Swami Vivekananda has observed: "Each soul is potentially divine, The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature: external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy — by one, or more, or all of these and be free."

Hinduism gives those on a spiritual path four choices and people usually choose the one that best suits their temperament. They are karma-yoga: the path of selfless action, for the active person; bhakti-yoga, the path of divine love, for the emotional person; raja-yoga, the path of meditation, for the contemplative person; and jnana-yoga, the path of knowledge, for the rational person. In this substantive volume, Swami Adiswarananda, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order of India and the Minister and Spiritual Leader of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center in New York, presents a rich tapestry of thought and analysis of these four spiritual approaches. Material in each section includes the message, the philosophy, psychology, and obstacles of each path.

The yoga that interests us most is bhakti-yoga which is, according to Swami Adiswarananda, "the process of inner purification." Love is the most important emotion and aspect of living. But thanks to the ego, this can become twisted in lust, anger, jealousy, and greed. The four practices which are demonstrations of love for God are ceremonial worship; japa, or the repetition of a Holy Name; contemplation; and meditation. All of these are training in self-surrender where the demands and needs of the ego are set aside so one can abide only in God's will. Obstacles that arise for the seeker on the path of bhakti-yoga are bad company, idle gossip, dogmatism, emotionalism, disloyalty, indolence, gullibility, fastidiousness, and ostentation.

There are many fine quotations in this book by Sri Ramakrishna. Here's one of our favorites: "If a man but once tastes the joy of God, his desire to argue takes wing. The bee, realizing the joy of sipping honey, doesn't buzz about any more." Enough said.