The book is based on a lecture by Swami Ranganathananda, then Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. Originally delivered in 1958 at the Japanese universities of Okayama, Toyo, and Tokyo, the lecture was part of a six-week tour of Japan.

In 1961, a slightly modified version was presented in Prague, Czechoslovakia, during a four-month tour of seventeen European countries sponsored by the Government of India. The text first appeared in the March 1959 issue of Prabuddha Bharata, a monthly journal founded by Swami Vivekananda, before being published in its current booklet form.