Can Reading Help One in Spiritual Life? Are You Sure?

How to Read a Book?

"When you take up a book for study, you must finish it before you take up another." (pg. 117, Concentration And Meditation By Swami Sivananda).

"Schedule your life. Read the world's best books; don't waste time reading this and that indiscriminately. Read of medicine, astronomy, science, the scriptures. But one field needs to be your first concern: you must find your vocation. By contact with the cosmic vibration in meditation, you will be led to the goal that is right for you; you will be led to the work you ought to do. Concentrate upon making yourself proficient in that. Many try ten kinds of endeavor without getting really acquainted with any. As a beginner in self-development, you cannot absorb everything about many things; learn a little about everything and everything about one thing." (pg. 286, "Journey To Self-Realization" By Paramahansa Yogananda)

Why Haven't I Changed After Reading Scores of Books?

"Even though you have my writings a thousand and one times, you still identify yourself with the mind and body and lose your mental balance when a little criticism is made. So strong is your egoism," Swami Sivananda (pg.150 Science Of Yoga, Vol. 8)

"As ass laden with sandalwood knows only the weight on its back, and not the fragracne of it. Even so, one who studies many books, but knows not the Essence, carries merely the burden of book lore. (Uttara Gita 2:42)

"Even if you live a thousand years, you cannot reach the end of scriptures and books." (Uttara Gita 3:3)