The Word of the Guru : The Life and Teachings of Guru Narayana

Contents: Preface. I. The way of the Guru: 1. Introductory. 2. The Guru at home. 3. Two random impressions. 4. Brotherhood. 5. Mystic experience. 6. Guru role begins. 7. Principle and practice. 8. From the past to the future. 9. Later reminiscences. II. The word of the Guru: 10. The dialectics of Advaita Vedanta. 11. The word and the silence. 12. Distant drums and word enigmas. 13. Guru and Sisya. 14. The far-flung affinities of the word. 15. The ascending dialectics of stone language. 16. Blast and counter-blast. 17. The Guru-Trio of South India. 18. The duality of ends and means. 19. The living method. 20. More intimate jottings. III. Some poems of the Guru: 21. Translator’s foreword. 22. A critique of caste (Jati-Mimamsa). 23. Prenatal gratitude (Pinda-Nandi). 24. Kindness to life (Jiva-Karunya-Pancakam). 25. Song of the Kundalini snake (Kundalini-Pattu). 26. Thought and inertia (Cit-Jadangal). 27. Scriptures of mercy (Anukampa-Dasakam). 28. The science of the absolute (Brahma-Vidya-Pancakam). Appendix: 1. Essential biographical data of Narayana Guru. 2. Works of Narayana Guru. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.

"Millions of people have been deeply affected by the life and teachings of the Guru Narayana, who is the central figure of this book. This is a biography, not only of the Guru Narayana, but of Guruhood itself. Religions and philosophies have their sources in such men, and the aim here is to clarify this fact, without being sentimental or sensational. In doing so, many hitherto baffling enigmas of Indian life are given a rational explanation for the first time.

Nataraja Guru, the disciple-successor of the Narayana Guru, uses the contemplative discipline which was characteristic of the Guru Narayana, and brings the Advaita Vedanta method into the forefront of global thought as understood today, introducing a new science of wisdom-dialectics. Nataraja Guru’s scheme of correlation between science and mysticism amounts to an epochal advance in philosophy.

This book represents the voice of the Guru. The word of the Guru provides a quantity of original material for study, including fully annotated and carefully translated writings of Guru Narayana. It describes the physical and psychological conditions of South India with great brilliance. The spirituality of India is set forth here in its clearest terms, unambiguous and shorn of all limiting frontiers, suitable for readers in all parts of the world." (jacket)