Maharajshri – A book and an article

Long-long time, no post! Greetings to all!

In this blog site, I have shared several posts about my visits to Vrindavana and about Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

Swami Akhandananda Saraswati (1911-1987) was a venerated sage of Vrindavan. Known fondly as Maharajshri, he was a shrotriya-brahmanishtta, a sadguru, an Advaitin and a total Krishna bhakta… Some months ago, my English rendering of a Hindi book that contained a collection of his writings was published. The original Hindi book, titled ‘Ananda Rasa Ratnakar’, is a ‘daily-reader’. It has a collection of 366 articles, one per day of the year, selected and edited from over 80 books of Maharajshri. The English rendering, titled ‘Ocean of Divine Bliss’, was released on 4th Dec, 2023 by revered sage Sri Karshni Guru Sharananandaji Maharaj at Ananda Vrindavan Ashram, Vrindavan. This was during the inauguration of a week-long 36th Aradhana mahotsava of Maharajshri.

For his words of great compassion about the book and the English rendering, please see from 3 hrs 36 minutes or so till end of the YouTube video, embedded below

The book is available in Amazon. Click https://www.amazon.in/Ocean-Divine-Bliss-Ananada-Rasa-Ratnakar/dp/9395056983 .

And now, the article.

The spiritual life of a sage is a great inspiration for all seekers. I am happy to share my article, ‘Experiencing God’, on the ‘Sadhana’ and God-abidance of Maharajshri Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

You can download the article below.

Click to access swami-akhandananda-saraswati-vision-of-god-pdf.pdf

Adios for now, and hope to post some more soon.

Journey to Shangri La – A book review

Finding Shangri La is a magnificent gallery of art… The subject is mystical… The landscape is vast, mysterious, icy, ascetic… Time itself stands still… And Mahendra Singh brings it all across with skill of a Carl Sagan describing intergalactic space.

When you see the magnificent photographs spreading across the large book, you are literally transported there. You just stop and gaze. Kinnar Kailash range at sunrise, sunset at Sangla valley, icy waterfalls created by melting snow, Maitreya Buddha lording over the landscape, cave monasteries, dragon-magic murals, snow leopard on the rocks, agricultural fields in the colors of a Van-gogh painting, Bactrian camel shedding its winter coat, pashmina goat with ‘soft gold’ coat, beautiful natives of different races, lion figures and cham dance moves, mysterious manuscripts in ancient monasteries…. And so much more… This is a coffee-table picture book at its best…

And the flow of words… Mahendra Singh is as good an author, as he is a photographer. A natural story teller, he has a penchant for history, nature, wildlife, sociology, and more… Traversing time with ease, he relays a running commentary on the plate tectonic movements of a hundred million years ago, the tensions of a culture whose land cuts across different countries, the incredible story of Colonel Chhewang Rinchen, who was the youngest soldier – in the history of India – to be decorated with the Mahavir Chakra…Which he went on to win twice… The story of the ‘glacier man’ Chewang Norphel; the mysterious origins of a tribe with Caucasian features; the story of Rinchen Zangpo (958 – 1055 ) who established 108 monasteries and temples… The Kargil war memorial… And the world’s highest post-office, at 14567 feet…

Indeed, there is so much information packed in this book that you wish there was index at end. Which wish you then retract… Best to leave it just as it is… For you cannot index the valley of flowers, can you?

Buy the book…

Om mani padme hum !

My new offering – A Ramayana rendering

I am happy to announce my new book ‘Atma Vidya in Adhyatma Ramayana: Selections on Self-Knowledge from Adhyatma Ramayana’.

 

 

The book is a translation of narratives on Self-Knowledge, selected from the Sanskrit treatise ‘Adhyatma Ramayana’.

The context is this…

As a spiritual epic, Ramayana is perhaps unparalleled in the history of the world. So deep is its  impact across the people of India and Asia, so many are its tellings in so many different languages, that the tale of Rama endures across time, as a voice of consciousness, a quest of righteousness, a seed of cultures, a mirror of mankind…

Contemporary researchers have recorded existence of at least three hundred different Ramayana-s , with at least twenty five in Sanskrit language alone. And among these stars in the cosmos of Ramayana-s. there is ‘One’ treatise that shines as the pole star of ‘Atma Vidya’ – Self-Knowledge. That is the ‘Adhyatma Ramayana’ – literally, the ‘Ramayana of the Self’.

