CDs & DVDs by Swami Prabhavananda, Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley, Tibetan Chanting, Huston Smith

Specialized focused Catalogs 
Works by Swami Prabhavananda
Works by Christopher Isherwood
A compilation of GemsTone titles specifically aimed at Ramakrishna-Vedanta audiences. Some materials are listed there exclusively. i.e. not in this general catalog.
New Book
A Light to the West

From the Notes of Pravrajika Ananadaprana
Edited by Pravrajika Brahmaprana

The life & spiritual teachings of Swami Prabhavananda

 

Music CDs on 
mondayMEDIA

GraceNotes for new 
Gospel, Traditional, Fusion & World Music CDs
PLUS Music DVDs culled from mondayMedia's 
Rebels without a Demographic

SWAMI PRABHAVANANDA
Swami Prabhavananda, 2 Lectures:  
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart

Be Still and Know That I Am God
DVD*
Swami Prabhavananda Eight Limbs of Yoga DVD* 
Two full lectures based on the Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali, How to Know God
See also Downloads and What Is Religion CD
HUSTON SMITH
The Arc of Life: Huston Smith on Life, Death & Beyond DVD
Huston Smith & Ken Dychtwald
The Roots of Fundamentalism DVD
Huston Smith & Phil Cousineau in Conversation
See also Music of Tibet CD
OTHERS
Swami Vivekananda Read by 
Christopher Isherwood
DVD (also available as Audio CD)* 

Two lectures on the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Vivekananda read by Christopher Isherwood

Swami Shraddhananda: Glimpses of the Swami at Work & Play DVD

An intimate portrait of a senior swami, filmed between 1990 and 1996.  Recommended for devotees only. 

Vedanta: A Blueprint for  Everyday Life DVD

Six nuns  from three Vedanta Society convents  (Santa Barbara, Hollywood, San Francisco) joined to discuss Vedanta: A Blueprint for Everyday Life

ALDOUS HUXLEY
Aldous Huxley, Knowledge & Understanding CD* 
Lecture plus Question/Answer Session
Aldous Huxley, Who Are We? CD*
Lecture plus Question/Answer session
(Also CLEARANCE Version: Aldous Huxley Who Are We? CD. Duplicated Discs in Paper Sleeve Read More)
CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD
Christopher Isherwood Reads Selections from the Gita CD* **
The Prabhavananda/Isherwood translation
Christopher Isherwood Reads Selections from the Upanishads CD* **
The Writer & Vedanta:
  A Lecture by Christopher Isherwood CD*
Christopher Isherwood Reads Vivekananda CD (also available as DVD)* 
Two lectures on the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Vivekananda
Girish Ghosh, by Christopher Isherwood CD* 
An original lecture by Christopher Isherwood
OTHERS
Swami Prabhavananda, What Is Religion? CD*
Music of Tibet, the Gyuto Tantric University Choir CD
Huston Smith's historic recording of Tibetan multiphonic chanting 
Talofa: Music of Samoa CD 
A 1976 cultural preservation project by the Samoan Department of Education
I Hear Voices! is a unique vocal quartet. What sets the group apart is their choice to perform and record with only a rhythm guitar and no other instrumental presence. The material includes traditional folk spirituals as well as original contemporary compositions.

See LA Times write-ups

I Hear Voices! with Strings The unique vocal quartet is sweetened with lush musical accompaniment. The material includes traditional folk spirituals as well as original contemporary compositions.
See Also GraceNotes for MUSIC CDS Gospel, Traditional, Fusion & World Music PLUS Music DVDs  
VINYL
Original VINYL Edition* **

The Original 1976 VINYL Recordings of Christopher Isherwood Reads selections from the Upanishads, as translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester

A 2-Disc Set
Includes the Mundaka and Kena Upanishads, which are not included in the CD version.

*In conjunction with Vedanta Press
See More DVDs sold by GemsTone
**
Also Available in Book form: 
The Bhagavad GitaThe Upanishads 


FREE DOWNLOADS

Our Favorite Download Link: Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination, a series of classes given by Swami Prabhavananda, recorded live.

Mundaka Upanishad by Swami Prabhavananda

Free Download: Kali's Child Revisited or 
Didn't Anyone Check the Documentation?

This 173 page article by Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana of the Ramakrishna Order is a precursor to a more extensive book, Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kâlî's Child Revisited, coming this fall, that examines the accuracy of J. Kripal's assertions laid out in his book Kali's Child.  Swami Tyagananda is the head of the Vedanta Society of Boston and the Hindu Chaplain at MIT. (The file is approximately 500K.)

(Self-)Indulgences 
Embedded YouTube Videos. just click & play. (Opens a new window in the mondayMEDIA site)

Our Glenn Gould Page
Comments on Terrence Malick's film Tree of Life 
by Father Robert Barron
Beethoven's Missa Solemnis
with text from J.W.N. Sullivan's wonderful Beethoven: His Spiritual Development

 

Pictured: Swami Prabhavananda, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood at Vedanta Society, Hollywood, CA

About Swami Prabhavananda
About Christopher Isherwood
About Huston Smith
About
Jeffery Paine
About Dana Sawyer
About Don Bachardy
About Ken Dychtwald


A  collection of print, television, and online contributions by and about GemsTone contributors 

BOOK: 
Remembering Sri Sarada Devi's Disciple: Swami Aseshananda As We Knew Him
 
Reminiscences Compiled by Esther Warkov

A collection of stories of first-hand experiences with Swami Aseshananda, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order and a disciple of Sri Sarada Devi (Holy Mother). For those who knew him, this these reminiscences bring him back vivid memories. For those who have never met him, this book brings the character of a realized Holy man to life.

Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali’s Child Revisited 
by Swami Tyagananda & Pravrajika Vrajaprana
Signed by Pravrajika Vrajaprana

Interpreting Ramakrishna is a substantial and conscientious work of scholarly and religious reflection, the best resource we have for understanding Sri Ramakrishna today. Instigated by recent debates about Ramakrishna’s identity and significance, the book fruitfully invites us to step back and take a much longer perspective, noticing a century’s worth of Ramakrishna scholarship by devotees, monastic writers, and academic scholars. But the book also looks forward to how we — with all our varied interests and perspectives — can most fruitfully reflect on Ramakrishna in the 21st century. We can only thank Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana for showing us how to remember, think clearly, and write constructively about Ramakrishna, with an honesty that is critical, unpresuming, and in fact deeply spiritual.

—Francis X. Clooney, S.J.
Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School

Read Huston Smith's foreword online.

See also free downloads: Kali's Child Revisited or Didn't Anyone Check the Documentation? and 
The Missing Text

$35.00

Collectible Books by Jeffery Paine, signed by the author

About Father India: "I don't quite know how Jeffery Paine has done it - except by subtle and provocative genius - but FATHER INDIA is an utterly surprising and indispensable book ... Learned ... Lively ... It renders Jeffery Paine's vast knowledge intimately. FATHER INDIA is a splendid achievement." - Howard Norman, author of The Bird Artist

First edition, signed by the author, out of print

About Re-enchantment: Memorable anecdotes, great storytelling and keen observations mark this cogent exploration of the explosive growth of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. Paine offers chapters on many famous Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama (who, refreshingly, doesn't appear until nearly the end of the book), the pioneering Lama Yeshe, who first taught Westerners, and the controversial rogue playboy Chogyam Trungpa, Yeshe's character foil. Other chapters profile Westerners who discovered Tibetan Buddhism, like Tenzin Palmo (formerly a Cockney London girl named Diane Perry), who meditated alone for 12 years in an Indian cave and American lama Jetsunma (Catherine Burroughs), a much-married "tough bird from Brooklyn" who was the first Western woman to be recognized as a tulku (reincarnated Buddhist figure).  - Publishers Weekly

$22.00

Aldous Huxley: A Biography 
By Dana Sawyer   signed by the author

Reader Reviews

Laura Huxley herself said to Sawyer [paraphrased], "Out of all the biographies written about Aldous, this is the only one he would have actually liked." With emphasis on philosophical studies and works, it is the definitive source for understanding Huxley's influence and ideas.

I enjoyed the book. When I read it, I felt that the author was a close friend of Huxley's. If any reader plans on reading any books by Huxley, please read this informative, well-written biography first.

Paperback $50.00

NOT SIGNED

Ramakrishna and His Disciples
by Christopher Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood's Ramakrishna and His Disciples is a painstakingly researched and vetted, scrupulously authoritative biography of Ramakrishna. It is in some respects a trimmed version of Swami Saradananda's more demanding 1376 page Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga (Sri Ramakrishna, The Great Master). Isherwood's version is  masterfully crafted and a great introduction to Ramakrishna for Western readers as well as an inspiring read for longtime practitioners and sophisticated students. 

NOT SIGNED

Christopher Isherwood's  My Guru and His Disciple 

"In some ways, Isherwood's most ambitious book. There is a sense of wholeness and of the joy of spiritual quest. We can believe such a believer." -- Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

"My Guru and His Disciple is a classic of spiritual literature." -- Kirkus Reviews

NOT SIGNED

Christopher Isherwood's The Wishing Tree (purchase page under construction)

Gifted novelist and playwright Christopher Isherwood examines the whole question of religion in this collection of short articles that explore Vedanta philosophy in a personal way.

KIRKUS REVIEW WRITES

Novelist (A Single Man), playwright (I Am a Camera), and author of the stories on which the musical/film Cabaret was based, Isherwood is also famed as a student of Vedantic (Hindu) philosophy; his My Guru and His Disciple is a classic of spiritual literature. Here is a fascinating collection of articles Isherwood wrote for the house organ of, and books published by, the Vedantic Society of Southern California--personal, reflective, moving essays on "How I Came to Vedanta," the great guru Ramakrishna, "What Vedanta Means to Me," etc. that gently nudge the reader towards an understanding of Eastern thought. As lean and elegant as Isherwood's better-known work, these pieces bristle with provocation (in The Writer and Vedanta: ". . .of all characters, the saint is the most interesting. He is the most interesting because he is the most flexible. . .").

Currently on special sale ($5.95) from Vedanta Press: http://www.vedanta.com/store/wishing_tree.htm


The Hero's Journey DVD

"And so Galahad decided that it would be a disgrace to set off on a quest with the other knights. Alone he would enter the dark forest where there was no path. This is the myth of the Hero’s Journey."

 —Joseph Campbell 

A Zen Life: D.T. Suzuki - DVD

A 77-minute documentary about Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966), credited with introducing Zen Buddhism to the West.

Along with Gary Snyder, there are exclusive interviews of many people respected in their own right who knew D.T. Suzuki in person, including his secretary Mihoko Okamura, and rare footage of Thomas Merton, John Cage, Erich Fromm, and Suzuki himself.


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