Vedanta for the Western World

Hollywood CA: The Marcel Rodd Co.. Near Fine in Very Good dj. 1945. First Edition. Hardcover. [minimal shelfwear to book, light age-toning to edges of text block; the jacket has some shallow paper loss at the spine ends (slightly effecting the title at the top), some very shallow chipping and a few tiny nicks along the top edge, tiny additional bits of paper loss at several corners, and some modest edgewear; the jacket has also been applied to the book slightly off-center]. An anthology of 68 short articles (all selected from the magazine "Vedanta and the West") examining various aspects of the three basic principles of the Vedanta philosophy: "First, that the real nature of Man is divine; second, that the aim of human life is to realize this divine nature; and, third, that all religions are essentially in agreement." Isherwood himself contributed a lengthy Introduction and four of the shorter pieces; the primary contributors of the others were Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard, and Swami Prabhavananda (along with several other Swamis). (There are also three by noted playwright John Van Druten.) Isherwood was introduced to Vedanta in 1939 by Huxley and Heard, who had both been involved with the Vedanta Society of Southern California, and were initiated into the philosophy by the Society's founder, Swami Prabhavanada, who also became Isherwood's guru. According to the Wikipedia writeup: "The process of conversion to Vedanta was so intense that Isherwood was unable to write another novel between the years 1939-1945, while he immersed himself in study of the Vedanta Scriptures, even becoming a monk for a time at the Society." At any rate, it took, and Isherwood became a lifelong devotee; he wrote several more books on the topic, including his 1980 memoir "My Guru and His Disciple," about his long spiritual affiliation with Swami Prabhavananda. .