Book Review: Recess: the Penguin Book of Schooldays

‘Recess: The Penguin Book of Schooldays’

Edited by: Palash Krishna Mehrotra

Penguin Books

ISBN 9780143100119

Schooldays are something which can’t be compared with anything else in life. Those carefree days, with its own flavors and enigma, can’t be forgotten totally. Here is a refreshing read, taking us to those good old schooldays. It is a collection of memoires from the childhood and schooldays as shared by a diverse set of authors. The diverse set of authors bring with them a very diverse set of experiences; some beautiful and some bitter. We can connect with many of those, and at some others, we may feel good not having come across in our own.

The set of authors include Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Gandhiji, Premchand, Nehruji, Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, RK Narayan, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Ismat Chugtai, Satyajit Ray, Vikram Seth, PT Usha, and a lot of known and not-so-known names. Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s episode from childhood tells about an incident in the Shiva temple where he witnessed a rat eating the sweets offered to the deity and wondered why the deity couldn’t protect its offerings? Lal Behari Dey talks about his school days in Calcutta and about Duff’s School where the principle was a radical Christian Missionary converting a lot of Bengali youth and how despite this fact, his father sent him in that school keeping “faith in fate”. Fakir Mohan Senapati’s account tells about the domination of Bengali over Oriya language. Rabindranath Tagore tells about his home tuitions. Krupabai Satthianadhan tells a very interesting “The Story of a Conversion”, about how an old teacher, a Christian Missionary, was trying to influence a young South Indian lad who decided to tolerate all because of willingness to learn English; but it couldn’t prevent him from feeling like giving it back to the “old fanatic”. Ismat Chugtai tells the inside story of a girls hostel. Gandhiji’s childhood part is taken from The Story of My Experiments with Truth and talks about the popular portion where he was accused of telling a lie, and on the importance of sports and learning Sanskrit. Premchand’s childhood was influenced by his Big Brother (elder brother) and the way he recollects the events, makes it such a hilarious account.

The childhood stories are diverse and bring with them all sort of tastes. There are also some controversial ones. I feel if the editor had decided to keep the controversial and bitter ones out; the book would have been absolutely delightful. But like our childhood is full of good and bad experiences, I think the different shades of the stories give this book a unique depth and gravity.

Highly recommended to all.

- Rahul

Book Review: Oneness With All Life

Oneness With All Life: Inspirational Selections from A New Earth

Treasury Edition

By Eckhart Tolle

Michael Joseph: an imprint of Penguin Books

ISBN: 978-0-718-15541-4

Eckhart Tolle is a Canadian (born in Germany as Ulrich Tolle, in 1948) spiritual teacher and bestselling author. I have written about him and his book “The Power of Now” here [Link].

This book titled “Oneness With Life” has been created with some passages picked from the original book A New Earth. These passages are inspirational and meditative in nature. The book is divided into chapters with some themes. Passages of varying length would appear one after the other, trying to give readers a lot of food for thought.

Some random portions:

There are no random events, nor are there events or things that exist by and for themselves, in isolation. The atoms that make up your body were once forged inside stars, and the causes of even the smallest event are virtually infinite and connected with the whole in incomprehensible ways.

If you wanted to trace back the cause of any event, you would have to go back all the way to the beginning of creation.

The ego’s greatest enemy is the present moment, which is to say, life itself.

Most egos have conflicting wants. They want different things at different times or may not even know what they want except that they don’t want what is: the present moment.

What is the relationship between awareness and thinking? Awareness is the space in which thoughts exist when that space has become conscious of itself.

There are three words that convey the secret of the art of living, the secret of all success and happiness: One with life. Being one with life is being one with Now. You can then realize that you don’t live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer, and you are the dance.

About his thoughts and philosophy, I would repeat what I said in my previous book review: After reading this book, I felt a curious connection to philosophies of Hinduism and Vedanta. When I searched about the author, I came to know that Tolle has been quoted as saying, "I feel actually that the work I do is a coming together of the teaching 'stream', if you want to call it that, of J. Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi". Tolle himself has mentioned texts such as the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu scriptures, the Buddhist scriptures, etc, and after coming to know this I think the connection is more real.

I believe reading the original book would be more beneficial for readers. Those who have read it can read this gradually to reflect on certain portions.

- Rahul

Book Review: Vidur Neeti

‘Vidur Neeti’ (in Hindi)

(Taken from the Mahabharata; explanations by Sri Hanuman Prasad Poddar)

Gita Press

ISBN: 81-293-0216-0

‘Vidur Neeti’ is part of the great epic Mahabharata in which the wise counsel Vidur explains many concepts and facts of great wisdom to King Dhritirashtra of Hastinapur. References are in eight chapters, 33rd to 40th, of Mahabharata. This book presents the Sanskrit shlokas with their concise translations in Hindi. The language is simple and it can be read and understood by the masses.

