The Power of Now !

The Power of Now !

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is the bible du jour -a must- read for anyone looking for a modern take on spirituality....

Essential reading for anyone who might be feeling weighed down by the past or fearful of the future !

This is how a review has been given to this amazing and powerful book !

Eckhart Tolle is one very unique person walking on this planet today ! He speaks from an ever present state that he is in ! As he is a realised person who is speaking from his own personal experience , it is near absolutely right to listen to this wonderful person ! 

In the talks , discourses and comments on the Power of Now , he is sharing with us the most essential

guide to tell us that being in the present moment is where we can always be peaceful , joyful and happy ! It is in the now , that we can be free from the pain of the past

and the anxiety and apprehension of the future !  Problems do not exist in the present Now !!

Once we able to access the inner space of the present Now , we can work our way out of psychological pain and become authentic . 

As authentic humans we are true to ourselves and to others ! We stop playing games with ourselves and other people ! 

It is only in the now , that we realise that we are already complete and perfect !

Eckhart Tolle , in his trademark , gentle , soft fashion will take you to the ever present sense of being in the Now ! Even as he speaks , you can start to feel the sense of being in this wonderful space where all becomes still and peaceful ! Just go to YouTube and watch his wonderful videos . I never get tired of watching him again and again ! I just love to keep sharing this amazing soul to as many people as I can ! I simply love this guy !

This is another great book that you have to read and read again and again !

All you have to do to get to this inner space of peace and joy , is to keep watching Eckhart's videos and read a page or two every day ! Do that for a month and I promise you , that you will be a different person ! 

Do I need to say more !!

Now , please make an effort and see the magic of being transformed !

Do it ! That is it !

Thank you once again for coming to read my simple reviews ! The reviews are more like pointers to the Real ! Believe me , I have seriously read these books and now am sharing the nuggets that are beyond value !

The Power of Now is one such nugget !

Take care . Till we meet again .

Amar. 

I Am That ! Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj .

I Am That ! Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj .

Today I am going to share one of the best and greatest books that I have been reading for 23 years !

When I say , reading  , it means that this book is a book that I read again and again  ! This is a book that you read just like you eat or even breath ! This book is nourishment for my thirsty and hungry spirit ! This book was first published in 1973 ! It is  actually the talks of Sri Nisargatta in Marathi . Some people tape recorded , others translated or edited this marvelous book !
It is so highly spoken off book , that one statement from the forward to the book is worth sharing with you . ' In fact , many regard it as the only book of spiritual teaching really worth studying ! '
Here is a book that is so pure and direct to the point that it is awesome and amazing !
This Great Spiritual Master does not minch his words on matters of the spirit ! He does straight to
the Real and keeps holding you to That , That Is all the way !
On the very cover of the book that I have are this words ! '
' The Real does not die , the unreal never lived . Imagine a big building collapsing , some rooms are in ruins , some intact .
But can you speak of the space as ruined or intact ?
It is only the structure that suffered and the people who happened to live in it . Nothing happens to space itself ! Similarly , nothing happens to life when forms break down and names are wiped out .
Once you know that death happens to the body and not to you ,you just watch your body falling off , like a discarded garment !
The Real you is timeless and beyond birth and death !
The body will survive as long as it is needed . it is not important that it should live long ! '
now just reading the above lines from the cover of the book has expressed everything ! It is the very essence or core of the great book !
Here is one Master of the highest Upanishadic traditions !
A Real true teacher of the Vedantic path of Oneness !
He stands high as a pure state of awareness and oneness and needed no ashrams or followers !

He lived on his terms and is one of the great free spirits that I know !
All I can say, at the end is that this is a book you have to taste , chew and eat slowly ! Digesting this knowledge and pure wisdom will change and transform you completely !
This so-called  review is more of just pointing to you to this book !
It is a book that you have to understand on your terms .
Please read it ! Thank you.
Till we meet again , take care .
Amar.

How I found Freedom in an Unfree World !

How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World !

Today , I am going to review another book that I read about 40 years ago ! I not only read this book so many times since than , but it also had such an impact on my life and thinking !

This wonderful book , How I found Freedom in an Unfree World is written by Harry Browne .

It is a book that will take you to first  to make you understand that how you got yourself into such a mess by getting so many traps or boxes .

It tells you why you are not free . The countless traps that we get into . We are trapped into the identity trap , the morality trap , the intellectual and emotional trap , the unselfish trap , the group trap , the government trap , the rights trap , the despair trap and so many others .

After the author explains why we are not free , he than goes to explain how to be free from all this traps .

Freedom from Government , freedom from social restrictions ,  freedom from bad relationships , freedom from insecurity , freedom from family and a host of others .

Than he goes on to take you to see how you can move towards a new life .

