The Freedom Religion Press

The following are reviews of the book

The Seven Steps to Awakening:

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS BY MICHAEL DISEND:

REVIEW TITLE:

Without DoubtThe Most Important Spiritual Practice Text Available Now On Planet Earth

It's way too easy to go over the top when one is blessed with a divine gift like

The Seven Steps To Awakening. That's why I'm grateful "TF" reviewed it firston Amazon.

He did the reviewer's hard work -- all the "wise restraint" and understated maximal praise, leaving the rest of us to dance in digital streets like bliss-crazed sadhus! For that's what

this inconceivably rare samsaric spell smashing volume called

The Seven Steps To Awakening inspires within one: vast and ongoing joy.

Does the review title seem a tad over the top? Well, dear ones, it isn't: not by a hair.

I feel no qualms in making what on the face of it seems to be an immature and absurd statement. I'll state it again directly: no putative 'spiritual' book published in any language anywhere can get near what this amazing text has to offer. Within The Seven Steps To Awakening one finds not self-aggrandizing blather from neo-advaitic carnival barkers, or ramblings from self deluded intellectual hustlers. Instead one is gifted with super extraordinary de-hypnotizing inductions of truly Realized Vedantic masters assembled in progressive explosive sequence.

They read like metaphysical nuclear bombs from the Armory of Freedom.

They blast away your ignorance.

They purify your intent.

They fortify your ceaseless exertion.

Within this clear 238 page volume are literally everything you need to commence, zealously practice, and complete the Path to Final Enlightenment from start to finish.

These words will incrementally guide and awaken you.

Whomever you are.

Wherever you are.

And these guiding words are -- for all but the most sincere and experienced spiritual

practitioners -- almost impossible to both find and recognize for their true worth.

Even discovering bejeweled yogis like Sadhu Om (The Path of Sri Ramana Pts 1 and 2)

as well as Muruganar (The Garland of Guru's Sayings) takes a lot of digging over the course of perhaps several lifetimes.

The sage also truncates his practice instructions for each of the Seven Stages to the minimum. Stage Seven, for instance, reads: Spend as much time as you can every day practicing the most rapid, effective and direct method that brings the impostor self to its final end. That method is described in the following quotes: (1439-1574).

The quotations then follow, as they do in each prior chapter. And each of these quotes, without exception, is liberating beyond measure.

And it is to this almost unknown sage that we owe the broadening regeneration and global spread of this simple yet ever deepening Way.

My suggestion is to buy multiple copies of The Most Direct Means To Eternal Bliss

simultaneously with multiple copies of The Seven Steps To Awakening and then rubber band sets of them together. Carry them everywhere! Read them constantly! Always have a set within arm's reach! Flip them open and then breath the ever clear, ever fortifying air of Freedom the words convey.

Thank you, Michael, for The Seven Steps To Awakening, one of the most important gifts to sentient beings in our timeless time.

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THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS BY S. SRINIVASAN:

REVIEW TITLE: AMAZINGLY INSPIRING AND ENLIGHTENING WORK!

From the introduction chapter in the book:
"I really love you and want the best for you. I don't want you to continue to suffer

needlessly. Here in these quotes I am showing you the way to bring the illusion to an end

and to awaken into the Reality of Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss. Here in these quotes I am showing you what most aspirants cannot see, even if they have read some of these quotes before. Here I have collected the quotes that are most essential and most helpful for those

who really wish to awaken in this lifetime. Here I have collected the quotes that have no

detours or distractions. Here I have collected the quotes that reveal the most direct means

that brings the impostor self to its final end."

"The seven steps to awakening" is a masterpiece and a valuable gift from your true Self

to sincere seekers of liberation. The ego [which the author likes to call the 'impostor self'] in

all humans is very deceptive and cunning. Almost no human has the desire for the impostor

self [or ego-illusion] to come to an end. The desire to preserve the ego-illusion is always

greater than the desire for liberation. However, since the impostor self is responsible for all

suffering, until it ends, there can be no true liberation. But since the impostor self never

wants to end; even when one approaches teachers and teachings of liberation, the layers of deception within distort the teaching in order to prevent the ego-illusion from ending, and

thus prolong endless cycles of suffering. It is a vicious cycle of the thief pretenting to play

a Cop. Many teachings of the past have thus been distorted by the ego [imposter self], and

the essence of the teachings have been buried under layers of distractions and detours, thus making it almost impossible to find a direct way to end this ego-illusion and the suffering

caused by this ego-illusion.

