This book describes "meditation step by step" says reviewer Francis Assisi in INDIA-WEST. "Chinmayananda offers a logical reason for meditation, (which) is an essential technique for achieving physical, mental, intellectual & spiritual harmony. It is the highest spiritual discipline which transforms us into wholesome, harmonious beings." The author examines the workings of the human mind & describes the thought process required to relieve us of sorrow & anguish. Addressing the followers of all religions, he shows them how the cure for sorrow is self-mastery, the path to which begins with introspection & self-analysis. Chinmayananda then describes the process of meditation, explaining the concept of mantra & outlining the eight steps in the technique of meditation. The book includes topics such as Hints for Taming the Mind, The Technique of Self-Perfection, Transforming Influences, The Secret of Success, The Nature of Desire, & Inner Repose. MEDITATION & LIFE encapsulates the best in psychology, science & religion. Swami Chinmayananda, an internationally recognized Vedantic scholar, began his study of Vedanta as a skeptical journalist, bringing with him the secular knowledge gained through degrees in political science, literature & law. He has been teaching the science of self-mastery since 1951.