Introduction
Living Wisely, Living Well
Timeless Wisdom to Enrich Every Day
by Swami Kriyananda
Preface
Have you ever felt bewildered when facing a difficult decision in your life? A good friend who is at a personal crossroads recently said to me, “I wish God would just appear and tell me what to do!”
How often we’ve all had similar thoughts, only to flounder for lack of clear direction. But God does tell us what to do. He speaks to us more often than we realize, often in the form of wise, impartial friends. Swami Kriyananda, through the sayings in this book, is such a friend.
Having had the privilege of knowing him for over forty years, I’ve observed that Swamiji himself has faithfully practiced the precepts he recommends in this book. In the vernacular, he “walks his talk.”
Through his practice, Kriyananda has mastered the art of living. His profound, loving insights, gleaned from a lifetime of seeking truth, offer the guidance we need to be living wisely and well with confidence and faith.
–Nayaswami Devi
Introduction
The sayings in this book consist of lessons I myself have learned in life, whether by experience or through trial and error; sometimes by deep pain or disappointment; many times through an inner joy almost unbearable. Someone said to me many years ago, “You can write happy songs; you’ve never suffered.” I replied, “On the contrary, it’s because I have suffered that I’ve earned the right to express happiness.” What I’ve presented here is the fruit of many years of thoughtfully directed living.
This represents a complete revision of a former book of mine, Do It NOW! Of the more than one hundred books I have written so far in my life, Do It NOW! was always (until now, that is) one of my favorites—so much so, in fact, that when I first published it in 1995 I actually, in my eagerness to share it with others, paid the printing costs myself for five thousand copies, which I gave away freely to others.
Today, fourteen years later, I offer this revised version both because of my continued enthusiasm for the book, and out of my continued growth in the insights it expresses. I ask you, as a favor to yourself: Buy, beg, or borrow this collection of pensées. (But don’t steal it!—see the saying for April 10.) Keep it on your nightstand or in your meditation room. Read from it every morning, and ponder, throughout the day, the thoughts expressed. If even one saying should spare you some of the pains I have experienced in my own life, I shall feel amply rewarded. For whatever tests you face or have faced, they will very likely resemble some that I, too, have known.
See Also: Sample Chapter
Return to Living Wisely, Living Well
