Quotes on Books-1:

A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit – John Milton

Book News-30: Lost Booker Prize

40 years after they missed out on Britain's top prize, the Booker, six writers get another chance at literary glory.

As you may be aware, the Booker Prize is open to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth.

The finalists of the 'Lost' category are:

1. Patrick White's, "The Vivisector"
2. J.G.Farrell's, "Troubles"
3. Mary Renault's, "Fire from Heaven"
4. Nina Bawden's, "The Birds on the Trees"
5. Shirley Hazzard's, "The Bay of Noon" and
6. Muriel Spark's, "The Driver's Seat"

Of the finalists, only Hazzard and Bawden are still alive, but all the books are still in print.

Excerpt from The Hindu, Trichy, of March 27, 2010.

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and AP.

Videos to Watch-1: "The Seven Books that changed My Life" by Suhail Algosaibi - Part I

Grateful thanks to Suhail Algosaibi, Stephen Covey and YouTube.

My Books-3: "Talks on the Gita" by Acharya Vinoba Bhave

I bought this great book at the Gandhi Museum, Madurai. Then I met Mr.Devadas Gandhi, who has dedicated his life to Gandhian way of life, teaching yoga and naturopathy. Then he introduced to a worker from Paunar. She very kindly signed the book for me. Unfortunately, I have not recorded the date of purchase and other details.

No spiritual aspirant should miss this book. Vinobaji's lucid commentaries on the Gita are simply wonderful and very easy to understand.

I am reproducing a few passages from the book:

...
...taking into consideration both the beginning and the end of the Gita, it is clear that the removal of delusion is its central message. This is the purpose of the Gita, as well as of the whole of the Mahabharata. Vyasa had said, right at the beginning of the Mahabharata, that he was lighting this lamp of history to dispel delusions in the minds of the people.

This introduction to Arjuna's conditions helps us greatly in understanding the rest of the Gita. We should be grateful for this. It also helps us in another way. It reveals Arjuna's straight-forwardness and honesty. The world 'Arjuna', in fact, means one who is honest and straightforward in nature. He opened out his heart before Krishna, laid bare before Him all that he felt and thought. He hid nothing from Him and ultimately surrendered to Him totally. In fact, he was already his devotee. When he made Krishna his charioteer and entrusted to Him the reins of his horses, he had got ready to give into His hands the reins of his mind also. Let us do likewise. Let us not think that, unlike Arjuna, we do not have Krishna to guide us. Let us not get caught in the fallacy that Krishna was an historical person. Everybody has Krishna residing in his heart as the indwelling Self. He is nearer to us than the nearest. Let us bare our heart, with all its impurities and weaknesses, before Him and say, "O Lord! I take refuge in you. You are my sole guide, my master. Show me the right path and I shall follow it." If we do so, Arjuna's charioteer will be our charioteer too. We shall hear the Gita from His own lips and He will leads to victory.

Excerpt from TALKS ON THE GITA by Vinobaji (2005 - Published by Paramdham Prakashan, Paunar).

Humble prostrations at the holy feet of Vinobaji and grateful thanks to Paramdham Prakashan.

Book of the day-13: Vivekananda, A Biography by Swami Nikhilananda

Swami Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863 in Calcutta and attained 'mahasamadhi' on July 4, 1902.

To understand the impact of his powerful life, I am reproducing a wonderful passage from the great book, "Eternal Values for A Changing Society" by Srimat Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj (Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai):

The Intensity of Vivekananda's Brief Life

"Swami Vivekananda's span of earthly life was hardly forty years, but within this short period, he lived an intense life, first as a student in school and college, then as the foremost disciple of his great Master, Sri Ramakrishna, then as a wanderer across the length and breadth of India, and lastly as the spiritual teacher of West and East. His public teaching commenced with his speeches at the World's Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893; and he passed away on 4 July 1902. He spent four intense years in the United States and England, and five equally intense years in India delivering his message of a universal and practical spirituality, and setting in motion a movement as an effective conduit for the furtherance of his message.

Everywhere, he taught man to realize his divine heritage. The innate divinity of man was the constant theme of his teachings. This teaching cuts across all divisions based on political or religious affiliations. Its assimilation by man will make for a character at once deep and broad. He held that spirituality was the core of every religion; dogmatic exclusiveness and intolerance are no part of true religion. The more spiritual a man, the more universal he is. He held that the modern age stood in urgent need of this education from religion, by which men will learn to make their love of God flow into the love and service of all men. He worked hard to give this spiritual orientation to the world's religions, so that they may be transformed into wholly constructive forces and become capable of redeeming modern man from his inner impoverishment in the context of external enrichment".

