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Synopsis This book is a systematic introduction to Hindu mysticism as it evolved in India through the ages. Mysticism is not an intellectual theory, it is fundamentally an active formative, creative, elevating and ennobling principle of life. According to the author, mysticism means a spiritual grasp of the aim s and problems of life in a much more real and ultimate manner than is possible to mere reason. A developing life of mysticism means a gradual ascent in the scale of spiritual values, experience, and spiritual ideals. It is many-sided in its developments and as rich and complete as life itself. In all the mystics of the world there is a keen sense of the necessity of purity of mind, contentment, ever alert striving for moral goodness, self-abnegation and one-pointedness to god. This book gives brief general outline of some of the most important types of mysticism, indicating their mutual relations, sometimes genetically and sometimes logically. After describing the sacrificial type of mysticism, it discusses the four chief types of mysticism-the Upanishadic, the Yogic, the Buddhistic and the Bhakti. Their striking characteristics have been briefly touched upon and materials have largely been drawn directly from the original sources.