Any good biography recommendations of (modern) sages?

[Prabhaker]

Swami Vivekananda

 A chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world. Vivekananda spent nearly two years lecturing in the eastern and central United States, primarily in Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and New York. He founded the Vedanta Society of New York in 1894.

Vivekananda was offered academic positions in two American universities (one the chair in Eastern Philosophyat Harvard University and a similar position at Columbia University); he declined both, since his duties would conflict with his commitment as a monk.

Vivekananda attracted followers and admirers in the US and Europe, including Josephine MacLeod, William James, Josiah Royce, Robert G. Ingersoll, Nikola Tesla, Lord Kelvin, Harriet Monroe, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Sarah Bernhardt, Emma Calvé and Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz.

On 4 July 1902 (the day of his death) Vivekananda awoke early, went to the monastery at Belur Math and meditated for three hours. He taught Shukla-Yajur-Veda, Sanskrit grammar and the philosophy of yoga to pupils, later discussing with colleagues a planned Vedic college in the Ramakrishna Math. At 7:00 p.m. Vivekananda went to his room, asking not to be disturbed; he died at 9:20 p.m. while meditating. Vivekananda fulfilled his prophecy that he would not live forty years.

Vivekananda: A Biography 

by Swami Nikhilananda (Author)

https://www.amazon.in/Vivekananda-Biography-Swami-Nikhilananda/dp/8185301417

[Prabhaker]

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff

Gurdjieff was an influential spiritual teacher who taught that most humans live their lives in a state of hypnotic ‘waking sleep’, but that it is possible to transcend to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential.

In August 1921 and 1922, Gurdjieff travelled around Western Europe, lecturing and giving demonstrations of his work in various cities, such as Berlin and London. After an unsuccessful attempt to gain British citizenship, Gurdjieff established the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man south of Paris at the Prieuré des Basses Loges in Fontainebleau-Avon near the famous Château de Fontainebleau.

Deconstructing Gurdjieff: Biography of a Spiritual Magician 

by Tobias Churton

https://www.amazon.com/Deconstructing-Gurdjieff-Biography-Spiritual-Magician/dp/1620556383

Book covers the essentials of the life of this fascinating, enigmatic, extraordinarily gifted and difficult spiritual teacher of the last century. Goes into some detail about his teachings (but for that, read Gurdjieff himself or Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous), but mainly good about the details of his life. 

[astrokeen]

More gurus from India !!! Most were alive a century or two ago. 

In my opinion, Sri Aurobindo was a sage whose writings are a cut above the rest.

As for people who aren't Indian, what about Neale Donald Walsch.

Or Robett K.C. Foreman. His book is marvellous: 

"Enlightenment Ain't What it's Cracked Up to be: A Journey of Discovery, Snow and Jazz in the Soul"

 

[Prabhaker]

Helena Blavatsky

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was a Russian occultist, philosopher, and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. 

 Largely self-educated, she developed an interest in Western esotericism during her teenage years. According to her later claims, in 1849 she embarked on a series of world travels, visiting Europe, the Americas, and India, claiming that during this period she encountered a group of spiritual adepts, the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom", who sent her to Shigatse, Tibet, where they trained her to develop a deeper understanding of the synthesis of religion, philosophy and science.

In New York City, Blavatsky co-founded the Theosophical Society with Olcott and William Quan Judge in 1875. Blavatsky's Theosophy has been described as representing "a major factor in the modern revival" of Western esotericism. 

H.P.B. The Extraordinary Life & Influence of Helena Blavatsky Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement 

by Sylvia Cranston

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874776880/

[Prabhaker]

Charles Webster Leadbeater

Leadbeater remains well-known and influential in New Age circles for his many works based on his clairvoyant investigations of life, including such books as Outline of Theosophy, Astral Plane, Devachanic Plane, The Chakras and Man, Visible and Invisible dealing with, respectively, the basic principles of theosophy, the two higher worlds humanity passes through after "death", the chakra system, and the human aura.