I am also furnishing links to some great books related to him:

Full text of the book, Vivekananda, A Biography by Swami Nikhilananda:
http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda_biography/vivekananda_biography.htm

Full Text of the book, Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda:
http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/reminiscences/reminiscences_of_sv.htm

Full Text of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (9 Volumes):
http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/complete_works.htm

Grateful thanks to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan; Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math; Advaita Ashrama; and Ramakrishna Vivekananda.info.

My Books-2: "A Better India, A Better World" by N R Narayana Murty

Yet another book bought at Moore Market, Chennai, during one of my visits to Chennai. N.R.Narayana Murty is one of my heroes. When I saw his name on the book, without hesitation, I bought it. It is a great, inspiring book. Contains his wonderful lectures delivered at various places, covering important topics.

His incisive thoughts, lucid style and brilliant ideas are contained in this book. My admiration for him has been growing with every lecture. It is a book that should be read by every Indian. Our Prime Minister's comments on this book are worth reproducing:

"Narayana Murty is a Role Model for millions of Indians, an iconic figure in the country. He is widely respected and looked up to not only for his business leadership but also for his ethics and personal conduct. He represents the Face of the New Resurgent India to the world. I am sure this collection of his speeches will inform, inspire and guide many in the years to come." - Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India.

Let me also reproduce the views of Bill Gates:

"Narayana Murty overcame many obstacles and demonstrated that it is possible to create a world-class, value-driven company in India. Through his vision and leadership, Murty sparked a wave of innovation and entrepreneurship that changed the way we view ourselves and how the world views India. In this collection of his speeches, he delivers a timely message about the importance of values and leadership in business."

Happy New Year!

Wish You All

a Happy, Prosperous and Purposeful 2010!

- Suri

My Books-1: "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga

After my retirement, I slowly started weeding out my books. This is as a result of the realization that some of the books were simply dying out, becoming a prey to silverfish and other tiny insects. Further, I realized that I may never open some of these books and so thought either they had to be weeded out or the ones in good condition to be gifted to friends and relatives, who would love receiving them.

Even after all these, I still have about 3000 books. I find it difficult to part with most of them.

Then I thought at least I should write about them in my blog - at random. Where to begin or with what to begin, was a difficult decision. So finally I have decided to select the books at random.

The first book that has come into my hands on random selection is 'The White Tiger' by Aravind Adiga. I bought this book during one of my visits to Chennai at Moore Market and have completed reading it on March 22, 2009. (I have this habit of signing on the last page with date when I finish a book). Sometimes I record the date and place where I bought a book with its price. In this book there is no such entry. I must have forgotten to record them.

The White Tiger is a debut novel of Aravind Adiga and it won him the Man Booker Prize in 2008. It is a tale of Balram Halwai, the son of a rickshaw-puller from a remote village and his life's journey upward. The disturbing element in the story is Halwai gets away with a murder and goes scot free. "Truth alone triumphs or falsehood and evil always lose; however clever may be the perpetrator of evil gets caught and punished at the end". This is what I have been taught and novels highlight this truth. Nowadays books like The White Tiger, probably reflecting the times, end with the evil-doer or wrong-doer going scot free. All these things happen in 'Kali Yug'. The other book that follows this type of thinking I have read is Paulo Coelho's 'The Winner Stands Alone'. For old fashioned people like me this trend is extremely disturbing.

Otherwise, the narration flows freely and holds one attention. It has been reviewed and discussed widely and has won name and fame for author. As such my writing anything further would only be superfluous.

For an article on The White Tiger from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Tiger

Grateful thanks to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

New Books-20: "The Charm of Mayavati Ashrama"

"Shades of Green", excerpt from the book 'Whole Earth Discipline" by courtesy of Conservation Magazine

To read an excerpt from the book, 'Whole Earth Discipline' by Stewart Brand, by courtesy of Conservation Magazine, click the URL underlined below:

Introduction to the excerpt from Conservation Magazine:

An icon of the environmental and counterculture movements of the 1960s, Stewart Brand created and edited The Whole Earth Catalog (1968–1985). Since then, he has cofounded the Global Business Network, The Long Now Foundation, and the All Species Foundation. Here, we offer you a small taste of his latest book, Whole Earth Discipline - (reproduced from Conservation Magazine).

Conservation Magazine » Blog Archive » Shades of Green

Posted using ShareThis

Grateful thanks to Stewart Brand, Conservation Magazine and ShareThis.