Like all good things in Indian experience, there is no consensus regarding it’s origin. While  the treatise is traditionally attributed to be a part of ‘Brahmanda Purana’, authored by Vyasa, there are other views. However, there is a consensus that ‘Adhyatma Ramayana’ is the treatise on which is based the  Ramacharitamaanasa of Goswami Tulasidas. That by itself should give an indication of the  power and influence of this treatise on Indian Rama consciousness, across time.

The ‘Adhyatma Ramayana’ contains ever so many discourses on spirituality, covering all paths – Karma, Bhakti and Jnana. But the core aim and emphasis is Jnana – ‘Self Knowledge’.

As one more humble offering in the endless garden of this Ramayana, I have attempted to translate into free verse in English, all those parts of this Ramayana wherever there appears any narrative on Self-Knowledge, whichever be the path –  Karma, Bhakti or Jnana. The galaxy of narrators is a beauty in itself, which includes Gods, sages, men, women, animals, even, Rakshasa-s…

Titled as ‘Atma Vidya in Adhyatma Ramayana: Selections on Self-Knowledge from Adhyatma Ramayana’, the book has been published by Ramana Maharshi Centre of Learning, Bengaluru. It is my great good fortune that the book has been blessed with a Srimukha by the Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. By the Grace of Rama, the book has come out in the ‘Ramayana month’ of Karkidakam / Aadi.

Those who are interested in buying the book can get it from Amazon India.

Click  https://www.amazon.in/dp/8188261602/

Or write to ‘Rasa Experience of Art’ at the email id: rasa.experience@yahoo.in .

Glory to Rama!

Book Hopping

My company, this year, gave me a thousand rupee gift coupon for books or whatever from Landmark books…

And so I went there a few days ago… Browsed around… Should I buy some book of poetry? Ezhiekel ? Maybe later… AK Ramanujam? Cant find his books here… Ah theres this collection of Robert Graves… Just the right price too.. Browse that… Keep it back….

I check out the philosophy section… Nothing jumps out of the shelf at me… Aah.. Snuggled in the shelves, I find one of my books, the Sarayu one. Surprise! Good to see you old friend!

All right, back to the poetry section…

Translation of Ghalib? With original urdu verses transliterated in English? Tempted…. What else….

Fiction section…Translation of Prem Chand? Hmmm…. And I find myself veering looking for my old favorite – Kurt Vonnegut… Only one book… Shop folks stare blankly when I ask for more… All right, all right…. What about John Le Carre? They have just a few of his titles… Milan Kundera? Just one…. Aah, I spot an Ishiguro… I remember I really liked “Remains of the Day”… This one is a collection of not so short stories…. Can try…..

Back to Le Carre…. Should I pick up one or two or three…. His books I have read… And although I do not remember them clearly, I feel I will, as soon as I start reading them…. The story is not the point… Its his lines, and I feel they are so good, that I don’t think I would have quite forgotten the real good ones…. Some of his prose is poetry… Well, I pick up one…

And then my eyes fall on… All right.. For old times sake I shall take that…. Old times sake, all times sake… It is a must to have in my library… I have read this more than a few times, but its maybe ten years since I read it last… Yes, Heller… The 22…

Right… Thats just over a thousand….

That evening I start reading Le Carre, ‘A murder of quality’. Finish it in a few days…. Very good all right…. But…

Next Ishiguro – ‘Nocturnes’… Good… But…..

22 I shall savor later….

The bug has bitten.

Went back to a different bookshop today…. The Odyssey near RA Puram… Buy some pens… And some books….

They have just one Le Carre… A new one – ‘Our kind of traitor’…. I check out if they have any Solzhenitsyn Nope…. Any Vonnegut? Nope… Lots of Agatha Christies… Shelves of them… And Sheldon… And such…. What about some vintage stuff? Yes! A couple of Graham Greenes. “Dr Fischer of Geneva” and the “The Tenth Man”….

And so I return with one more Le Carre and two Graham Greenes….

Lifes good….