he taught is the absolute truth. It is

completely compatible with the teaching of my own spiritual master, Meher Baba.

I think that through the study and thinking I did in order to write the

simple annotations, I greatly advanced in my understanding of Advaita Vedanta. I

had a conceptual appreciation before, and now this became sharper, and I also

felt inwardly a more vivid nonverbal sense of the truths of Vedanta. Especially

in the early morning when I would first wake up and be in a very relaxed state,

I would sometimes have little " understandings " that perhaps I could not

verbalize precisely now, but they felt like very deep impressions--concerning

things I had been reading about, such as the identity of Kali and Brahman. They

left me with a greater feeling of conviction, faith, and (dare I say?)

confidence. " Coincidentally, " while I was working on the book, I came across an

interview with Ramesh Balsekar in What Is Enlightenment? magazine (see

www.wie.org/j20/balsekarintro.asp), which, despite the way the interviewer

appeared to totally misunderstand the interviewee, caused something to click

within me.

I can say that I feel much happier in general since working on the book--as

well as on the Gita book. From speaking to numerous people who visit the Meher

Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (where I live), I find that not

everyone is able to drink up the complete ocean of the Gospel, a tome of a

thousand-odd pages, nor even the abridged version; so I hope that this book of

" sips " will open a door for readers who otherwise would not pick the book up.

 

Kendra