About the Author

Paul Brunton helps us hear the melody behind the medley of today's "spiritual marketplace." His late writings raise the bar for what we can expect of spiritual teachings and teachers, and what we can do for ourselves. Born in London in 1898, he soon became a leading pioneer of much of what we now take for granted. He traveled widely throughout the world (long before it was fashionable) to meet living masters of various traditions with whom he then lived and studied. His eleven early books from 1934-1952 shared much of what he learned, and helped set the stage for dramatic east-west exchanges of the late 20th century.

Reviews

"[Paul Brunton is] a person of rare intelligence ... thoroughly alive, and whole in the most significant, 'holy' sense of the word."
—Yoga Journal 

“Brunton has penetrated further than many others who are writing in his line. He has touched the heights of overcoming even meditative mysticism and its achievements, as Brunton calls it, in order to arrive at 'philosophy,' by which he means the realization that Yoga is means, not ends.… Brunton has successfully avoided any conventional or worn out religious terminology—even the word 'God' is not used."
—Review of Religion, Prof. Frederic Spiegelberg, Stanford University
 
“[Dr. Brunton] is an indefatigable and well-balanced expounder of the half-forgotten thought of the ancient world, and a stimulating guide to those who would be initiated into the Wisdom of the East.”
—Buffalo News [New York]
 
“Not withstanding the difficulty of the subject presented, it is written in a most lucid manner which could be comprehended by everyone, even if this is their first book on the higher philosophy. Dr. Brunton applies this ancient wisdom to the great philosophical problems which have been cause for inquiry throughout the ages. His analyses … are masterly.”
—Occult Review [London]
 
“Dr. Brunton has made a deep exploration into the metaphysical … and has created a work of considerable importance in this present age. The author's message is intended to create a transformation in both mind and body, a mystical asceticism which transcends all personal self-interest.”
—The Border Standard [England]
 
“Dr. Brunton emphasizes the mystical nature of grace … it will be gratifying to many students and practitioners of spiritual life to find it here revived in its own name and proper nature. Dr. Brunton's work has now become a full philosophical system of thought, a definitely modern teaching, in which the ancient Wisdom is transposed for realization by these times.”
—The Beacon [New York City]
 
“The book is an interesting and clear statement of orthodox Yoga. The virtue of Dr. Brunton's books is their freedom from the usual esoteric decoration. The vocabulary, both verbally and ideologically, is modern … and his ideas and expressions thought-provoking.”
—San Francisco Chronicle