Rarely does a work come along that I regard as an instant classic. This is likely one and will take some to be recognized as such because of weak distribution and a subject that relatively few are familiar with. I only say likely because I like to chew my food for a while before swallowing and although I have quickly gone through this book, the material in it will take many months for me to digest. I could call this a pre-review because I intend to write a much longer one at a later date but thought it was too selfish to not share this treasure with any interested readers. Even if you regard yourself as a beginner on the path of pursuing awareness I encourage you to buy this one and put it on your bookshelf as a reference book. I regarded Shankarananda’s previous book (HAPPY FOR NO GOOD REASON, which I have reviewed) as quite good, but this one is a cut above.

In CONSCIOUSNESS IS EVERYTHING Shankarananda produces an incredible effort to make the most complex subjects of an advanced “philosophy” understandable. He does this as a human being, as a scholar, and as a practitioner and draws upon his background within the framework of all three to present Kashmir Shaivism to us. If you are reading these words, you have enough of an interest to try to understand this gift. Read it without worrying about what you do not understand, just open yourself to the richness of the distant past and its correctness and usefulness right now! You can come back to the subjects presented here when you feel the time is “right”.

PS: Full disclosure leads me to mention that without knowing Jeremy Silman I would not have heard of Shankarananda and his work (I had politely nodded my head when he was mentioned over the years, which partially stems from the fact that I did not share his views on certain critical items that seemed important to me…), nor would I likely have looked beyond the cover of HAPPY FOR NO GOOD REASON. Now I might have cracked this one open when I eventually saw it because of the reference to Kashmir Shaivism on the cover, who knows? In all cases I have not yet met the author but hope to, he has made a magnificent effort to illuminate what I regard as the most important texts that we (humankind) have available to us.