Inspirational Books: Friends for the Journey

Inspirational books can be great friends on the spiritual journey. But there are so many to choose from. Check out these recommendations to help you on your way.

Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man. - Benjamin Franklin

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. - Chinese proverb

Inspirational books have been great friends of mine. I had the joy of working for the biggest metaphysical bookstore on the the planet, the Bodhi Tree Bookstore of Hollywood. I had access to books from all over the world, especially India. I just loved the smell of those very inexpensive Indian books. Some books I would read cover to cover, while others I would just open to a page and read. After work I would stay after and sit and read for hours, and then meditating on some inspirational passage.

Sometimes I wouldn't even open up the book but just hold it as I meditated. I still do that today. Words are crystallized thought, and thought can leads us to the Truth or away from it. But they are never the Truth, no matter how sacred. Eventually one has to go beyond words, to the Source from which all words arise. Meditating with a book is my way of connecting to the author of the words, the inspiration behind the words. It may be Ramana Maharshi, the Dalai Lama, Jesus, Saint Francis or some other holy and wise one. They could still be embodied or not, it does not matter. There is no separation of Spirit. Time and space is a product and story of the mind.

The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of the past centuries. -Descartes

To progress on the spiritual path one must associate with good company, and good company can include those who have gone before us but are still here, through their words, and more importantly, through their being.

The following are inspirational books (as well as some movies and music) that I I have enjoyed upon my journey and ones that I would recommend; as well as others that have been recommended or which look interesting.

Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own. --Charles Scribner, Jr.

EASTERN BOOKS

Be as You Are, Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi, Ramana Maharshi

The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi, Arthur Osborne

The Way of Chuang Tzu, Thomas Merton

Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell

The Heart of Awareness, Thomas Byrom

Zen Essence, Thomas Cleary

Vasistha's Yoga, Venkatesananda

The Nectar of Immortality, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

To Be Human, Jiddu Krishnamurti

Vedantic Meditation, David Frawley

God Speaks, Meher Baba

Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda

God Talks with Arjuna, Paramahansa Yogananda

A Path with Heart, Jack Kornfield

How to Know God, Swami Prabhavananda

Blessed Souls, Amma Sri Karunamay...

From Fear to Fearlessness, Pema Chodron

The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace, Dalai Lama, Donald Lopez, Jr

Mindful Living, Thich Nhat Hanh

The Inner School, Hidayat Inayat Khan

Divine Love in Islamic Mysticism, Binyamin Abrahamov

I Am That, Nisargadatta Maharaj

Tales of the Dervishes, Idries Shah

Great Swan, Lex Hixon

The Upanishads, Swami Prabhavanada...

Freedom from the Known, Jiddu Krishnamurti

Think on These Things, Jiddu Krishnamurti

Become What You Are, Alan W. Watts

Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Mohandas Gandhi

Consciousness Speaks, Ramesh S. Balsekar

Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Nikhilananda

Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta, Swami Prabhavananda

Jnana Yoga, Swami Vivekananda

Duet of One, Ramesh S. Balsekar

Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination, Swami Prabhavananda

The Song of God Bhagavad Gita, Swami Prabhavananda

Sri Karunamayi a Biography, Murugan

A Simple Path, His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, Garma C.C. Chang

Teachings of Rumi, Andrew Harvey

This Longing, Jelaluddin Rumi, Coleman Barks and John Moyne

Teachings of Hafiz, Hafiz

WESTERN BOOKS

The Urantia Book

An Outline of Esoteric Science, Rudolf Steiner

Christianity As Mystical Fact, Rudolf Steiner

Forgiveness and Jesus, Kenneth Wapnick

Love Is Letting Go of Fear, Gerald G. Jampolsky

The Vortex Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships, Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks

How to Know Higher Worlds, Rudolf Steiner

Secret Brotherhoods, Rudolf Steiner

Intuitive Thinking As a Spiritual Path, Rudolf Steiner

Theosophy, Rudolf Steiner

Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart

The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle

A Course in Miracles, Combined Volumes, Foundation For Inner Peace

The Fifty Miracle Principles of 'A Course in Miracles', Kenneth Wapnick

The Way of Harmony, Jim Dreaver

The Incorruptibles, Joan Carroll Cruz

Original Blessing, Matthew Fox

The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz

Seth Speaks, Jane Roberts, Roberts

The Science of Mind, Ernest Holmes

All That Is, Mark Allen Frost

Meditations with Meister Eckhart, Matthew Fox

The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Matthew Fox

INSPIRATIONAL FICTION/POETRY

The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis

Illusions, Richard Bach

The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition, Jalal al-Din Rumi

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Three Candles of Little Veronica, Manfred Kyber

Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse

Demian, Hermann Hesse

Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse

Narcissus and Goldmund, Hermann Hesse

God's Pauper, Nikos Kazantzakis

Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

Women Who Run with the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Hanto Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach

One, Richard Bach

The Bridge Across Forever, Richard Bach

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Dan Millman

MANY WINTERS PROSE AND POETRTY OF THE PUEBLOS, Nancy Wood

The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield

EDUCATION/ART/PARENTING