Authors of old Asiatic books claimed that ultimate truth was certainly discoverable

Paul Brunton, Ph.D., The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga

"I knew however that the forest thinkers of Asiaitic countries had leisurely pondered this problem long before the first city Greeks had begun to ponder it in Europe. Moreover there was this vital difference that whereas the Western thinkers usually claimed that nobody had discovered ultimate truth and that human limitations were so narrow that nobody was likely to discover it, the authors of old Asiatic books claimed that ultimate truth was certainly discoverable and that a few sages had definitely known it." - Paul Brunton

"This need of wider intellectual enlightenment concerning both the nature of the world and its correct relation to the mystical view of man, in short, Truth in all its fullness, caused me to look around and consider where else it might be satisfied. I knew several of the answers of the West, knew too that they were often excellent as far as they went, but they did not go far enough... I knew something of the Western philosophies, admirably reasoned and laboriously worked out as they were, but their tremendous conflict of opinion largely cancelled out each other's value and left the student bewildered. I knew however that the forest thinkers of Asiaitic countries had leisurely pondered this problem long before the first city Greeks had begun to ponder it in Europe. Moreover there was this vital difference that whereas the Western thinkers usually claimed that nobody had discovered ultimate truth and that human limitations were so narrow that nobody was likely to discover it, the authors of old Asiatic books claimed that ultimate truth was certainly discoverable and that a few sages had definitely known it...

I felt therefore that if hope lay anywhere it lay in Asia, the continent where the world's most renowned religious, mystic and philosophical teachers from Jesus to Confucius had been born. It needed but slightly more consideration to narrow the search to India because I knew from wide study and personal travel that all the Asiatic lands, like Tibet, China, and Japan had directly or indirectly derived their philosophic knowledge, yoga systems and religious speculations from this single fountain-head."

Paul Brunton, Ph.D., The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga,
E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1966, p. 39-40.

Paul Brunton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Brunton (October 21, 1898 - July 27, 1981) was born Raphael Hurst, and later changed his name to Brunton Paul and then Paul Brunton. He was a British philosopher, mystic, traveler, and guru. He left a journalistic career to live among yogis, mystics, and holy men, and studied a wide variety of Eastern and Western esoteric teachings. With his entire life dedicated to an inward and spiritual quest, Brunton felt charged with the task of communicating his experiences to others and, as the first person to write accounts of what he learned in the East from a Western perspective, his works had a major influence on the spread of Eastern mysticism to the West. Taking pains to express his thoughts in layperson's terms, Brunton was able to present what he learned from the Orient and from ancient tradition as a living wisdom. His writings sum up his view that meditation and the inward quest are not exclusively for monks and hermits, but will also support those living normal, active lives in the Western world." (from Paul Brunton: Essential Readings by Godwin, Cash and Smith)

Biography
Paul Brunton was born in London in 1898 and after having served in the First World War, started to devote himself to mysticism. He came into contact with Theosophists. In the early 1930s, Brunton embarked on a voyage to India, which would bring him into contact with such luminaries as Meher Baba, Sri Shankaracharya of Kancheepuram and Sri Ramana Maharshi. Brunton has been credited with introducing Ramana Maharshi to the West through his books "A Search in Secret India" and "The Secret Path".

One day -sitting with Ramana Maharishi- Brunton had an experience which Steve Taylor names "an experience of genuine enlightenment which changed him forever". Brunton describes it in the following way:

"I find myself outside the rim of world consciousness. The planet which has so far harboured me disappears. I am in the midst of an ocean of blazing light. The latter, I feel rather than think, is the primeval stuff out of which worlds are created, the first state of matter. It stretches away into untellable infinite space, incredibly alive." [1]

After two decades of successful writing, Brunton retired from publishing books and devoted himself to writing essays and notes. Upon his death in 1981 in Vevey, Switzerland, it was revealed that in the period since the last published book in 1952, he had rendered about 20,000 pages of philosophical writing.

A longtime friend of Paul Brunton, philosopher Anthony Damiani, coordinated the publishing effort together with a team of people including Paul Cash and Timothy Smith. The Swedish-American publisher Robert Larson started publishing the 16-volume set in 1984.

"Bring again and again into remembrance the fact that you are a pilgrim, that this world is but a camp, and that the situations in which you find yourself, or create for yourself, should be regarded not from the worldly point of view only, but still more from that of this quest of the Overself." Paul Brunton

wwww.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Brunton

[1] Jackson, Kevin: A Short History of Pyramidology

The Complete Idiot's
Guide To Hinduism

Inner Religion

One of the great ironies of religious history is that, although the religions that came out of the Near East--Judaism, Islam, Christianity--adamantly reject most of Hinduism's fundamental teachings, their mystical traditions--the Kaballah, Sufism, and Christian Gnosticism--reflect Hindu insights in almost every detail. Numerous students of comparative religion, from Muslim scholar Al Buruni in 1000 C.E. to the world famous writer Aldous Huxley nearer our own time, have expressed their amazement at the parallels between the major mystical traditions of the world and Hinduism...

Hinduism is by far the most complex religion in the world, shading under its enormous umbrella an incredibly diverse array of contrasting beliefs, practices, and denominations. Hinduism is by far the oldest major religion. It has had more than enough time to develop a diversity of opinions and approaches to spirituality unmatched in any other tradition."

Linda Johnsen, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hinduism, pages 77
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Alpha; 1st edition (October 11, 2001)
ISBN-10: 0028642279
ISBN-13: 978-0028642277

NOTE: If this page was accessed during a web search you may wish to browse the sites listed below where this topic or related issues are discussed in detail to promote global peace, religious harmony, and spiritual development of humanity:

www.adishakti.org/
www.al-qiyamah.org/
www.adi-shakti.org/  — Divine Feminine (Hinduism)
www.holyspirit-shekinah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Christianity)
www.ruach-elohim.org/  — Divine Feminine (Judaism)
www.ruh-allah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Islam)
www.tao-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Taoism)
www.prajnaaparamita.org/  — Divine Feminine (Buddhism)
www.aykaa-mayee.org/  — Divine Feminine (Sikhism)
www.great-spirit-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Native Traditions)