Overview

Now with a new introduction by the author for this paperback edition- an incisive and inspiring meditation on finding your optimal vocation and life's work by one of yoga's great American masters, a book informed by the great Bhagavad Gita, yoga's ancient treatise on finding your purpose. Aninspiring guide to finding your life's purpose-what spiritual teachers call dharma-through mindfulness and self-exploration. Stephen Cope says that in order to have a fulfilling life you must discover the deep purpose hidden at the very core of your self. The secret to unlocking this mystery, he asserts, can be found in the pages of a two-thousand-year-old spiritual classic called the Bhagavad Gita-an ancient allegory about the path to dharma, told through a timeless dialogue between the fabled archer, Arjuna, and his divine mentor, Krishna. Cope takes readers on a step-by-step tour of this revered tale and highlights well-known Western lives that embody its central principles-including such luminaries as Jane Goodall, Walt Whitman, Susan B. Anthony, John Keats, and Harriet Tubman, along with stories of ordinary people as well. If you're feeling lost in your own life's journey, The Great Work of Your Life may help you to find and to embrace your true calling. Praise for The Great Work of Your Life ""Keep a pen and paper handy as you read this remarkable book- It's like an owner's manual for the soul.""-Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion ""A masterwork . . . You'll find inspiration in these pages. You'll gain a better appreciation of divine guidance and perhaps even understand how you might better hear it in your own life.""-Yoga Journal ""I am moved and inspired by this book, the clarity and beauty of the lives lived in it, and the timeless dharma it teaches.""-Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart ""A rich source of contemplation and inspiration that encourages readers . . . to discover and fully pursue their inner self's calling.""-Publishers Weekly ""Fabulous . . . If you have ever wondered what your purpose is, this book is a great guide to help you on your path.""-YogaHara

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Keep a pen and paper handy as you read this remarkable book: It's like an owner's manual for the soul. -Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion A masterwork . . . You'll find inspiration in these pages. You'll gain a better appreciation of divine guidance and perhaps even understand how you might better hear it in your own life. -Yoga Journal I am moved and inspired by this book, the clarity and beauty of the lives lived in it, and the timeless dharma it teaches. -Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart A rich source of contemplation and inspiration [that] encourages readers . . . to discover and fully pursue their inner self's calling. -Publishers Weekly Fabulous . . . If you have ever wondered what your purpose is, this book is a great guide to help you on your path. -YogaHara With ringing clarity, Cope gets his main point across: that seeking is all and that dharma will allow you to bear life's suffering. . . . An engaging exploration into living fully. -Kirkus Reviews The Great Work of Your Life is itself a great work. This is a wonderfully passionate book about finding one's true calling. The stories within are inspiring and moving. I believe it will be of great benefit to all who read it. -Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness One rarely thinks of a dharma book as a page-turner, but this one is indeed that. This is a great read and a great revitalizing breath of fresh air. -Sylvia Boorstein, author of Happiness Is an Inside Job This is an important book-West and East informing each other. It was a joy to read. -Natalie Goldberg, author of Old Friend from Far Away

Praise for The Great Work of Your Life Cope 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....The historical portraits make interesting reading in their own right--Cope is a skilled storyteller--but in the service of illustrating a well-organized thesis about achieving true fulfillment, they offer a rich source of contemplation and inspiration. -- Publisher's Weekly The director of the Institute for Extraordinary Living at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health inquires into the dharma--vocation or calling--of a selection of both illustrious and ordinary individuals. 'Yogis insist that every single human being has a unique vocation, ' writes Cope. Turning to the Bhagavad Gita for guidance, the author realized the difficulty in penetrating even the first piece of advice: 'Discern, name, and then embrace your own dharma.' For some, their dharma is a ready and apparent gift, but others struggle long and hard to hear that piece of inner music, that passion. So Cope illustrates this fact of life through example, drawing smooth portraits of important historical characters and twining them with glimpses into the lives of everyday people he knows. For example, he weds Henry David Thoreau's courage to follow his muse in front of an entire town's disapprobation with the story of a psychiatric nurse with a magical caregiving hand who needed help in recognizing and using her talent. Cope also tells the stories of Robert Frost finding a voice word by word, Walt Whitman's wartime nursing, 'a calling forr

Praise for The Great Work of Your Life<br> <br> Cope 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....The historical portraits make interesting reading in their own right--Cope is a skilled storyteller--but in the service of illustrating a well-organized thesis about achieving true fulfillment, they offer a rich source of contemplation and inspiration. -- Publisher's Weekly <br> The director of the Institute for Extraordinary Living at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health inquires into the dharma--vocation or calling--of a selection of both illustrious and ordinary individuals. 'Yogis insist that every single human being has a unique vocation, ' writes Cope. Turning to the Bhagavad Gita for guidance, the author realized the difficulty in penetrating even the first piece of advice: 'Discern, name, and then embrace your own dharma.' For some, their dharma is a ready and apparent gift, but others struggle long and hard to hear that piece of inner music, that passion. So Cope illustrates this fact of life through example, drawing smooth portraits of important historical characters and twining them with glimpses into the lives of everyday people he knows. For example, he weds Henry David Thoreau's courage to follow his muse in front of an entire town's disapprobation with the story of a psychiatric nurse with a magical caregiving hand who needed help in recognizing and using her talent. Cope also tells the stories of Robert Frost finding a voice word by word, Walt Whitman's wartime nursing, 'a calling forb

Author Information

Stephen Cope has been for many years the Senior Scholar-in-residence at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts. He is the author of a number of bestselling books, including Yoga and the Quest for the True Self and The Wisdom of Yoga.

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