With festivities in the air, it’s time to be with your family and dear ones. But in all this hustle-bustle, don’t forget to give yourself some time to mediate and think.
Inner peace is a must for a happy life and this week the IANS bookshelf is stacked with some inspirational tales and meditating treasures.
1. Book: The Diamond Sword; Author: Osho; Publisher: Jaico; Price: 275; Pages: 237
If we want mankind to become healthy, if we want terrorism that is increasing everywhere and becoming more and more explosive and violent to end, and if we want the flames of fire to turn into flowers, then there is only one way. That way is called samadhi or enlightenment.
Become natural, become ordinary; live in equanimity, and do not remain unacquainted with the secret that is hidden within you. The moment you become acquainted with it, a great revolution will take place, the revolution which turns dirt into gold, which turns an ordinary man into a Buddha, which picks you up from the ground and takes you to the heights of the stars in the sky.
In this novel, the author speaks of the essentials and timeless path of meditation – focussing on India’s ancient heritage of inquiry into transforming human consciousness, of going within ourselves rather than looking to the outer world for fulfillment and recognition.
2. Book: Gandhi: A Spiritual Biography; Author: Arvind Sharma; Publisher: Hachette India; Price: Rs. 550; Pages: 252
While hundreds of biographies and histories have been written about Gandhi, nearly all of them have focussed on the political, social or familial dimensions of his life. In recounting how Gandhi led his country to political freedom, very few have viewed his struggle primarily as a search for spiritual liberation. Shifting the focus to the understudied subject of Gandhi’s spiritual life, the author retells the story of Gandhi’s life through this lens.
Illuminating unsuspected dimensions of Gandhi’s inner world and uncovering their surprising connections with his outward actions, Sharma explores the eclectic religious atmosphere in which Gandhi was raised, his belief in reincarnation, his conviction that morality and religion are synonymous, his attitudes towards tyranny and freedom, and, perhaps most important, the mysterious source of his power to establish new norms of human conduct.
3. Book: Boundless As The Sky; Author: The Dalai Lama; Publisher: Penguin India; Price: Rs. 299; Pages: 215
How a person thinks, behaves and feels ultimately impacts not just his or her own lives but society at large. If we desire to attain happiness, we must understand that the journey begins within us and can reach out to touch millions.
In this collection of speeches, the Dalai Lama, with characteristic wisdom, humour and kindness, directs us towards the path to a happy, healthy, peaceful life. Talking about universal themes such as compassion, peace, non-violence, secularism and the pursuit of a healthy mind and body, he reminds us that the responsibility to change our thoughts, actions and lives lies with us.
4. Book: Rough Passage to the Bodhi Tree; Author: Shiv K. Kumar; Publisher: Vintage Books; Price: Rs. 299; Pages: 240
A prince once gave up everything to attain inner peace, creating the world’s most treasured and well-known coming-of-age story: Siddhartha’s journey to enlightenment; his transformation from a mere mortal to an enlightened soul.
The novel also has stories related to major events like the moment when he wins Yashodhara’s hand in marriage, challenges his father-in-law, celebrates with wine and festivities and then, to everyone’s surprise and consternation, renounces it all. Seeking the path of the wise, he lays the noble path for us. This is the story of how an ordinary mortal comes to see the light.