THE ALCHEMIST

                             A FABLE ABOUT FOLLOWING YOUR DREAM

                  Author-Paulo Coelho

         A review by RAJESH CHANDRA

 “ When you want something, the entire Universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

It is a story of a Shepherd who is contented in his world of Sheep and little wonders of the world and follows his recurrent dream to his destiny through the wisdom of a Old King  who teaches him to read the Omens and to believe in his dreams and destiny.

A series of dreams takes him to a dream reader who points him to the direction of his destiny of treasure. His dreams bring a wise old King to him who ignites the flame in him to find the treasure and follow his dreams to his destiny. With the adage-  “ When you dream and set out to your destiny, the entire Universe conspires to achieve it for you.”, the Shepherd gets his wise adviser in the old King  who teaches him about the world of dreams, destiny, omens and universal language of the nature.

The protagonist risks his entire possession in pursuit of his dreams and set out on his journey to follow his dreams even walking past the girl whom he has dreamt about for an year. He crosses into an alien land with alien language, religion and culture; it was Egypt, the mighty  Arab land of Desert and Pyramids.

He is tested by his destiny on his strength of conviction to his dreams. Robbed off all his possession, he works hard in a crystal shop and earns enough to cross the desert. Here his destiny favours him and the owner of the crystal shop in which he works too. And he learns his next lesson, Perseverance on the path of dreams pay off more than what you ever risked. Also, that some people stop short of their destiny and amass the means to achieve it and then remain stagnant and rooted short of destiny.

He, once again is at the cross roads, whether to  return back and be satisfied of a comfortable life but short of his destiny or to go on trail of his ultimate destiny risking his possessions and life across the mighty desert. He chooses  to follow his dreams again and becomes a part of a caravan. He learns the ways of Camels and the Caravan, the omens of the desert and reaches a Oasis where he finds the next love of his life. He gets rooted on the oasis due to  a war between the tribes. Here he finds Fatima, the girl of the desert who becomes a part of his destiny.

The Shepherd meets  an Alchemist whose eyes show the strength of his soul and inspires him to read the omens of the desert and he guides him to explore his capabilities to converse in the universal language. The boy, in adversity learns in communicating with the elements of the desert, the wind and the sun. These elements in turn guides him to his inner self, the hand that made the world.

After arming with the language of the nature he sets out to his destination of treasure, the pyramids. Here the Universe conspires again to bring his destiny closer and is tested close to death and whispers the secret of treasure. The man who chose to shun his dreams, gifts his destiny to the Shepherd.

The Alchemist is the one who has mastery over the nature of metals; they can change metals  into Gold but the real Alchemist is one who can play with the forces of nature itself and shape his own destiny rather than the destiny of few metals. This book is full of deep insights and may this book lead to the discovery of Alchemist in You.

            RAJESH CHANDRA

The Book

   Of

 Secrets

 ( Author- Deepak Chopra )

    A review by Rajesh Chandra.

The Book of Secrets by Dr.Deepak Chopra is a book of universal spiritual secrets with a difference. It consists of 15 secrets assorted as chapters. The book plays its role as a magnifying glass to magnify the minute secrets of spirituality unfathomable to an ordinary person. The secrets encompass various dimensions of soul, philosophy,science, psychology, healing, universal macrocosm and microcosm.

The various Chapters as Secrets are:-

• Ø    The Mystery of Life is Real.
• Ø    The World is in You.
• Ø     Four Paths leads to Unity
• Ø    What You seek, You already are.
• Ø    The Cause of Suffering is  Unreality.
• Ø    Freedom tames the Mind.
• Ø    Every Life is Spiritual.
• Ø    Evil is not your Enemy.
• Ø    You Live in Multidimensions.
• Ø    Death makes Life Possible.
• Ø    The Universe Thinks through You.
• Ø    There is no Time but Now.
• Ø    You are truly Free when you are Not a Person.
• Ø    The meaning of life is Everything.
• Ø    Everything is pure Essence.

The author seems to be diving deeper than most of the religious founders in exposition of secrets connecting the Soul, Mind and body to science, psychology, poetry, creativity, positivity, negativity and the Universe. It is a more than a Self Help book in its endeavour to convince the intimate  relationship of the Universe with every objects and living being as its subsystem. The projection of mind ,the perceptions, reality and unreality concepts reminds one of the ancient Hindu scriptural concepts although the author has peeled off the religious leanings and has stuck to objectivity.

