Editor's introduction to the first edition

Greatness is not the monopoly of any individual. Mother Earth has been blessed with many outstanding children who have helped her soaring aspiration for Perfect Perfection. These sons and daughters have made significant spiritual, philosophical, intellectual, aesthetic, scientific and political contributions. We can join the earth in her deep appreciation and gratitude for the genuine efforts made by her brave hero-children.

As a spiritual Master, Sri Chinmoy is full of admiration for the spiritual giants who have preceded him. But his gratitude extends likewise to those who have enriched earth with aesthetic, scientific, intellectual and political achievements. With his inner eye, Sri Chinmoy can enter into the soul of any past or present being. In this book, written in India before he came to the West in 1964, Sri Chinmoy records the soul's qualities as well as the inner and outer achievements of various Indian leaders.

Mother India's Lighthouse is a collection of essays on eminent Indian figures. These leaders, some of whom are perhaps little known in the West, are all beloved throughout their Motherland. The study of their lives gives us Western readers valuable insights into a cross-section of Indian achievements.

Rabindranath, The Myriad-Minded and The Disciple And The Master are in-depth studies of Indians well known even in the West. The poetry of Nobel Prize-winner Rabindranath Tagore is surcharged with his spiritual vision. Sri Chinmoy's own poetic genius shines through every page of this commentary on his illustrious fellow Bengali.

The Disciple And The Master tells of Sri Ramakrishna, the greatest spiritual Master of the nineteenth century, and Vivekananda, his beloved disciple. Coming directly from Sri Chinmoy's most intimate inner connection with both of these towering spiritual figures, these delightful and illumining glimpses provide revealing new insights into the souls of the Master and the Disciple.

Sri Chinmoy's appreciation extends also to the achievements of the West. In World Philosophers and World Poets he has selected several lines from the writings of each of various great creative intellects which represent the core of that particular author's life-work. Sri Chinmoy then adds his own clarifying, expanding and illumining commentary.