His writings on the sacraments and Christian esotericism remain popular, with a constant stream of new editions and translations of his magnum opus The Science of the Sacraments. His liturgy book is still used by many Liberal and Independent Catholic Churches across the world.

The Elder Brother: A Biography of Charles Webster Leadbeater 

by Gregory Tillett  (Author)

https://www.amazon.com/Elder-Brother-Biography-Charles-Leadbeater/dp/113812012X/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=

[Prabhaker]

Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii

He was a Russian philosopher who rejected the science and psychology of his time under the strong suspicion that there had to exist a superior system of thought. 

In the early 1900′s, Ouspensky ventures to the Middle and Far East in search of traces of lost knowledge. He returns to Russia and gives lectures on his search for the miraculous. In 1915, Ouspensky meets George Gurdjieff and immediately recognizes that Gurdjieff possesses the knowledge he had been searching for abroad. He becomes Gurdjieff’s pupil for ten years, learning from him the principles of the Fourth Way. 

Ouspensky settles in London in 1930 and begins teaching the Fourth Way as well as writing literature about the system he had learned from Gurdjieff.

Ouspensky dies in Lyne Place, England on October 2, 1947.

The Strange Life of P.D.Ouspensky 

by Colin Wilson 

https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Life-P-D-Ouspensky-Colin-Wilson/dp/1904658253

[Prabhaker]

Douglas Harding

Douglas Harding was born in 1909 in Suffolk, England. He grew up in a strict fundamentalist Christian sect, the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren. The ‘Brethren' believed they were the ‘saved' ones, that they had the one true path to God and that everyone else was bound for Hell. When Harding was 21 he left. He could not accept their view of the world.

While walking through the Himalayas one day when he was 33 years old Harding suddenly had the profound realisation that from his own point of view he had no visually observable head.

Douglas Edison Harding was a philosophical writer, mystic, spiritual teacher and author of a number of books, including On Having No Head, Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious. While the spiritual implications Harding drew from the experiments are deeply traditional, the exercises themselves may be said to constitute a new category of spiritual experience, which he sometimes summed up as “meditation for the marketplace”.

He died at Nacton near Ipswich, England.

The Man With No Head: The life and ideas of Douglas Harding 

by Richard Lang 

https://www.amazon.com.au/Man-No-Head-Douglas-Harding-ebook/dp/B0716TSR48

[Prabhaker]

Sri Aurobindo

Aurobindo Ghose was an Indian philosopher, yogi, guru. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British rule, for a while was one of its influential leaders and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution. Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's College, Cambridge, England. 

Aurobindo was imprisoned for writing articles against British rule in India. During his stay in the jail, he had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work. Sri Aurobindo developed a method of spiritual practice he called Integral Yoga. The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a life divine. 

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1943 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. Sri Aurobindo died on 5 December 1950.

The Lives of Sri Aurobindo

by Peter Heehs

https://www.amazon.com/Lives-Sri-Aurobindo-Peter-Heehs/dp/0231140983

[Prabhaker]

Paul Brunton

Paul Brunton is the pen name of Raphael Hurst , a British theosophist and spiritualist. He is best known as one of the early popularizers of Neo-Hindu spiritualism in western esotericism, notably via his bestselling A Search in Secret India (1934).

In 1930, Hurst embarked on a voyage to India, which brought him into contact with Meher Baba, Vishuddhananda Paramahansa, Paramacharya of Kancheepuram and Ramana Maharshi. 

One day—sitting with Ramana Maharshi—Brunton had an experience which Steve Taylor names "an experience of genuine enlightenment which changed him forever".

He died in Vevey, Switzerland (1981)

Paul Brunton: A Personal View

by Kenneth Thurston Hurst 

https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Brunton-Kenneth-Thurston-Hurst/dp/0943914493

[Prabhaker]

René Guénon

René Guénon (also known as ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥyá) was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics. He wrote and published in French, and his works have been translated into more than twenty languages. 

In 1917, Guénon began a one-year stay at Sétif, Algeria, teaching philosophy to college students. In 1921, Guénon published an Introduction to the Study of the Hindu Doctrines. His goal, as he writes it, is an attempt at presenting to westerners eastern metaphysics and spirituality as they are understood and thought by easterners themselves.

