“But we can change. No one need ever feel resigned and say, “There is nothing I can do.” There is everything we can do. That is the purpose and the power of that persistent upward force within us: if we turn inward we can remake ourselves completely, modeling ourselves in the image of the loftiest spiritual ideal we can conceive.”
~ Eknath Easwaran from Conquest of Mind
Eknath Easwaran is one of my favorite teachers and this book is incredible.
Reading his books and watching his videos, you can tell he was an extraordinary human being and he kinda reminds me of an Indian Joseph Campbell–so full of life and wisdom and passion to inspire people to fully live.
To put his awesomeness in perspective, Huston Smith, the preeminent religious scholar, says this about Easwaran and his translations of the Bhagavad Gita and The Dhammapada (which we use for our PhilosophersNotes, btw): “No one in modern times is more qualified – no, make that ‘as qualified’ – to translate the epochal Classics of Indian Spirituality than Eknath Easwaran. And the reason is clear. It is impossible to get to the heart of those classics unless you live them, and he did live them. My admiration of the man and his works is boundless.”
To say Conquest of the Mind is packed with wisdom would be an understatement. It’s *amazing* and I think I highlighted pretty close to the whole thing on my Kindle. Seriously. If Easwaran’s beautiful, powerful and inspiring words resonate with you like they do for me, I think you’ll *really* enjoy this book (and his translations of the Gita and Dhammapada!).
Selecting the Big Ideas I want to share with you here was a challenge, but let’s get on it!
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