New Pilgrimages of the Spirit, 1st ed.

New Pilgrimages of the Spirit: Proceedings and Papers of the Pilgrim Tercentenary Meeting of the International Congress of Free Christian and Other Religious Liberals Held at Boston and Plymouth, U.S.A. October 3-7, 1920. Beacon Press, Boston. 1921. Good condition overall. Red cloth cover with no dustjacket. Some discoloration to front covers. Wear to spine ends and corners. The front end paper has a former owner’s signature, date, and book plate. Tanned, unmarked pages, some with discoloration. No copyright page.

This Congress was the event where the young Swami Yogananda gave his inaugural speech in America. Though his full speech isn’t included in the book, a synopsis of his talk is in the opening pages of the proceedings (p. 8): “In fluent English and a forcible delivery he gave an address of a philosophical nature on ‘The Science of Religion,’ which has been printed in pamphlet form for a wider distribution. Religion, he maintained, is universal and it is one. We cannot possibly universalize particular customs and convictions, but the common element in religion can be universalized, and we can ask all alike to follow and obey it. As God is one, necessary for all, so religion is one, necessary and universal. It is only the limited human point of view that overlooks the underlying and universal element in the so-called different religions of the world.” The frontispiece is a photograph of the delegates, including Sri Yogananda. One of the delegates, S. T. Sunderland, contributed an article to the January 1938 issue of Paramahansaji’s magazine, Inner Culture.