What makes this book truly special is that not only does it contain quotes by seven different truly liberated sages, but also that the quotes have been selected and arranged by a fully liberated sage himself! This makes this work truly valuable, as it saves true seekers of

liberation a LOT of time and effort. All the distractions have been taken out and the seven

steps to awakening have been revealed. Just reading a few quotes slowly and repeatedly

takes me to a deep and spontaneous meditation. The first chapter lays the foundation for

how the quotes are to be used [as practise instructions for liberation, not for intellectual entertainment or for gathering knowledge]. The rest of the chapters in a step by step

manner uravel the a)nature of impostor self and the enormous suffering caused by

identifying with it b) provides an understanding that without a strong desire for liberation

[from the imposter self and the suffering caused by it], all efforts to be liberated will fail c) provides motivation, inpiration and encouragement for practise leading to liberation

d) provides the direct practise instructions to bringing the impostor self and the suffering to

a final end.

The titles of the seven chapters and the first quote from each chapter are provided below for reference.

Step one: Use the quotes as practise instructions. Know that a conceptual journey is not a journey to Awakening.

Step two: Know that the world is a dreamlike illusion.

Step three: See how the impostor self perpetuates its imaginary self and all illusion

and suffering

Step four: Increase your desire for liberation.

Step five: Be inspired, encouraged and motivated.

Step six: Turn your attention inward.

Step seven: Practise the most rapid, effective and direct method that brings the impostor

self to its final end.

Step 1 (first quote) "1. Why do people call me learned? What is the mark of real learning? Learning that all garnered knowledge of things is empty ignorance and that true knowledge

is the search for the Knower."

Step 2 (first quote) "214. From your true being as Awareness alienated and deluded do not pursue appearances, deeming them as real. They are false, since disappear they must. But

your own being as Awareness is real and cannot cease to be."

Step 3 (first quote) "525. So long as one retains a trace of individuality, one is a seeker

still, and not a true seer effort free, even though one's penance and one's powers may be

wonderful indeed."

Step 4 (two quotes) "786. The desire for enlightenment is necessary because without it you

will never take the necessary steps to realize the Self. A desire to walk to a particular place

is necessary before you take any steps. If that desire is not present, you will never take the

first step. When you realize the Self, the desire will go."

"812. Q. How does one reach the supreme state? Maharaj: By renouncing all lesser desires.

As long as you are pleased with the lesser, you cannot have the highest."

step 5 (two quotes) "853. What does one gain, you may well ask, by giving up the wealth immense of worldly pleasure and seeking only mere Awareness? The benefit of true

Awareness is the unbroken prevalence of peace within the heart, the bliss of one's own

natural being."

"861. Do not dwell in the desert hot of the non-self, eating arid sand. Come into the Heart,

the mansion cool, shady, vast, serene and feast on the bliss of Self."

Step 6 (first quote) "1284. With mind turned inward, drown the world in the great void,

dispel illusion. Beholding then the void as void, destroy the void by drowing it in the deep

ocean of Self-Awareness."

Step 7 (first and last quote) "1439. If you observe awareness steadily, this awareness itself

as Guru will reveal the Truth."

"1574. The universal Self is witness of itself."

This is an exhaustive and comprehensive work containing everything: 1)the Supreme goal,

2)the inspiration to reach the Supreme goal and 3)the method to reach the Supreme goal

are all given here. All other books can now be given away or discarded. The only other book

I would keep is "The MostDirect Means to Eternal Bliss" authored by the Editor/ Creator of

this present book. I found that book to be amazingly inspiring and englightening and started practising the meditation "techniques" instructed in that book for 2-3 hours everyday. There

are times where amazing grace is flowing through, but there are also times when the

impostor self presents challenges which lead me to being distracted away from practise into futile worldy pursuits. It is during those challenging times that I need inspiration to stay in

the path without getting distracted into meaningless pursuits which always end in suffering.

I find that this book offers amazing inspiration for that exact purpose. I have full convictions

in the words of these books and through the bliss experienced by reading and practising the teachings in the book, I am convinced that I am on the right track.

Very highly recommended!!

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THE FOLLOWING REVIEW OF THE SEVEN STEPS TO AWAKENING IS BY:

ERIC B. ROBINS, M.D. co-author of Your Hands Can Heal You.

REVIEW TITLE: SIMPLY PROFOUND

This book is a fantastic compilation of quotes from awakened masters in the non-duality

school, put together by Michael Langford. There is an unbelievably good flow of the

materials, and the teachings they put forth are timeless---as relevant today as they were

100 years ago or more. Our technology has given us a multitude of avenues by which to

distract and entertain, unfortunately all of these pull our attention outside of ourselves,

and they are making us stressed and sick.

The keys to the kingdom, the secret to eternal joy, peace, bliss, and healing, lie within us.

