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The Wisdom of Swami Prajnanpad, with Commentary by Arnaud Desjardins


Hohm Press

Pages: 288
Size: Paper, 5 X 7 inches
ISBN: 978-1-942493-63-1

This book is the first English-language translation of the collected core-teachings of the Indian sage Swami Prajnanpad (1891-1974). It captures the raw confrontive rhetoric of a brilliant philosopher, scholar and psychologist. Prajnanpad, unknown to most of the West, is revealed in these pages as the hidden spiritual genius that he was.

Throughout the time of his apprenticeship to Swamji, as he was commonly called, his disciple Arnaud Desjardins kept copious notes of his teacher's recommendations (Les Formulaes). They included such pithy sentiments as the title suggests, along with many others of enigmatic and quotable worth, such as "Never believe a thought associated with an emotion."

The commentaries on these pith instructions, in the words and expanded explanations of Desjardins, become a handbook of guidance for the aspirant on this path of self-knowledge. Seekers of any tradition will find here a way grounded in reality and applicable to life in the 21st century. Without such in-depth self-understanding, the author and commentator demonstrate, we will continue to remain trapped by the prisons of our own minds never reaching the full potential of our humanity.

From the text:
Swami Prajnanpad: "There is no way out but acceptance."
Arnaud Desjardins: "We can find this idea of acceptance in every spiritual teaching and it is usually misunderstood. It corresponds to what has been called, in the past, "submission to God's will? But what is this God's will? Each will interpret it in their own way. God's will is what is happening every moment, that's it. All the rest is the mind, is a lie. Here is the first truth one has to listen to, has to receive in the face as a challenge-a challenge one takes or not. And from that, we may act. But this principle has no exception."
Not What Should Be But What Is
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