I can tell you that this  book is  really worth its weight in in whatever you value .

At the end you can come to understand how we get so messed om our lives . 

We do it to ourselves ! Unknowingly , we take upon ourselves so much of stuff that does not belong to us .

We have to always be vigilant in life .

So , my friends , go search about this wonderful man , Harry Browne and see what a great person he was ! I love him and owe so much to him . 

Till we meet again , take care .

Amar.

Who has not heard of Jonathan Livingston Seagull !

Who has not heard of Jonathan Livingston Seagull !

Here is another very small book that made a great impact on me and thousands of others ! Richard Bach , the author was travelling and had no idea that his small , little book had made him a rich man and also very successful !

I have read this small book many times . It is so liberating and fresh to know how we can spread our wings and just fly ! We are all capable of doing what Jonathan did with her/his life ! I take great joy and pride to say that this simple book is one of my great teachers ! I too had a rebellion streak in me . To rebel is not to be rowdy or arrogant , no , it was just a deep sense of wanting to go beyond what others were fearing to go or do !

Just as Jonathan , I could not understand all the limitedness that was constantly being placed around me and us all the time ! I just wanted to challenge the limits and boundaries around . I wanted to know for the sake of knowing ! Knowing is so much fun ! I know that water is made from two gases ! Take Oxygen and Hydrogen and at the right time , we actually get water ! Wow ! 

Jonathan was always being restricted by the elders . They had their own fears and limitedness . Seagulls cannot fly at night ! Seagulls cannot dive or try new ways of flying ! Seagulls are only suppose to stay within the narrow confirms of just being that , Seagulls .

The inner call or awakening was just too over powering for Jonathan ! Jonathan did what it felt like doing . That was going against the moral/standard of seagull code of conduct . Jonathan was punished by the elders to be banished far away from the ordinary colony of the average seagulls . The elders were fearful that other gulls may get influenced and start following Jonathan . The same old problem and solution to an age old issue ! Our brightest humans all went through the same passage ! 

Jonathan was left to her/his own devices and life . Initially felt lonely and sad , but , once it got into the real work , it soon forgot its misery. It was now enjoying and exploring the real potential that was within ! 

One day , Jonathan was pleasantly surprised to see two other seagulls flying along side Jonathan . They were just as capable of doing what Jonathan could do ! Than , Jonathan was to learn that there are seagulls that also live on a higher plain or level ! That is when Jonathan is taken to meet the great Chang ! This great master seagull than teaches Jonathan the real teachings of the beyond the mind/body stuff ! 

What a wonderful and beautiful story that has so many hidden and secret teachings all within a simple book ! That is the hallmark of an enlightened master !

I will always thank Richard Bach for the great book .

Please , my dear friends , if you have not read this book , than do it .

I have come to the realisation , that it is not the size or pages of writings or the size of books that matter .  Some of this simple books are hidden gems that we must find and keep .

Take care . Til we meet again .

Amar.

The Pursuit of Perfect !

The Pursuit of Perfect ! 

The pursuit of Perfect is a wonderful book written by Tal Ben-Shahar , Ph.D . He is a popular teacher in Harvard University . He teaches a very popular course on ' happiness ' .  As wonderful and useful it is to understand ways to be happy , Tal Ben-Shahar found that most of his students , parents and others around were always stressed-out ! He discovered that people when searching for happiness were also wanting to be perfect ! 

Now , I want to share this wonderful and great book to you because , I feel , that most of us have a problem ! ( Including me ! ) . We all want to be perfect ! Somewhere in our early life , we get trapped into this need to be perfect ! As a youngster, I too wanted to be perfect . It went on in many aspects of my life. I can share with you that we just get into a weird situation of always chasing perfection and searching or hoping to be happy in that chase ! Only to go on chasing this illusive desire , need or dream of achieving perfection ! It's like a wild goose chase . We all who want to be successful have a need and high expectation to get what we want . The society too puts pressure on us ! We want to look younger , to make more money , want to be happy and stand out or tall in our society . All these need to be perfect is a hurdle or obstacle to being happy .

The book is well researched with cutting edge groundbreaking  scientific principles from the field of Positive psychology . Tal Ben-Shahar is a wonderful human being who is worth listening to . Watch him on YouTube and you will not be disappointed . 

In this wonderful book ,  Tal ,has a very gentle way of teaching  us about how we become obsessed with the idea of perfection . I have been thinking about the meaning of perfect and I honestly do not understand it today ! I simply don't know how this ideas got into us to be perfect ! In the field of psychology or psychiatry , we have a condition known as OCD . Obsessive compulsive disorder . 

Our behave of perfection is closely related to this OCD ! 

