An older book, but definitely an interesting perspective of the military industrial complex that is Israel. The military leads to technology which leads to industry. I sometimes wonder if this is the only way to bootstrap an economic engine is with a security angle.
]]>amazing
If you wanted a beginner’s guide to Hindu worship this would be it. Rajarshiji has done a splendid job of explaining the different deities, the need for ritual worship, the purpose of traditions, finding a guru, and so on. While this does not cover the specific practices it is an amazing book nonetheless as it covers so much including Jnana vs devata worship. Definitely wish it was one of the first texts I read but I am glad it is one have read.
]]>wonderful intro to Tantra
Tantra seems quite unique especially coming from a more Vedantic and Yogic standpoint. This books definitely removes a lot of the preconceptions I’ve had and made be realize that Tantra is an experiential way of understanding non-duality through the nature of Shakti. Whereas Vedanta is a philosophical and monastic tradition of contemplation the Tantra method is on increasing shakti whether worldly or in yoga.
However, this also means that this tradition is in many ways separate from the Vedantic traditions with their strict structures on who can practice. Tantra is a democratization of many of Vedantic principles making them applicable to all.
]]>This is basically a hagiography of the RSS and its leaders. It was quite a good book to understand the impact each leader had with a changing India and how those leaders shaped the RSS during each inflection point.
]]>There is so much swirling around about what constitutes Hindutva so it was good to just go to the source. What is ironic is that people say Hindutva and Hinduism are not the same thing and Sarvarkar says the same thing. Hindutva according to Sarvarkar and as I understand it is the land that goes from the Sindhu river to the sea, populated by people whose ancestors were also from that land, and who treat that land as holy.
Hindutva is political ideology that unifies the religious and ethoidentities of those who came from Bharat including Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists. Unlike others I do not see a lack of tolerance here other than to say that those who are of the land should respect the land and its unique heritage.
]]>I am not a Christian and have read this because Swami Vivekananda was said to be fond of it. And I can understand why. The first three books basically feel and read like Vedantic philosophy. And these first three books were also my favorite parts. The last book was much more closer to Christian theology and felt a bit more alien to my understanding and I had a harder time understanding and reading this part of the text.
Regardless of my religious affiliation I hope to return and reread this text semi frequently.
“What have I done, O Lord, that Thou shouldst bestow any heavenly comfort upon me? I remember not that I have done any good, but have been ever prone to sin and slow to amendment.”
]]>short and sweet
A quick read that I will likely be reading multiple times on meditation. Swami does a great job in distilling it.
]]>Vivekananda’s ideas have been with me throughout my adult life but I never read an actual biography of him. This was a wonderful exposition of a man who actually was soaking to Hindus most of his life to reform. With a lot of the changes that are happening in society in India the ideas he proposed and finally bursting out.
]]>If one is to study Vedanta start here. This book is a preparatory work for understanding Vedanta and putting the different Yogas (Bhakti, Karma, Raja and Jnana) into practice as preliminary exercises into the deeper understanding of Brahman. It is definitely a book to be reread as some points are dense and would do with rereading.
]]>everything happening in the world
This book quite literally answered 90% of what is happening in the world right now. As hyperbolic as that sounds the West has a perception of everything with a left and right view. While Sood does have his own ideas, him being an outsider and using Western source material for his analysis gives a fresh perspective that is hard to come by in the West. Using this analytical framework he explains the decline of the West, elite capture, the rise of China, Christian and Islam, Ukraine and Russia, and more.
Highly recommend reading for deep understanding of current events and how we got here.
]]>The Toyota Method and Lean are grandparents of DevOps. In that regard reading this book was a way of understanding a lot of the ideas that emerged from manufacturing. The last part dragged a bit but the first 5 chapters were packed with information. Though the latter part was supposed to be the important sections having to deal with teaching the technique to employees.
]]>Understanding Desire in Karma Yoga
This talk seems to have been given to a corporate audience around the nature of desire and success and failure within Karma Yoga. It is a short text but again I find Swami’s interpretation insightful.
In the Bhagavad Gita is says you don’t have fruits to action but you have a claim to action. But the complexity is the desire. As every action has a desire as part of it. Swami holds that desire within the bounds of values is fine. The fruits we can handle when we have less desires as we attribute fruits as success and failure. If we have fewer desires then failures seem less bad and success we can treat as Prasada.
]]>short and detailed
I read Swami Sivananda’s book on Japa where he covers different mantras and techniques but weirdly enough I realized I didn’t know what a Japa is. In this short book that is covered.
A Japa is a way to create a repeating though which is a prayer with a moment of silence limiting thoughts from going place to place. This creates a place to rest your mind: defaulting to a prayer. Further, you limit your mind from branching out into different thoughts.
]]>Simple Practical Advice
This is not a long book and is just a few short letters but they give a guidance to living a Vedantic life and reviving a Hindu ideal.
]]>Bryant had a hard task at hand. Merging the various traditional commentaries to make a new commentary while making it accessible to both laypeople while also making it academically rigorous. While he does do a good job of making it more academically inclined, I think he struggled a bit with making it easier to understand for laypeople. While I think this should be a secondary reading of the Yoga Sutras I do think there are other renditions and commentaries that are a bit more usefulness for the practitioner.
]]>This book is more a checklist than a book per se. Great for going through each of the 8 Limbs to see how to take action and verifying your own behavior.
]]>It is ironic and embarrassing that while my undergraduate history degree thesis was on the revolutionary movement, it largely stopped with the Swadeshi movement in Bengal. I never connected how Sri Aurobindo Ghose who was a major player of that movement may have even influenced the founder of the RSS. To be frank I did not even know anything about the RSS except in passing in regards to the BJP.
This book does an exceptional job connecting the dots of nearly all the major Indian revolutionaries and spiritual guides including Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Sarvarkar, Nehru, Gandhi, Bose just from the Hindu side. All these are connected to our protagonist Hedgewar.
In my undergraduate thesis I divided the British India into three realms British educated wealthy upper caste Hindus, lower caste / poor Hindus, and Muslims. Hedgewar seems to have sat between the upper and lower caste Hindus. His bridge between the two seems to have allowed him to pierce the ills of Hindu society unlike any of the individual identities could themselves.
While Hindu society is still working through its reforms which are happening slow and steadily, the power of the RSS will only grow over time. The thesis of this book seems to be that since Hedgewar is so unknown still, that his organization is really not based on a person. It will continue on a steady flow until society is changed.
Overall a great read which I could not put down.
]]>250+ pages to explain the first chapter and the amount I have learned already is amazing. While I have been reading the Gita standalone for years, I wanted to find a commentary that is relatively modern and this is definitely it. Yes the full 9 volumes is more than 3600 pages, but there is a world in each verse. This first chapter covered a lot of the background to the Mahabharata which one would miss.
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