This book gives a motivating and supporting blueprint of how to go inside our minds and ourselves with a simple form of meditation. This form of meditation, known as "Awareness Watching Awareness" is fully explained in Langford's first book,

The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss, which I also highly recommend. As a physician and expert in mind/body healing, I submit to you that the major keys to healing all involve

lessening our attachments and identifications to our thoughts and emotions. When we can

do this, the body goes into healing mode, stress melts away, our nervous system gets revitalized. We start to notice limiting beliefs that have created (dysfunctional) patterns of behaviors our whole lives; and then we are free to change them. We take back our own

power and our health.

I encourage you to read this book, strive to understand what it is teaching, and further,

put the meditation principles into practice. Your life will never be the same.

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THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS BY THOMAS FISHER "TF"

REVIEW TITLE: SAGE ADVICE

If you have seen through the banality of the numerous contemporary books about spiritual awakening and you are ready to apply the essential teaching that has been scattered

amongst thousands of pages of writings and transcriptions of talks of the greatest sages,

this book will be helpful. To get the most out of it, however, you must have reached the

point where you already know what needs to happen, and, also, be ready to get on with it.

If you are simply looking for a good read to create the experience for the cognitive self that

its conceptual understanding of the issues and their remedies is enough, then this book's

highly condensed essence of the knowledge and proven method of liberation from the false mental world we call "me" will surely fail to entertain and soothe.

The unnamed editor, a fully awake sage whom I have read, corresponded with, and heeded

via intense practice over the past several years, is almost unknowable in the ordinary sense. Indeed, this most rare, virtually anonymous sage focuses on what matters while remaining completely unencumbered with the burden of an identity in the hectic marketplace of

personas who crystallize the me when you desire that they tell you what they know about awakening. Recently, for example, I saw advertised a small group retreat offering half a

dozen fully awakened teachers, each of whom, by the very act of appearing, must be

recognized as such in one's thought and in so doing, situate an observer me relative to

another me, the teacher person.

The Seven Steps To Awakening is free of all that. Instead, the book's structure and content facilitate, through careful reading of very potent, short passages, an increase in desire for

full freedom from the mental prison of the human construct that is the personal me. Far from

a random selection of material, you could think of this book as an essential tool kit perfectly arranged to illuminate in clear language how to use the tool kit itself. The book's passages

have two qualities for which they have been carefully selected: first is their meaning and

second is their effect. If the effect is deeply felt the meanings expand greatly, become clear,

and the focus stays on how rather than who or why.

To turn away from the cognitive me and its thought world, toward what one actually is,

takes courage, desire and method. Courage is faith and knowledge, which the book aims to

support, by selecting words of the greatest sages set in a sequence or flow intended to

increase desire, reduce fear and eliminate confusion through sheer clarity. Eliminating the

need to comb through hundreds of pages in dozens of books, it is all right here. One can

easily feel the truth of what is said. Then it becomes obvious that one must take it to heart. Whether this happens or not, whether one's life is given over to truth, can be greatly helped

by reading this book. In the end, as the editor once wrote to me, one must solve one's own spiritual problem. Turning repeatedly to this essential text works because it enables one to

find and verify the truth in oneself.

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The following is an editorial review of the book The Seven Steps to Awakening.

The Seven Steps to Awakening is a collection of quotes by the following seven authors:

1. RAMANA MAHARSHI. 2. NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ. 3. VASISTHA. 4. SANKARA.

5. SADHU OM. 6.MURUGANAR. 7. ANNAMALAI SWAMI.

The Seven Steps to Awakening is the most powerful collection of quotes ever assembled

on the subject of how to directly experience the true Self whose nature is

Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss and how to bring the impostor self, its tricks

and all suffering to a final end in this lifetime. Most books on the subject of Self-realization

are written by those who have only conceptual knowledge and no direct experience of the

infinite Self. All seven of the sages quoted in The Seven Steps to Awakening lived in the

infinite and their knowledge came from their direct experience of the infinite Self.

The quotes in The Seven Steps to Awakening are doorways to liberation and a loving

transmission from the Infinite Self to you. When the impostor self attempts to derail

you from your journey to Awakening, reading the quotes in The Seven Steps to Awakening

can inspire and encourage you to get back on track. Only the most essential and most

powerful quotes that have no distractions or detours were selected for The Seven Steps to

Awakening. The first collection of quotes describes how to tell the difference between a

conceptual journey and a journey to Awakening. The second points out that the world, etc.

is a dreamlike illusion. The third reveals why it is necessary to bring the impostor self to its

final end. The fourth is about the importance of increasing your desire for liberation.

The fifth is for the purpose of encouraging, inspiring and motivating you to actually practice

all seven steps. The sixth is about turning your attention inward. The seventh describes

the most rapid, direct and effective method that brings the impostor self, its tricks and all

suffering to their final end so that you can remain forever in the true Self whose nature is

Infinite-Awareness-Love-Bliss.

For information about where you can purchase the book The Seven Steps to Awakening

click "AMAZON" below:

AMAZON