Guénon chose a conversion to Islam rather than to Hinduism because the Hindu ritual life is not compatible with the Western way of life, whereas following Islamic rituals is compatible with modern Western life.

In 1930, Guénon left Paris for Cairo. During his lengthy sojourn in Egypt, René Guénon carried on an austere and simple life, entirely dedicated to his writings and spiritual development. In 1949, he obtained Egyptian citizenship.

Guénon's work, consists of the following books

• Introduction to the Study of the Hindu doctrines,
• Man and His Becoming according to the Vedânta,
• The Multiple States of Being,
• Symbolism of the Cross,
• Oriental Metaphysics.

The Simple Life of Rene Guenon 

by Paul Chacornac 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0900588764

[John Iverson]

On 6/15/2018 at 10:43 AM, Faceless said:

 

Nonviolence is still a movement of violence.

To escape the fact of violence, and to create the idea of nonviolence, remains that which the opposite has been extracted from. 

Nonviolence is a creation of abstraction, a movement of thought. Thought is the root of fear, and fear is the root of violence. 

 

With all do respect, I do not know much about Gandhi, but i do understand violence. 

 

 

 

 

Don't Eat within 30 days up.. that's exactly one of the actcs of selflessness  your paradigm will change if you try do that.. that's one of his actions of non violence... 

[Jack River]

1 hour ago, John Iverson said:

Don't Eat within 30 days up.. that's exactly one of the actcs of selflessness  your paradigm will change if you try do that.. that's one of his actions of non violence... 

I don’t think you get what faceless is saying dude. Non-violence as a philosophy remains violence no matter what. It’s goes way deeper than political movement. What is said here is understood when we understand mind and it’s conditioned patterns. To act according to an idea of nonviolence is still violence. Check it out brah. ?

[kieranperez]

1 hour ago, Jack River said:

I don’t think you get what faceless is saying dude. Non-violence as a philosophy remains violence no matter what. It’s goes way deeper than political movement. What is said here is understood when we understand mind and it’s conditioned patterns. To act according to an idea of nonviolence is still violence. Check it out brah. ?

 

2 hours ago, John Iverson said:

Don't Eat within 30 days up.. that's exactly one of the actcs of selflessness  your paradigm will change if you try do that.. that's one of his actions of non violence... 

Stick to the subject of the thread

[kieranperez]

My books recommendations:

• Resurrecting Jesus - Adyashanti 
• The monk memoir on Leo’s booklist - that book puts me to tears every time and gives me a huge vision for my life every time
• The Journey Home, Autobiography of an American Swami - Radhanath Swami
• Living With The Himalayan Masters - Swami Rama
• Autobiography of a Yogi - Yogananda 
• Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
• Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (not a biography nor a memoir per say but once you start to get into consciousness/enlightenment/spirituality you start to actually get what Marcus is really talking about)

[Jack River]

18 minutes ago, kieranperez said:

 

Stick to the subject of the thread

Sure dude, but sometimes it’s necessary  breaking certain “laws” (social institutions/conventions). 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Jack River

[kieranperez]

18 minutes ago, Jack River said:

Sure dude, but sometimes it’s necessary  breaking certain “laws” (social institutions/conventions). 

Woah we got a rebel breaking down the fabric of norms here. Despite the fact that multiple people on threads tell you to stop peacocking and stick to the topic being posted about or get off the thread and move side topics into maybe a thread of your own to start a discussion about what you want to talk about or PM someone. 

[Jack River]

5 minutes ago, kieranperez said:

Woah we got a rebel breaking down the fabric of norms here. Despite the fact that multiple people on threads tell you to stop peacocking and stick to the topic being posted about or get off the thread and move side topics into maybe a thread of your own to start a discussion about what you want to talk about or PM someone. 

It will be ok brah take it easy 

i love you man 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Jack River

[i am I AM]

Here egos again.

He was moving from topic to topic It was really quite hypnotic-Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise 

(It's gonna be ok)