The analysis of belief, reality, perceptions, self image, pain , suffering and cementing of suffering by the magician mind is beautifully narrated with examples and followed by its dissection and practical exercises to tame and cope it.

A special mention has to be made about the secrets revealed about good-evil, predetermination- freedom, Vidya-Avidya, and life-death companions,

           Some of the enchanting aphorisms  dug out from among the secrets are:-

Apoptosis- “ For every cell, there is a time to live and a time to die.”

Perception is the world; the world is perception.

Being a creator is more important than the whole world.

Everything I am experiencing reflects myself.

The Universe is mirror of consciousness.

You are living in many dimensions at once; the appearance of being trapped in time and space is illusion.

Whatever I pay attention to will grow.

You are dying every moment so that you can keep creating yourself.

The purpose of death is to imagine yourself into a new form with a new location in space and time.

The absolute break between life and death is an illusion.

The Universe thinks through You.

Even as motion is inherent in the air, manifestation is inherent in the consciousness.

            It is a book of treasure  for every spiritual enthusiasts, philosophers, seekers who want a peep into the realm of beyond, psychology enthusiasts, self help freaks, healing enthusiasts, atheists, agnostics and religious fanatics who want to have a speck of real spirituality

            Even the spiritually blind can have some vision of deep connectivity of the self to the universe. Its the book of transformation. The author’s impeccable logic , facts and insights lead you to your inner trip of knowledge. A must read book for your MIND.

Rajesh Chandra

                                    The freethinker’s

     Prayer Book

  And some words to Live by

     Author- Khushwant Singh

           A review by Rajesh Chandra

          

             Its an agnostics  peep into the spiritual sphere. Khushwant Singh, the dirty old mischievous man, as he likes himself to be portrayed as, reveals an entirely different persona, who has a penchant for beyond the horizon.

            This book comes from a man who is in his 90’s and staring into death's eyes boldly, fully contended, not scared of an eternal hell waiting to burn him or enthusiastic about heavenly afterlife.

            The agnostic in him appreciates the magic of poetry, aphorism, songs and maxims from the stalwarts of the spiritual world. He has shared this space with the mavericks, founders of religions, mystics, philosophers, messiahs, prophets, saints, statesmen, Poets, Avatars , across religion, geography and timeline.

            The collection spans over many years recommended by his friends, visitors, inspired from books and other sources.

The book is divided into four parts-

1.The Books and other Holy Texts.

2. Prophets, mystics and Saints.

3. Philosophers, Poets and other Wordsmiths.

4. One Last Miscellany

            The book starts with a rationale for agnosticism and a mild critique of religions as they have become prescriptive, intolerant, violent and prejudiced. Apart from the outer hard shell of exclusiveness, religions still share some common thread of spiritual and moral moorings

            Khushwant traverses from the hymns of the Rig Veda, Upanishads, Bible, Quran, Guru Granth Sahib, Avesta to the poems of Keats, Maxims of Kabir, Hafiz, Manzur, Mahavira, Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde, Tagore, Khalil Gibran, Confucius and many more thinkers and philosophers.

                              Some of my favourite maxims that find a space here are:-

                  

                                    He whose mind is free from anxiety in the face of suffering,

             Who is indifferent to pleasure as to pain

             Who is beyond passion ,fear, anger and hate

             He alone is the most excellent sage.

             *** The Bhagvad Gita ***

                   Whosoever destroys a soul,

                It is considered as if he destroyed an entire world.

                And whosoever saves a life,

                It is considered as if he saved an entire world.

                 *** Hillel the Elder ***

                     If God has spoken,

           why is the universe not convinced?

             *** Percy Byssche Shelley ***

                     Is God willing to prevent the evil but not able?

               Then he is not omnipotent.

                Is he able but not willing ?

                Then he is malevolent.

                Is he both willing and able?

               Then  whence cometh evil ?

                Is he neither able nor willing?

               Then why call him a God

                 *** Epicurus***

                           He that gives should never remember.

                     He that receives should never forget.

                    *** The Talmud ***

                The author has penned down his own life codes with an emphatic emphasis on  Ahimsa or non violence. Many of the universal quotes can be found scattered on the internet. But Khushwant's  lucid presentation of  insightful  precepts through the eclectic poetic words of mystics, mavericks, eccentrics and poets will be a inspiration, entertainment and treat to the discerning readers.