When we have an OCD personalty or what some people think is perfect , it can be very stressful and tiring . I want my physical body to be 75.00 Kilos . So , I am now going to do all sorts of strange things to get my desired  75.00 Kilos ! If I become 76.00 ,then I am not happy or satisfied ! I know that going back to 75.00 Kilos is good as from 76.00 , I can go towards 77.00 and so on . The point is it's okay to what has happened and just be mindful . Unfortunately , many people really get stressed that now they are 77.00 or whatever weight . That is really bad . The perfectionist is rigid and critical of his situation . He/she actually become very hard on themselves . They start to abuse or self- bully !

The goals becomes more important then having a good life . The perfectionist set their mind on the destination and not the journey . 

Tal , coined a new word , Optimalist .  The Optimalist is a realist , sees life as made of ups and downs.

Understands failure as part of living and in fact uses failure as a feedback to move forward. Optimalist also is forgiving and open to suggestions.

This is a very real subject that we have to become aware off . Being perfect is very stressful .

I really urge all the people to please read this wonderful book .

That's enough for today , til we meet again . Take care. 

Dr Dhali /Amar.

A Transformational Book : The Four Agreements !

A Transformational Book : the Four Agreements !

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz , comes from a very old and ancient tradition .

It's a book from the Toltec who live around the Mexican , Central America area . 

The Toltecs call themselves Artist of Life . 

This small book made a very great impact on me ! 

As small and as simple it appears , it is a book of great wisdom and depth !

The author , Don Miguel Ruiz has a very simple way of expressing the teachings of the Toltec tradition . Let not the simple book deceive you ! 

The Four Agreements are really very powerful tools , if I can call them so , that reveal the source of  our self-limiting beliefs that we acquire from birth . We are born in the pure nature of being in Oneness with all and everything . That is our true and natural state . I like to call it , our wild state ( I write a blog under the tittle , WildOne ! ) 

As we are born , we are domesticated , as Don M. Ruiz ,likes to put it . I can express it in another way . We are programmed or conditioned by the programmers who are there earlier than us , in the form of parents , teachers , religious teachers and all other relevant people in our life !

This domestication is how we acquire all the belief systems into our mind ! That, than becomes our reality as we see or understand everything through this filter system ! The reality or the so called truth is so real for us that we do all sorts of evil to each other ! All our differences start from these belief systems ! In fact , this is the root of our divisions , differences , prejudices and all the rest of the human drama !

Unknowingly or unwittingly , we start to agree to endless believes on everything in our life and world ! It's just so amazing how we accept all the agreements to take that to be our reality . We are all trapped in this beliefs and it is near impossible to come out of them ! They have such a complex and complicated system that has it's own feed back loop within the system ! There are all sorts of fears, concerns and other emotional feelings of feeling guilty or shame and many more ! It's just amazing how we are trapped in such an elaborate prison that most of us not even aware !

The Four Agreements are just amazing on how they are able to cut through all the growth of the beliefs ! Just read it and you will see the magic and miracle of the Four Agreements.

The Four Agreements are : 

                                         1. Be Impeccable With Your Word ! Speak with integrity and say what you mean . Avoid using words to speak against yourself or to gossip about others . Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love ! 

                                         2.Don't Take Anything Personally ! Nothing others do is because of you ! What others say and do is a projection of their own reality , their own dream.When you are immune to the opinions ans actions of others , you won't be victim of needless suffering !

                                         3.Don't Make Assumptions ! Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want . Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstanding , sadness and drama . With just this one agreement , you can completely transform your life !

                                         4.Always Do Your Best !Your best is going to change from moment to moment , it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick . Under any circumstance , simply do your best , and you will avoid self-judgement , self-abuse , and regret !

I simply want to thank Don M. Ruiz for giving and sharing this very profound truth that will really transform you !

This is another book that I have been reading always , so that the teachings become part of me !

I wish and hope that they can become part of your life too !

With this I take my leave. Til we meet again .

Dr Dhali /Amar.

Siddharttha , a book authored by Hermann Hesse .

Siddhartha , a book written by Hermann Hesse .

Today I like to express my feelings about a little book that I first read in 1968 ! While walking the streets of Poona ( Pune ) , in India , I saw this wonderful book lying among many books that were labelled as used/secondhand books ! The book belonged to a person from Quebec , Canada !

Even than I picked the book up with  reverence and love ! Even today , after 46 years , I touch this book with utmost love !

Hermann Hesse , A Nobel Price winner wrote many wonderful books that are really worth a read. His writings are about the thin line where the mystical and real are merging into a blurring reality . I can only read the translated versions of his beautiful books . They must be so wonderful in German !

This book , Siddhartha is a rare kind of book because it has a strange way of not leaving you once you have picked it ! It becomes a lifelong love story ! It keeps expanding within you and the roots keep growing deep into your very essence of being !

