Wisdom Tree, an important publishing house which specialises in publishing books on subjects of social and philosophic importance has come out with three books on the need for spirituality and meditation in leading a peaceful life, free of all desires and worries.
The book entitled A Lie and a Truth written by Nandan Gautam, containing 136 pp and costing Rs 145.00, advises man to become aware of himself and accept life as one that is plagued by fears, desires and disturbances before meditating to achieve enlightenment. To quote the author, ?If you sit down with your eyes closed, there will be a war going on inside you. Meditation is the last step. The first step is awareness. Don'tthink that you can walk into a meditation class and pick up meditation in a week. It'sridiculous. It takes an amazing level of awareness to reach a point when meditation can happen.?
You may ask what is the need to become aware? The need is there because only an aware person can be peaceful or happy. Awareness cannot be practiced; neither can the mind become aware of itself on its own. ?It is something that has to happen within you. It has to be experienced. A master is needed to create awareness and show you how your mind actually works. Only a master can bring in a really high level of awareness.?
The book has a very interesting chapter on selfishness, under which the author feels the worst thing that humans do is try to be unselfish. ?It is the only species that tries to become something it is not. It'sa sickness. Unselfishness can be a by-product, but never a goal. If you are trying to be unselfish, obviously it means that you are selfish. If you were truly generous and giving, you wouldn'thave to try.? Awareness will immediately bring understanding. And true understanding releases tremendous energy. The author explains how logic and intelligence support beliefs but understanding always counters the beliefs. It is only after dropping intelligence that true understanding dawns upon man.
Talking of meditation, the author says, ?When you realise that every second of your life is a gift from Him and when you feel that every second must be lived with joy and peace, that is when real meditation starts happening in your life.?
In the book entitled Some Scattered Pearls (Rs 145.00), the author, who is a motivator and counsellor, makes some important observations that seem very pertinent to life. On reading this book, one feels that everything in life is based on spirituality. Says the author, Asit Ghosh, ?Attaining purity of thoughts is the ultimate aspiration of a spiritually awakened mind?while meditating, even prayer is only an interim stage of evolvement. At the highest level, prayer would be replaced by absolute faith. When there is undaunted faith, prayer ceases to be. Even faith, though higher than prayer, should be an intermittent phase; for, when the urge to surrender comes, even faith mingles into the highest level of a spiritual mind.?
In the book entitled The Answer Lies Within (Rs 85.00), the secrets of life and salvation are revealed. As we grow older, so does grow our distrust. ?Caution mounts. Innocence gives way to suspicion? Wrinkles of resignation begin to reside in our contours, for now we trust life to only bring us the promise of demise. All this while, we swam against the tide of life and flouted its principles, rather than moving in consensus. Life connotes giving; we believe in taking, demanding, snatching. Life means acceptance.? Man keeps on longing for this and that when he ought to be trying to get freedom from such captivity. The author suggests tree-meditation as the way out. All that one needs to do is to sit in the meditative posture and relax the body and mind. Then meditate by shedding off each desire just as a tree sheds its leaves and flowers. Thus, devoid of all burden, ?you can tread light on your feet?. The key to salvation and eternity is ?to befriend life, take recourse in its magnanimity, feel secure in the folds of its uncertainty?Wisdom lies in catching life'spulse, decode its secret language and read its laws as one'sown, so that life becomes a perpetual companion and we never die.?
(Wisdom Tree, C-209/1 Mayapuri II, New Delhi-110064.)
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