Books

One of the challenges of learning about meditation and higher states of consciousness is the plethora of sources to study. There is a lot of misinformation and well-intentioned teachers who are lacking in this area.  The old saying that the wise should not delude the ignorant should be born in mind.  

If you are going to take up the philosophy behind any teaching it is good to thoroughly study it. There are two aspects in learning that are critical, the powers of discrimination and discernment that of separating truth from fiction. By reading what the great Masters  and teachers of different traditions teach and say we begin to build an understanding of "right" knowledge. This enables us to determine quality and truth from that which is not.  

In the Gita, Krishna, who represents God and Arjuna, who represents mankind have a discussion. This is the basis of the Gita, and Krishna begins by discussing the value of Knowledge, then he gets into a conversation about Experience. Krishna teaches that you must have both Knowledge and Experience to become the truly Enlightened person.

Each tradition has a core teaching that is in common with others.  In some you have to dig a little deeper to find it. For example in Christianity delving into the writings of the Saints like Saint John of the Cross or St. Teresa of Avila brings forth mystical thought and experience of that tradition in a highly illuminating way.

• "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita" Chapters 1-6
• "Bhagavad Gita and its Message" Sri Aurobindo (must read the footnotes)
• “Essays on the Gita” Sri Aurobindo
• “Science of Being and Art of Living” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
• "Eight Upanishads" Volumes One and Two With Commentary of Shankaracharya Translated by Swami Gambhirananda
• "Ramayana" Kamala Subramaniam
• "The Upanishads" Sri Aurobindo
• "The Secret of the Veda" Sri Aurobindo
• "Hymns to the Mystic Fire" Sri Aurobindo
• "Invoking Reality" John Daido Loori
• "Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa" A Biography from the Tibetan Edited by W. Y. Evans-Wentz
• "The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa: The Life-Story and Teaching of the Greatest Poet-Saint Ever to Appear in the History of Buddhism" Garma C. C. Chang
• "The Gift" Poems by Hafiz The Great Sufi Master Translations by Daniel Ladinsky
• "Hidden Treasure of Vastu Shilpa Shastra and Indian Traditions" Cerebail Muralidhar Rao
• "I Am That" Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 
• “Pathways Through To Space” Franklin Merrell-Wolff
• “Transformations in Consciousness” The Metaphysics and Epistemology  Franklin Merrell-Wolff
• "Our Natural Potential"  David "Davidya" Buckland
• “The Path to No-Self” Bernadette Roberts
• “What is Self” Bernadette Roberts
• “Collision with the Infinite” Suzanne Segal 
• “The Philokalia” Translated from the Greek by G.E.H. Plamer, Philip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware
• “The Cloud of Unknowing” Edited by William Johnston
• “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna” Translated by Swami Nikhilananda
• “The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali” Chip Hartranft 
• “Transcendence” Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D.
• “Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching” Translated by Stephen Mitchell
• “The Landscape of Enlightenment” With doors and windows to our world. Harri Aalto
• “The Impact of Awakening” Adyashanti
• “The End of Your World” Adyashanti
• "Brahmasutra Bhasya" of Shankaracharya Translated by Swami Gambhirananda
• "The Vedic Experience" Mantramanjari An Anthology of the Vedas for Modern Man and Contemporary Celebration, Raimundo Panikkar
• "Transcendent Dreaming"  Christina Donnell, PhD
• "Discourses" Vol's 1, 2 & 3 Meher Baba
• "Consciousness in Jung and Patanjali" Leanne Whitney, PhD
• Intimacy with the Infinite: The Truth about Life after Awakening, Ananda Devi
• 1000 Revised, Updated & Expanded (2019 Second Edition) - The Levels of Consciousness and a Map of the Stages of Awakening for Spiritual Seekers and Teachers, Ramaji and Ananda Devi
• The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects - Alexandra David-Neel and Lama Yongden