                Enjoy the different role of the grand old man of Indian literature in an entirely new version.

*** Rajesh Chandra ***

Asura-Tale of the Vanquished

     The story of Ravana and his People

        Author- Anand Neelakantan

        A review by Rajesh Chandra

The 503 page book by the Keralite author is a tale of the vanquished, a voice to the voiceless of the faded ones in the annals of the epic, myth, history of ancient India. The underlying principle being-   “ The Hunted may have a different tale of bravery; the Lion may have a different tale to tell which may be different from the hunters, if at all allowed to.” Histories and epics are written by victors for the victors and to eulogize their victories. Beneath the iceberg of this victory, is often hidden the vast expanse of bravery, chivalry, rectitude, and the aspiration of the vanquished.

While Ramayana is the story of Lord Rama who won over the tyrant Lankan demon King Ravana, who is burnt and killed in effigy every year, in every village in India , year after year, every year, since he was slayed thousands of years; ‘Asura’, is a welcome swerve and presents a different perspective from Ravanas side.

Here we see an assorted line of characters that we miss in the Ramayana, whose role has been derided and relegated to that in the local folklore and has refused to die down through thousands of years. Some of the chief characters in this tale are- Emperor Mahabali the patriarch and  epitome of Asura civilization, Emperor Ravana- the savior and pride of the Asura race, Bhadra- the common lowly Asura , who shares the vision of his saviour King, Kumbakarna, Vibhishana, Mandodari, Prahastha, Meghanad ,Athikaya, Mayan, Jambumali, Varuna-the pirate, Surpanaka, Rudraka,Mala, Kubera etc from the Lankan camp.

           Those from the Deva camp are Rama- the prince of Ayodhya, Lakshmana, Sita- Ravana’s daughter, Vanaras-Bali, Hanuman, Sugreeva, Angad.

The story-line revolves around the Ramayana, with imports from epic  folklores from various parts of India and a mish mash of fiction often surprisingly magnifying and modifying the original characters in the Ramayana.The tale delves into the clash of civilizations of Asuras, Devas and Vanaras. Ravana, the mascot of Asuras, fight for his race, civilization and equality of humanity in the footsteps of his mentor, Mahabali, the great. He fights for the pride of his nation, to consolidate the Asura empire, to avenge atrocities on his sister, to save his daughter Sita from the clutches of the barbarian Devas, whose culture was infamous for poor women’s rights and their suppression, to keep Brahminical ideas of casteism at bay and above all to be the next Mahabali of the Asuras.

While common Asuras like Bhadra, the black, short, common Asura shares Ravana's vision and fight for survival, country, race and pride; war and  loss of loved ones forces one to retract, ponder and wonder, whose war is it anyway.

The story brings forth a clash in ideology of dharma, brahminism, casteism and all the malaise in vogue within the  society .The backdrop of a war with clash of race, a fathers pride and love to the extreme extent of sacrificing his family, country and power, yet, to be demonised across the religious world for eternity as a perennial symbol of demon with exaggerated ten heads. The war is of the Kings. They lose and die; or win and savour it. The common folk  of all ilk suffer pillage, plunder and rape in war and peace alike, though varying in degrees. They live and die for the dreams of the nobles. They sacrifice their life for the ideologies they seldom have an inkling about. The dirt poor are always the losers but they have the unique knack of surviving past the high and mighty of the world. 

 The Emperors, countries and culture are vanquished and fade into the shadows of past and survive in name, inscriptions and symbols but it the likes of the lowest of Asura whose eyes survive to see the high and mighty rise and fall. They sell their dreams for the high and mighty and what they get in favour is apathy. Ravana and Bhadra's thought process is very well depicted and scores well and stand as independent characters, often contrary and questioning the conscience. The book is thrilling with lot of surprises and has made good use of resurrecting the forgotten little characters who walked the sideways of alleys of the grand epic.

A must read to explore the other side of fence and to mitigate the prejudice mounted over the Asuras since time immemorial. Enjoy reading..........

 *** RAJESH CHANDRA ***

A review of the book- "The Roll of Dice: Duryodhanas Mahabharata - Ajaya Book 1." and " Rise of Kali- Duryodhanas Mahabharata- Ajaya Book -2." Author- Anand Neelakantan.

