Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (8 Volume Set) Paperback – January 1, 1947

As a Christian in the world today, I believe it is also important to be familiar with other religious traditions. I must also confess having a long term fascination with Hinduism simply because it is the oldest of the major religions of the world, the others being Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I also respect Hinduism as I find many of its practitioners to be humble and good people.What I like most about Swami Vivekananda is the freshness of his writing, which is saying something because it is over a century old. There is a sense of immediacy to these essays, lectures, and letters. You get a bang for the buck here with this series of 8 volumes, which are in a handsome set and easy to read. SwamiJI covers a wide range of topics including many lectures and essays on Hinduism, the Vedas, Christianity, and the place of religion in the world. For Christians, it is insightful to see how followers of another faith based tradition speak of you!In addition there are many practical lectures on meditation, and yoga, popular topics today. If you're not familiar with Swami Vivekananda, there are many videos on Youtube where you can get your feet wet as it were. I'd start there and then start reading. You can't go wrong with the Complete Works!

I have read the books over and over and I must say I have gone an enormous amount of positive change at a personal level.Swami Vivekanada makes you realize the inherent power that is present in all human beings. It helps you see that every single person on this planet has the ability to live life to its fullest provided he realizes his own self.All of sudden the big issues seem trivial in the greater scheme of things.I am an engineer by profession but some of the advanced concepts on Vedanta and advait theory can be understood after repetitive reading and contemplation, and then things start making sense.It is amazing how Vedantic philosophy explains our physical and meta physical nature/cause of our birth/suffering/our mission in life .Swamiji has done an excellent job in presenting the Vedantic wisdom to common people in simple language...

Amazon mailed me a single volume book printed in india on what appears to be rice paper as if you could roll smokes out of the paper in the book. There are 554 pages in the book, not 8 volumes of 4000 plus pages as the other reviewers noted they received.

I bought this 8 volume set three years ago. I have yet to complete reading the first two volumes. I have given one of the volumes to a friend to read. The nice thing about this is I probably would not have to read them all in order.The price for the 8 volume set is pretty reasonable. Also the photo that came with the books was the best pleasant surprise. I am looking forward to reading the books in coming years. The language is fluid. The reader is definitely engaged while reading.Like other reviewers wrote, it is truly a spiritual encyclopedia. I am truly grateful to whoever has compiled the Complete Works and made them available so easily.

It is humanly impossible to ingest all this in one's lifetime. I am still meditating on Swami Vivekanand's definition of Atma (soul, sort of) and Parmatma (supreme soul/creator), the former being a circle with the center in the body and circumference nowhere (with transmigration moving the center of the circle from one body to other) and the latter a circle with the center everywhere and circumference nowhere. Only a genius can decode the most complex of all complexities with such logic. He was a spiritual giant. Not to offend any Hindu, Vedanti or Eastern philosopher, but this Works in itself is no less an upanishad or a Hindu scripture.May we all be granted enough wisdom and courage to understand and experience just a bit of what is laid out here!

This is really a masterpiece. I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about great philosophies of Karam yoga, Bhakti yoga and Gyan yoga. Great work by authors in collecting all the speeches and works of Swami Vivekananda ji from different sources and giving us this gem.

Embodidment of truth and intigreaty.god l lived on planet earth.this kind of books. Are the true source of inspiration t o lift our self higher so we can do some good to the mankind. Rasik.

the advertisement implied all eight volumes would be privided. i received volume eight only. rw