Aug Revelations
Un-enlightenment
Life Finds Its Way: Reflections On Reality with Sabyasachi Guha
Author: Nandini Kapadia
Publisher: Zen Publications
Pages:189
Rs. 350
Spiritual knowledge can be the biggest obstacle in the path to attaining Self-realisation. In fact, all the mental acrobatics that we indulge in to understand life, God, reality, pain, and suffering are nothing but our mind trying to intellectualise or fit into frame something which will elude us anyway.
For there is no such thing as enlightenment.
The heading of the book is itself a summary of Sabyasachi’s message—a follower of U G Krishnamurti, who is now a much sought-after master by sincere seekers of truth.
Sabyasachi, a Calcutta-born philosopher-savant, completed his PhD in physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and later became a research scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey. In all this, he continued his spiritual search and finally stumbled upon U G Krishnamurti, ‘the rebel guru from India.’ His associations with UG grew, and one day, he himself experienced the ‘natural state’—the state much expounded by UG.
This book, authored by Nandini Kapadia, a keen follower of Guha, is a chronicle of her gradual discovery of herself after she met him.
Guha comes across as a person who is more intimate with the pains and turmoils of his seeker-friends, than their own loved ones are. He is kind, empathetic, genuine, comforting, yet intractable when it comes to speaking the undiluted truth—that thought or mental cogitations are in conflict with the body’s natural rhythm which is forever in harmony with nature. And the biggest attainment is to get rid of conditionings that distance you from the ‘natural state.’ Even though Guha does not sugar-coat his views to appease his followers and can often be unforgiving in his remonstrations, his fans adore him and cannot think of being away from him even for a moment. For Guha is not only about dry intellectualism. He is the energy of the Source in motion, in whose presence people begin to experience mental and physical changes. This is easily understandable. When the mind is no longer trying to ‘fix’ or understand the unfathomable mystery of existence, you blossom into ‘beingness’—a state where the true spirit of the creative Universe begins to speak through you. If you want to discover the phenomena called Guha, read this book.
–Shivi Verma
Trove of gems
101 All-time great stories
Author: Deep Trivedi
Publisher: Aatman Innovations
Pages:276
Rs. 249
“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.”
J.K. Rowling
Moral stories impact our lives in great ways. They help us change our hackneyed way of thinking and smoothen the road to becoming a better version of ourselves. The crow and the pitcher, The dog and the bone, The tortoise and the rabbit, The crocodile and the monkey; these are simple yet profound stories that have taught us valuable lessons of life. In these stories, even though the characters differ, we can find ourselves resonating with each of them.
101 All-Time Great Stories by Deep Trivedi is a fascinating compilation of real-life stories of great men, scientists, and philosophers. With the objective of instilling moral values in the reader’s mind, the author has endeavoured to highlight the psychological aspects of several popular stories and humorous anecdotes in an engaging manner.
The book also covers stories from mythology and folklore that inspire us to imbibe the traits of legendary characters to lead a fruitful life: bohemian Mulla Nasruddin’s antics that are funny as well as educative, thought-provoking, and philosophical; the Buddha’s wisdom, which teaches us to be undisturbed under all circumstances; the magic of acceptance, which inspires us to accept the loss that is inevitable and invest our energies into things that are in our hands.
All of these transport you to an idyllic world existing within yourself. The book also covers real-life incidents from the lives of legends like Galileo, Kabir, Mirza Ghalib, Walt Disney, and Thomas Elva Edison, who teach us to live our dreams with enthusiasm, confidence, and concentration. All in all, each story leaves a deep impression and motivates the reader to prosper in every aspect of life.
One of the best things about this book is the moral messages given at the end of each story. Through this, the author has not only tried to explain the psychological side but has also communicated the literal message of the stories.
Deep Trivedi, also a renowned speaker and a pioneer in spiritual psychodynamics, has lucidly penned stories that motivate us to live our life with abundance and joy. They will inspire you to introspect and transform your life.
–Rashmi Rawat