It is a book which depicts the epic- Mahabharata from the point of view of the Kauravas. The author has presented it as an antithesis perspective epic-sequel  in honour of the vanquished in the lore of History. It follows his book,'The roll of Dice: Duryodhanas Mahabharata" - Ajaya Book 1. Both the two volumes are the flip side of the Mahabharata with its Heroes and villains reversed.

The plot is excellent and the author has done justice to the vanquished side.The depth of his detailing of characters and its perspective is adorable. With a simple, clear and powerful presentation, Anand has been able to keep the book thrilling and aching for more.

The book helps in understanding the Mahabharata better and throws off the veil of Heroes and Villains and present the characters in a more human way. The divinity of characters is ripped off and they are presented as mere mortals. Even Lord Krishna is presented as a manipulator and  someone who likes to play God. The book though revolves around the epic- Mahabharata,it derives hugely from the lesser known folklores and stories that are not part of the original epic.

The central philosophy of the book delves with the principles of Dharma, Adharma and Varna-the caste system.It sometimes even fits the ancient plot in the framework of current timeline, philosophy, ideas and politics.

The characters are given casteist shades to paint them Adharmic most probably to give voice and strength to the villains of the epic.

          It seems this black-wash of central characters of Mahabharata was necessary to give voices to the vanquished. The fact that many of the stalwarts like Bhishma, Drona,Karna etc sided with the Kauravas and that unfair means were used for a fair objective is thought provoking.

          However many of the original events within the epic has been ignored,modified and chiselled in such a way which doesn't justify some of the characters.Fictional events, fictional philosophy and facts which cannot be historically attributed has stolen the sheen off the very well written book.

The book raises valid questions through its characters, which throbs with life.The authors imagination is commendable as writing something which happened thousands of years and that too the voices of the vanquished from the Mahabharata is a marathon and uphill task.

         Anand has been successful in resurrecting the dead villains and gave them voices to tell their side of the tale. After reading the book, a big question emanates from the mind.What is Dharma and What is Adharma. Who won the Mahabharata war.Was the war so necessary to decide the fate of  Dharma and its advocates.Did the war help really to forge the spread the mantle of dharma.

At times, the book may also hurt the sentiments of the devout, when Lord Krishna is depicted as a manipulator who plays God to achieve his own objective and when the Pandavas are not allowed divine lineage and characterizing them in a offensive way. Of course it can be passed off as a necessity to pull down the aura of divinity but it also dilutes the Mahabharata. Perspectives should be looking at an event,person or fact from different angles rather than substituting it to create a suitable perspective.

         A must read for those who are interested in religion,mythology, philosophy and all readers of the Mahabharata.

          A five star rating.......enjoy reading !!!

                                                       *** Rajesh Chandra ***

                                                          *****************

          God- " Entity with Form or without Form ."

          God is conceived as a formless entity by some, while others believe it can also manifest in various forms. This concept of form versus formlessness has been the root cause of violence against idol worshippers and their place of worship.

         Now what is this form? Form is the expression of the formless entity in the physical dimension without which the formless entity cannot be perceived by the available human sense organs.

         There has been rigidity in the concept of formlessness which must be understood deeply if we need to get to the truth. Why concept of formless entity is stressed to the height and it is claimed to be the absolute fact? If the formless god can create various universe and world which are various kinds of forms why cannot he manifest in some form he desire for the perception and well being of human being. And what is formlessness - that which is formless , which cannot be perceived by human sense organs like eyes or ears , touch etc. What is the reason for invisibility - no reflection of light, or non presence of the entity. Or rather minute particle and entities at distance cannot be seen.

        The formless attribute thus is attributed chiefly due to either physical phenomena or constraints within the physical realm or lesser manifestation of characteristics associated with formless entity which may also be gauged if these constraints are addressed through physical means or through perception transcending beyond the physical realms.

        Every form has an associated shape,sound, hue, physical properties, electrical properties, thermal properties and aura and ethereal energy field or the energy field associated with it. So a form has so many characteristics.

        Energy,in the physical dimension cannot be seen but its force and pressure can be perceived and it can also be tapped by instruments for various activities. Can energy be called as a type of form. 

