Immortal Light

Swami Amar Jyoti was one of the main gurus who brought the real knowledge of Yoga and Vedanta to the West. He was notable for his gentleness, kindness, breadth of vision and quiet but profound manner...never running after mere outer appearances. Swami had a special humility that saw God in each creature and sought to help each person discover God in their own way. IMMORTAL LIGHT is a rare biography, almost an autobiography, gathered from the words of the sage, taking the essence of what he said in over thirty years of a many-sided teaching that encompassed all of life. It is an important document for Yoga in America, revealing to us the deeper side of this profound tradition which synthesizes, embraces and transforms into its highest urge all the spiritual aspiration of humanity, known and unknown. The book is a welcome breath of fresh air from the high mountains, an articulation of the spiritual heart in an era all too often dominated by more mundane compulsions. It is bound to greatly inspire every sincere reader. —David Frawley, Ph.D., Director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies, Santa Fe NM The true purpose of all education,” says Swami Amar Jyoti, “is actually to dispel darkness.” With penetrating clarity, playful humor and sublime intelligence, Immortal Light banishes illusion and replaces ignorance with understanding. The editor of this exquisite biography has preserved the charming nuances and brilliant insightfulness of her Gurudeva’s teachings, inviting the reader into a profound intimacy with one of the great spiritual masters of our age. like many Indian sages, Swami Amar Jyoti deeply understood the Judeo-Christian traditions and distills the essence of universal wisdom from all religions with easy grace. This book should take its rightful place among such spiritual classics as Autobiography of a Yogi, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and Miracle of Love. I will be giving it to my students and friends for years to come. Immortal Light rings with sheer revelation. It's an intensely profound and rare account of one soul's journey to God. Swami Amar Jyoti beckons us to join him in the realization of our oneness with God. This is the new birth he promises as we rise from the sensual and into God's spiritual kingdom of love and compassion. This book comes at a propitious time when the world needs desperately to hear such a message. Swami Amar Jyoti transports us to the caves of the Himalayas to search with him for enlightened understanding. His revelations on God, guru, and the great sages of the past are fascinating and illuminating. Swami Amar Jyoti is a remarkable example of catholicity in religion . . . for whom God was both Father and Mother, more a Mother than Father. He traveled the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent and afterward throughout the United States and other countries, proclaiming the message of Liberation and Enlightenment to those famished souls groping in darkness, athirst for quenching water, hungry for that bread of life, which wholly satisfies our souls. —from the Preface by Father Anthony Elenjimittam, Director, Sat-Chit-Ananda Meditation Centre, Assisi, Italy This book is a collection of words and talks given by Swami Amar Jyoti at different times in his life. He speaks with absolute humility and describes what begins as an ordinary life. This makes his message easily accessible, even if you don’t know all the traditions and words. He uses humor to explain much and tells of his life and the divine. The idea that realization is available for everyone is appealing; you don t have to follow a certain road or know you were meant to be a prophet from birth. Divinity is miraculous, once we get out of the way of it. This book takes a world as one view and weaves together the great sages as an expression of the one great power. I don’t think you often find a discussion of Krishna, Jesus and how to get the cat next door off your favorite chair all in the same book! My favorite part of the book was when he said that compassion is never wasted even if nothing is given back. Compassion is its own healing power and by maintaining it, you are released and relaxed.