When Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced the technique of Transcendental Meditation and the concept of Self-realization to the West, he was re-introducing to the West a knowledge that had been forgotten in the West's own spiritual traditions. This book compares Maharishi's method and teaching from the Vedanta with the concept of Self-realization and the methods used in the western spiritual traditions as found in Platonism, Christianity, Hermeticism and the Kabbalah. It will be shown that Self-realization is at the very heart of the western tradition.