It's a simple story of our search to understand the meaning or ultimate answer to the mystery of being here on earth ! The story is woven during the times of Buddha ! The Awakened One is already preaching his Nobel Path. Siddhartha , the main character is a youngster who is earnestly wanting to understand the enigma of man's role here on earth. He is not satisfied with just being a Brahmin following rituals and traditions . He begs his parents to let him go into the world to search the answers to the mystery of life . A good and close friend too joins him ( Govinda is his name ).

The beautiful journey takes Siddhartha through a tortuous path that carries him through the many ways of the world. He , like the Buddha , wants to find the reality or truth his way ! It's worth reading to see the many experiences that Siddhartha had to go in life to slowly but ultimately find the answer to his quest .

The self - knowledge that he attains is so wonderfully simple and comforting !

It's a gentle book that can easily be read in a single night ! I must have read it a dozen or more times !

I actually always see myself walking the same path that Siddhartha walked !

Read it and you will know what I mean !

Oh, before I take my leave , there was a movie made in the early 70's ! It's also worth watching the movie .

Til we meet again . Amar/ Dr Dhali.

My First Book Review : The Bible !

My First Book Review : The Bible !

I have decided to review my first book on this blog . I have chosen to review or write on the Bible !

First disclaimer that I have to express is that I am no Bible scholar or anything of that sort whatsoever! 

I just felt or got inspired this morning to express my views on the Bible ! That's it !

I grew up in a multi -racial , multi-religious , multi-culture country . So , from early childhood , it was natural to be exposed to all the multi people !

My schooling was done in a Christian brothers school . I enjoyed the stories from the Old testament and the New testament .  Personally , the life of Christ has always fascinated and excited me .

I read St. Luke's Gospel and found that easier to comprehend . Later , I found that St Luke too was a medical healer ! I . too am a medical doctor .
Firstly , the Bible is a wonderfully interesting story ! As a child hearing the many adventures and challenges that were experienced by Jesus kept me fascinated and in wonderment . Here was a simple person who was able to to see the common life of the people and their never ending struggles . He understood their plight as he grew among them . Yet , he saw everything from a very different perspective . As he walked about seeing and meeting the common people he was able to understand the wants and needs of the people .
His Divine mission and being a spiritual being is a topic that is beyond my scope here.
What fascinates me is his very simple way of connecting with the ordinary people and able to express , teach or show by example a wonderful way of living . He spoke in ways that make very good common sense .
The many parables or stories of those times are really lessons in Human behaviour . He is a Master Psychologist !
Let me share some of those parables : Here , Jesus is walking with his friends/ followers or what ever term we want to give them . As they are walking on this highway , they come across a wounded man on the side of the road . He was badly injured or hurt . He was in pain and needed help urgently . Jesus being a very compassionate and loving person who was able to see every one as one immediately went towards the wounded man to help . It is a naturally  Human instinct . However , his friends cautioned him against helping the poor wounded person ! The reason being that he was from a different tribe / village/ race or whatever . Jesus was very upset with their attitude . Today , most of us will be !
So , he had to teach them that we are all One Beings. We are all brothers/sisters of the one Human family . That was taught over 2000 years ago ! That is a truth that is timeless for all of us .
We, today , are no different from the people who walked with Jesus that day ! We are all so full of differences, prejudices and bias feelings to so many people who look or are different from us .
That simple parable is still absolutely relevant today as it was then .
On another occasion , Jesus was again walking about on a holiday or more correctly a Holly- day. I day to stop doing worldly work and pray or remember God . A wonderful way to live . Work and rest to have a balanced living . Nothing wrong with that . However, on that day, a poor farmer had other worries and concerns ! His cow/calf had fallen into a hole of some sort . The poor animal was hurt and in pain. Not taking the animal  out soon was not an option. The animal was badly hurt and weak . It was dying . People refused to do anything as it was a Holly-day and the priests were very strict and rigid with their rules ! Jesus , again had to explain to the people the common sense of understanding the reality of the situation . He had to tell them , that if the animal is not taken out of the hole , it will die .
That too is a parable that shows how we become so rigid and dogmatic to beliefs and traditions that we simply forget to see what needs to be done in the present now ! We are facing the same today .
Bureaucracy and what we call red tape is sometimes unbelievable .
I can go on and show that all the wonderful teachings and parables of Jesus are timeless truths and realities that are still relevant today as it was then .
To me the Bible is a wonderful prescription book that we need to understand and apply to our life !
Jesus Christ is a Master Healer who heals from many angels ! We need to open our heart , eyes and more to understand the mission of  Christ .
With this I will end my first book review . I think I took quite a challenge starting this way !
Thank you for reading . Til we meet again .
Dr Dhali /Amar.