Parables of Rama
by Swami Rama Tirtha | 102,836 words
Stories in English used by Swami Rama to illustrate the highest teaching of Vedanta. The most difficult and intricate problems of philosophy and abstract truths, which may very well tax the brains of the most intellectual, are thus made not only simple and easy to understand but also brought home to us in a concrete form in such an interesting and ...
The special feature of the speeches and writings of Swami Rama Tirtha is that in order to make the tough, knotty and serious subject of Vedanta easily understandable by common man, he has taken recourse to narrating popular stories and suitable parables where-ever necessary. Religious literature of practically all the religions abounds in such type of instructive and interesting parables.
The third edition of „Parables‟ covered the speeches and writings as contained in the then I to VIII volumes. Subsequently, Library edition was brought out and the said eight volumes were compressed into three volumes of 'In Woods of God realization*. The total number of Parables was 171. In the present edition the references have been modified and noted at the end of each parable in accordance with volumes 1 to 3 Library Edition.
Since then, volumes IV and V have also been published. These contain generally writings of Swamiji in "Alif" (Urdu magazine) and speeches delivered by him in various places in India. Out of these volumes 65 parables have been taken out and 29 others have been culled out from 'Way to Peace' (Shanti ka Marg) a lecture delivered at Barabanki in the year 1905, the English version of the same is not yet out of press. Thus in all 94 parables have been added to the book.
The new additions have been put under Part II whereas the old Edition containing 171 parables has been classified as Part I. In all, the number of stories has been enhanced to 265. Every parable has been given a suitable name and arranged under appropriate headings. A few parables however, had to be repeated in Part I and II as the some were quoted on different occasions with different points of view.
The Summary of Morals given at the end of the previous edition under the Caption 'Bouquet af Morals' bas been omitted in this Edition to avoid repetition.
In Part II the morals of each Parable have been given in bolder type. A list of publications in English (up-to-date) has been given at the end of the book. The Rama Tirtha Pratisthan hopes that readers will find the revised Edition as much more useful and they will not mind the increase in price of the book which is due to increase in matter, in cost of paper, printing and other charges.
R. K. Lal
Asst. Secretary
Rama Tirtha Pratisthan, Lucknow