'Words to Live By : A Daily Guide to Leading an Exceptional Life' by Eknath Easwaran

Words to Live By - A Daily Guide to Leading an Exceptional Life by Eknath Easwaran

Pub. by Jaico Publishing House, Mumbai, 2006, pp.399, Paperback, Rs.295/-

It says, on the back cover of this book, 'Words have power, as advertisers know'. So they do. And when these words are quotations from the works of great men, and Easwaran's very lucid expositions of the words, they are even more powerful.

First, about the book itself. This is, as the title suggests, a guide to daily living. So there are 365 quotations followed by Easwaran's own life-experience descriptions. The quotations are multi-faith and multi-cultural, proving thereby that wisdom knows no barriers of time or space. Meister Eckhart rubs shoulders with Jafar, Swami Ramdas, Plotinus and Thomas Vaughan, to give an example - a Sufi saint, a Hindu mystic, a Roman and 17th century English metaphysical along with a Dutch thinker.

"Have thy heart in heaven and thy hands upon the earth. Ascend in piety and descend in charity, for this is the nature of light and the children of charity."

Easwaran explains, 'When our hands are busy with a worthwhile task and our mind busy with the mantram, we won't have much chance to brood on our problems.'

Then again, from the 19th century, Pre-Raphaelite poet, William Blake:

"He who binds himself to a joy

Doth the winged life destroy.

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in eternity's sunrise.'

On this Easwaran comments: '...When we grasp at another person, the real tragedy is that we cease to see that person, in our insecurity he or she merely becomes an object for propping ourselves up...'

Though this reviewer is not entirely in consonance with the commentaries on many of the passages, it is absolutely true that it is a good addition to one's reading list, because it gives much food for thought. ........

Beautifully produced, this book is a pleasure to read and handle. Entry at the bottom of every page gives us related passages, so that we can go back (or forward) to see them.

Eknath Easwaran left Indian shores almost half a century ago as a Fulbright scholar and built bridges between his own culture and others till his death in 1999.

This book is a very good start to one's daily reflections to boost the spirit.

- Excerpt of Review by Prema Raghunath, Chennai

(Courtesy: The Vedanta Kesari (The Lion of Vedanta) - Pub. by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai)(Sep.2007 issue)