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Four lectures about East Indian spirituality delivered at the twenty-fifth anniversary meeting of the Theosophical Society at Benares, 1900.
Foreword
Lecture 1, parts 1 & 2 The Four Ashramas
Lecture 2, parts 1 & 2 Temples, Priests and Worship
Lecture 3, parts 1 & 2 , Castes
Lecture 4, parts 1 & 2  Womanhood + afterword

Four lectures by Annie Besant to give an outline and better understanding of Yoga
00 - Foreword
01 - Lecture 1. The Nature of Yoga, The Meaning of the Universe
02 - The Unfolding of Consciousness
03 - The Oneness of the Self
04 - The Quickening of the Process of Self-Unfoldment
05 - Yoga is a Science d
06 - Man a Duality
07 - States of Mind
08 - Samadhi
09 - The Literature of Yoga
10 - Some Definitions
11 - God Without and God Within
12 - Changes of Consciousness and Vibrations of Matter
13 - Mind
14 - Stages of Mind
15 - Inward and Outward-turned Consciousness
16 - The Cloud
17 - Lecture 2. Schools of Thought, Its Relation to Indian Philosophies
18 - Mind
19 - The Mental Body
20 - Mind and Self
21 - Lecture 3. Yoga as Science, Methods of Yoga
22 - To the Self by the Self
23 - To the Self through the Not-Self
24 - Yoga and Morality
25 - Composition of States of the Mind
26 - Pleasure and Pain
27 - Lecture 4. Yoga as Practice, Inhibition of States of Mind
28 - Meditation with and without Seed
29 - The Use of Mantras
30 - Attention
31 - Obstacles to Yoga
32 - Capacities for Yoga
33 - Forthgoing and Returning
34 - Purification of Bodies
35 - Dwellers on the Threshold
36 - Preparation for Yoga
37 - The End

In her autobiography, Annie Besant poignantly writes of her search for the truth of what she believed in, leaving Christianity behind to embrace Atheism, and ultimately finding her peace in Theosophy, which she became interested in after meeting Helena Blavatsky. She moved to India to better study Theosophical ideas and this is where she made her home until her death. She was a gifted orator and writer, often speaking and writing on her religious beliefs, as well as women's rights and social reform. Along with Charles Bradlaugh, she published a paper in support of birth control. It proved to be so controversial for the times that it led to a court trial.

Annie Besant was a remarkable woman, suffering much for her beliefs but steadfastly continuing on in her pursuit in spite of it.

In this short pamphlet, Annie Besant - a well-known British women's rights activist - lays down British marriage laws as they were at her time. She opposes the view of married women as mere property of their husbands, with virtually no rights of their own, and makes suggestions for the improvement of marriage law, footed on equality of the sexes. In the second part of the pamphlet, she advocates for a law governing full divorce, instead of only the separation of husband and wife the church was granting, unwillingly, if at all.

Although the pamphlet was written in 1882, Besant's views of equality of men and women in both marriage and divorce law are surprisingly modern. Her ideas of shared parenting in case of a divorce have not been realized until very recently.


My Path to Atheism is a remarkable document in many ways, not least that it was written by a woman in Victorian England, not the most open free-thinking of societies, especially for women at that time. It needed a remarkable woman to write such a revolutionary and to 19th century minds, heretical document in a society where the Church had such a stronghold. Besant herself was originally married to a clergyman, but her increasingly anti-religious views and writings led to a legal separation. She went on to become a member of the National Secular Society and thence to co-edit the National Reformer, which put forth ideas on revolutionary ideas at the time such as trades unions, national education, birth control and so on. In 1877 Besant published this book 'My Path to Atheism' which was compiled from a series of lectures in which she surgically dissects the basic tenets of Christianity. As one reads the chapters, one can follow the evolution of her ideas from Theism to Atheism, ending up with a stunning refutation of the Church of England Catechism.

00 - Preface to First Edition
01 - On the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth
02 - A comparison between the fourth gospel and the three synoptics
03 - On the Atonement
04 - On the Mediation and Salvation of Ecclesiastical Christianity
05 - On Eternal Torture
06 - On Inspiration
07 - On the Religious Education of Children
08 - Natural Religion versus Revealed Religion
09 - On the Nature and Existence of God. Part 1
10 - On the Nature and Existence of God. Part 2
11 - Euthanasia
12 - On Prayer
13 - Constructive Rationalism
14 - The Beauties of the Prayer-Book
15 - The Communion Service
16 - The Baptismal Offices
17 - The Order of Confirmation
18 - The Form of the Solemnization of Matrimony
19 - The Order for the Visitation of the Sick
20 - The Order for the Burial of the Dead
21 - A Commination or Denouncing of God's Anger and Judgements against Sinners
22 - Forms of Prayer to be used at Sea
23 - The Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, according to the Order of the United Church of England and Ireland
24 - The Articles
25 - The Church of England Catechism

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent Theosophist, and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various Theosophical publications of her day. This particular piece was a lecture delivered to the League of Liberal Christianity at Manchester in May of 1911, regarding a global awakening of consciousness that she felt she was witnessing at the time.

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent Theosophist and women’s rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various Theosophical publications of her day. This particular piece dates to 1911, and she touches on the topics of consciousness of unity, divinity in man, atonement, St. Paul, and the Upanishads as they all relate to the Divine Life in general.

This book presents a clear and systematic study of the nature of thought from the Theosophical perspective. Its study will help the reader gain a deeper knowledge of one's mental nature and how to master this important power to stimulate one's own spiritual growth and for the helping of humanity.