        Formlessness is essentially without physical characteristics and form has these characteristics predominantly. Physical characteristics may also be visible or invisible. Is invisibility characteristic of the formless. If so what invisibility really is? The colors in the spectrum which are invisible to some creatures are visible to humans and vice versa. For man things are invisible in the dark but not for owl. So invisibility as an attribute is relative with respect to the prevailing conditions in the physical dimensions. It seems invisibility has layers of barriers contributing to its invisibility and addressing these barriers may make the invisible entity visible. There may be gadgets and instruments which can aid in viewing the invisible. There are many micro particles which cannot be viewed and as far as humans are concerned, it is invisible for them. Like the range of sound which can be heard, is there a range of light or dimension for visibility too. Black holes cannot be seen but its presence is a fact and has physical characteristics like mass , absorption and emission of radiation. So it is confirmed that invisible objects also have characteristics of form.

        So the essential characteristics of formlessness conceived to be invisibility is not true. Now as the invisibility factor has been done away with, many physical attributes like hue,texture,shape etc also associated with visibility is no more a concern.

       Forms like blackhole with mass and other physical characteristics are examples of invisible forms with mass. so mass can be visible or invisible. The energy field around any form is probaby the threshold or boundary between the formless attribute of a entity with form. There may be ethereal fields like the causal body which is a connection between the gross body and soul without a physical body. As we move away from gross physical attribute, subtle attributes appear which in turn leads to subtler attributes of a form or entity.

      Einsteins famous Energy equation stipulates that energy and mass are related with respect to speed of light. Energy can be converted into mass and mass into energy. Further the law of conservation can also be scrutinized. Energy is more of thought as formless attribute while mass has a definite form. Is the Einsteins equation also suggesting a connection between the form and its formless counterpart.

      In Tantra , various mantras( sacred sounds) are used to invoke a Yantra (corresponding form associated with a particular mantra). A mantra is a sound which is directly related to its form called yantra and vice-versa.It is claimed that the mantra AUM namah shivaya when chanted , the image of Lord Shiva was captured using Kirlean Photography. This infact gives a scientific alibi to the connection of sounds and form or Mantra and Yantra

      If god has to be formless ,it should not have attributes of sound or light , as light is a factor between energy and mass as represented in the Einsteins Energy Equation.         Lord Sri Krishna has showed his COSMIC FORM TO Arjuna and to Yasoda, Krishnas Mother, within his mouth when he was a kid. Mother Kali has appeared before Sri Ramakrishna many times. In the Puranas there are instances when the gods were pleased on which they appear to give boons.

      Religious scriptures are full of instances where God has appeared in some form or have spoken as the Voice from the Sky or has appeared as bright Light. Man has conceived and perceived God through some form or the  other. Without perception theres no way that we could know theres any God.

       A formless God is like moisture in the atmosphere which when attain gross physical state appear as solid ice . The mere change in medium of Form cannot make a particular media superior to the other forms.  Form and Formlessness are interchangeable media in the way energy and mass are or Mantra and Yantra are.

Creativity- " Extended Hand of God."

                          God has become 'God' because he is the , ' Creator''. The creations , ' Human beings ', rever the creator because of his creative aspect . So in a way creativity is a component of god and anyone who is creative and helps in creative progression of the world and its evolution is infact the extended , ''Hand of God''.

                               This explains why scientists who made starling discoveries and invention contributing to the evolutionary progression of the world is indeed, 'Extended Hand of God '  Every creative aspect through the extended hand of god is the contributory factor for the continuous progression of world in accordance with the World Cycles of Yugas. 

                             In accordance of the Yugas, divine knowledge is revealed, discoveries and inventions made. There is a sequence of development of world in accordance with the Time Cycle ''Yugas''. Creativity is only constrained within the ambit of Yugas. 

                            Thus we may infer that God is amongst us in the form of Creativity and evil is in the form of regression and destruction. Now we need to examine whether our religion contributes to the world as , '' Hand of God or Devil '' . Hinduism has contributed heavily with treasures of first poetic verses of world-the Vedas, Upanishads . Puranas and many distinguished philosophical works like the Brahmasutras and poetry like Meghadootham. Astrology and astronomy was far developed, Ayurveda, the science of holistic healing also developed in India. Classical Music, dance, literature, martial arts, sculpting, and whole array of esoteric and mystical paths were developed in this tradition of Sanatana Dharma without which the world would have been a lesser place to live in.