The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling

Cope (Yoga and the Quest for the True Self), Director of the Institute for Extraordinary Living at the Kripalu Center in Lenox, Mass., layers biographical teaching stories between the lessons offered by what might be the greatest teaching story of all: the Bhagavad Gita, in which Krishna teaches Arjuna about finding and manifesting your life's divine purpose, or dharma. Cope, while examining the life struggles faced by such visionaries as Jane Goodall, Harriet Tubman, and Mohandas Gandhi, encourages readers to reject the modern idea that "we can be anyone we want to be" and instead to discover and fully pursue their inner self's calling. Cope's voice is gentle and understanding, but also urgent in expressing this idea from the Gospel of Thomas: "If you bring forth what is within you, it will save you; if you do not bring forth what is within you, it will destroy you." The historical portraits make interesting reading in their own right%E2%80%94Cope is a skilled storyteller%E2%80%94but in the service of illustrating a well-organized thesis about achieving true fulfillment, they offer a rich source of contemplation and inspiration. (Oct.)