Book: Open-Eyed Meditations
Author: Shubha Vilas
Genre: Self-Help
Publisher: Finger Print Publication
The Epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, besides being great stories are treasure trove of ancient wisdom. The short stories within these epics can become important life lesson…we just need to look, to understand.
It becomes easier to learn and comprehend this wisdom if someone guides in the right direction.
The book ‘Open Eyed Meditations’ is an attempt to help understand and answer the puzzle of day-to-day life.
I have read the earlier book ‘Ramayana…….’ by Shubha Vilas and though I was not much impressed by it, I still opted to read this new book mostly because I got curious.
And, I find this one better than the previous one. “Open Eyed Meditations” has small nuggets of wisdom derived from the stories of the epics and applied in today’s world.
Take for example the chapter ‘Magic Carpet for Relationships’ where author has given the perfect example of Krishna’s love for Arjun. Krishna addressed Arjun by various names that were his qualities. By appreciating all his qualities Krishna had a lovable bond…a everlasting relationship with Arjun. Shubha Vilas has summed it well “The 5Cs of appreciation are continuous, constant, costructive, contemplative and conscious…it then become contagious and comes back to you”
Another chapter on whether love is defined in kisses and gifts, he gives the examples of deep love of Sita who sacrificed the worldly comforts to go with Rama and of Urmila’s love who sacrificed her right to be with her husband so that he may fulfill his duty. For a loving relationship what is required is an unconditional love and not superficial things like gifts etc.
An example which I found most interesting was in the chapter dealing with the choice of quantity or quality. In today’s social media trending world, I have often wondered about those bloggers who claim to have thousands of followers and at times I have felt helpless when I compared myself to them. The example of Arjun who chose Krishna instead of Yadav army for Mahabharat battle and Duryodhana chose the entire Krishna’s army clearly shows who chose quality and who chose the quantity. The Pandavas were victorious despite having smaller army because they had the quality…the brains and blessings of Krishna.
This example made me realize that number of followers on social media might not always mean that my work is of lesser or better quality! This story and the wisdom associated came to my notice at the time when I was feeling little dejected and it made sense to me….I am less worried now…I guess I knew this truth somewhere at the back of my logical thinking…it just needed to be prodded to come out.
There are 64 such chapters reflecting on life lessons that include little insights on love, relationships, leadership, courage, success, emotions, character and personality development. This book has tried to bring forth ancient wisdom for the modern lives in a very easy and simple way.
It is a good read and reader may get an unbiased third person viewpoint on certain issues that my ring true to them.
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Its been a while since I read and reviewed any book. Then Writer’s Melon sends me this book.
This is a very different book, a first of its kind, that I received for review along with a beautiful mug printed with the book cover and a hand written note by the author Priya Kumar.
Action stories, detective and spy mysteries have always attracted me. A few of them have a hint of subtle love story too.
I have time and again made it obvious that I do not like to read kindle version of books…it somehow never satisfies me to read a digital book as much a paperback does!
Opening with a morbid thought of death, the first few lines of story did nothing to encourage me to read the rest of the book. However the red cover of the book with little hearts, wine bottles, cupcakes and a young couple suggested that the story might be anything but morbid!
With quite an interest in baking, I am not new to the exotic names of desserts and hence the name of the book “Crème brûlée” by Ramona Sen intrigued me enough to opt for reviewing the story.
Politics and caste-ism are two issues where I usually go mute. One because I do not understand or rather try not to understand the way political parties function by throwing muck at each other, pulling each other down and causing furore over progressive ideas instead of uniting and making the nation a real gem in the world. And two because I am uncomfortable about the caste system still prevailing in the country.
Blame it on television serials and movies, the word ‘Tantric’ invokes more often an image of a man with evil look in his eyes and unkempt long white hair dressed in red toga performing black magic with bones of dead around him…
I was introduced to a world of thrillers quite early since my father had a collection of Jason Bourne Series, Godfather by Mario Puzo and Robert Ludlum books. In school as a teenager I was allowed to read Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Alfred Hitchcock but at home I had access to my father’s collection. Later in college I read Sidney Sheldon, Tom Clancy, Robin Cook and many more….It has been a few years now that I have laid hands on books by foreign authors of crime fiction and thrillers.
Shoma Abhyankar 