Book Introduction: The life divine

The subject of philosophy had always bored me. The idea of force fitting life into theoretical or conceptual frame did not fascinate me. Since I was not ready for this subject, I thought philosophers were failed men but intelligent enough to articulate their frustrations in a logical manner. But my innocence was broken when I arrived at this work of Sri Aurobindo.

First I had downloaded the soft copy but ended up ordering a print version soon. After going through this 1100 pages long book, I feel I am introduced to the subject, realize it has more drawing power and other subjects look less interesting now.

While I admit that I have to come back to this text several times to get to know the subject matter better, the personality of Sri Aurobindo, his understanding of Vedas and Upanishads demand a greater attention. Unlike other Yogi’s who attained spiritual heights, he has put his experiences and teachings on the paper himself.

If you want to explore, here is the link.

http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/writings.php

Book Review: Our trees still grow in Dehra

This is a short biography of younger Ruskin Bond, life stories mostly from the days when he was growing up. And a few of them are from recent past. This book is a collection of sixteen stories and they are a lot more than fairy tales.

‘Escape from Java’ was no less adventure for young Bond. The aircraft he took along with his father and co-passengers to fly to India crashes into the sea and all the passengers stay afloat for days until help arrives. Other tales reflect the author’s relationship with his parents, grandparents and childhood friends.

Losing his loving father would have been painful for young Bond as one of the chapters show the melancholy, hardships to be faced when one loses his loved ones. Probably that incident would have made Bond an inward looking person and pick writing as a profession.

Few chapters are about his encounters with birds and animals in his grandparent’s house, learning to swim in a pond along with buffaloes, Tonga rides etc. And they all have the flavor of Bond, appreciation of nature, an irritation towards those who cut trees in the name of development, details of landmarks and the memories attached to them.

The story ‘What’s your dream?’ shows the mistake most of us do in our lives. It says the difficult times come when one realizes his dream. He then moves on to bigger dreams, and takes things for granted, but risks losing it all, even the first dream too may vanish.

Reading Bond can make one enjoy things what he has, appreciate what nature has given to us and not to be greedy. I am sure to read more of Ruskin Bond.

Book Review: Discovering the Vedas

What are the Vedas? Are they sacred messages from gods or expressions of nomads and tribal? What time period they came into existence? And where? What is unique in each of those four Vedas?

This book answers those questions by extracting concrete information from the oral tradition and archaeology. It sheds light on mantras and rituals that became bedrock of Hinduism and also contributed significantly to Buddhism. From this book I came to know that Gayatri Mantra we recite is one of the 1028 shloka's from Rigveda.

Author of this book, Frits Staal, came to India on a scholarship from Govt. of India to study Indian philosophy and Sanskrit at a university in Madras and he stuck to those subjects and they became his career.

This is a thoughtful and a remarkable book. It helps to understand the religious subject from historical perspective.

Book Review: Rivals: How the Power Struggle Between China, India, and Japan Will Shape Our Next Decade

India, China and Japan are three largest countries of Asia. They are neighbors and fiercely compete with each other for influence, markets and resources. They trade with each other but have border disputes too. The big brothers United States and Russia watching closely the developments in Asia, are taking sides, attempting manipulations and seek opportunities to benefit from it.

The former editor in chief of the 'The Economist' explores the history of Asia focusing on these three countries, identifies the flash points and danger zones such as Kashmir, Aurnachal Pradesh, Taiwan, Islands in East China sea etc, and also offers solutions to diffuse tension.

Reading this helps to know the issues better but not to interpret the future. So the set of questions remain as questions. Is it possible to resolve disputes which are unresolved for decades? Will the rivalry intensify or is there a possibility of Asia to unite like European union? What would come first, war or peace?

Book Review: Walking with the comrades

State borders of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharshtra slice through the forest of Dandakarnya, homeland to Maoists. But in the same place lies the opportunity for corporate to mine the minerals, build factories, power plants, refineries and dams. For these projects to come to life, tribal living in those places must be displaced. Those tribal become refugees of India’s progress. With their right to livelihoods gone, and unable to find a place in the ‘civilized’ world, they turn against the system. They create their own governing mechanism, set their own rules and even form their own military to defend and fight.

For those of us living in a comfortable world with materialistic ambitions, the life of the comrades of Naxalite movement seem a distant world but scratching below the surface opens up plethora of reasons why thousands of those volunteers come together, fight for a common reason, and create hope in many others to join the movement before they get killed.

Arundhati Roy makes a journey into Dandakaranya, walks miles with those comrades, listens to numerous stories and documents the journey in this pocket sized book. While the arguments are pro-naxalite throughout, she has made a sincere attempt in putting forward their points of view.