I am noting down some of the shlokas with their meanings:

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Ijyaaddhayanadaanani tapah satyam kshamaa ghrina |

Alobh iti margoyam dharmsyashtavidhah smritah ||56|| (adhyay-3)

Yagya, addhyayan, daan, tap, satya, kshamaa, dayaa, aur alobh - ye dharm ke aath prakar ke marg bataye gaye hain. ||56|| (adhyay. 3)

Yagya, learning/study, alms-giving, tapa (penance), truthfullness, forgiveness, compassion and non-greediness - these are said to be eight types of path towards Dharma. ||56|| (Chapter 3)

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Tatra purvachaturvargo dambharthmapi sevyate |

Uttarascha chaturvargo namahatmsu tishthati ||57|| (adhyay-3)

Inme se pahle charon ka to dambh ke liye bhi sevan kiya ja sakta hai, parantu antim char to jo mahatma nahi hain unme rah hi nahi sakte ||57|| (adhyay. 3)

Of these, the first four can even by practiced for ego or pride, but the later four can never be present in those who are not good souls. ||57|| (Chapter. 3)

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Avyahritam vyahritachchhreya ahuh,

Satyam vadet vyahritam tad dviteeyam |

Priyam vaded vyahritam tat tritiyam,

Dharmam vadet vyahritam tachchaturtham ||12|| (adhyay-4)

Bolne se na bolna achchha bataya gaya hai; kintu satya bolna vaani ki dusri visheshta hai, yani maun ki apeksha bhi duna labhprad hai. Satya bhi yadi priya bola jaye to teesri visheshta hai aur wah yadi dharm-sammat kaha jaye to wah vachan ki chauthi visheshta hai ||12|| (adhyay. 4)

It is said that not speaking is better than speaking, but speaking the truth is said to be second quality of speech meaning it is better than non-speech. If the truth is even nice/lovely, it becomes third quality of speech (better than only truthful speech), and if that (lovely and truthful) speech is also consistent with Dharma (it is righteous), then it becomes fourth quality of speech (it is even better than the previous three). ||12|| (ch. 4)

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Aakrushyamano nakroshenmanyurev titikshatah |

Akroshtaram nirdahati sukritam chasya vindati ||5|| (adhyay-4)

Dusron se gaali sun kar bhi swayam unhen gaali na den. Kshama karne wale ka roka hua krodh hi gaali dene wae ko jala deta hai aur uske punya ko bhi le lea hai. ||5|| (adhyay. 4)

Even after hearing abuses from others, don't say abuses to them. The restrained anger of those who pardon others itself burns/destroys the abusers and also destroys their punya. ||5|| (ch. 4)

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Krityani purvam parisankhyay sarvanyayvyaye chanurupaam cha vrittim |

Sangrahneeyaadnurupaan sahaayaan sahaayasaadhyaani hi dushkaraani ||24|| (adhyay 5)

Pahle kartavya, aay-vyay aur uchit vetan ka nishchay karke fir suyogya sahaayakon ka sangrah karen, kyonki kathin se kathin karya bhi sahayakon dwara sadhya hote hain ||24|| (adhyay 5)

One should first decide on the appropriate duties, income & expenses, and wages and then should collect right associates. Because even the most difficult jobs can be done with the help of associates. ||24|| (Ch. 5)

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Aarjaven naram yuktamaarjavaat savyapatram |

Ashaktam manyamaanaastu dharshayanti kubudhyah ||62|| (adhyay 7)

Dushta buddhi wale log saralta se yukt aur saralta ke hi karan lajjasheel manushya ko ashakta maankar uska tiraskaar karte hain. ||62|| (adhyay 7)

People with evil minds consider the simple and sober (because of simplicity) men as weak and they insult them. ||62|| (Ch. 7)

==

PS: My apologies for any errors in typing or translation.

One can see the great intelligence reflected in the first two verses, where Vidhur clearly demarcates the gestures of Dharma which can be fabricated Vs which come to us naturally. Third and fourth contain great practical wisdom. I think the second last verse on selection of associates is a fitting one to be considered by people with interest in business. And the last one is such a timeless wisdom.

These are only a few of the very interesting and enlightening verses presented in this book. I recommend this to all.

- Rahul

Book Review: Rukmini Haran by KM Munshi

‘Rukmini Haran’ (Krishnavatar-2) (Hindi)

By: Dr. K. M. Munshi

Translated in Hindi by: Omkarnath Sharma

Rajkamal Prakashan

© Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

ISBN: 978-81-267-0060-8

‘Rukmini Haran’ is the second part of 7 volumes Krishnavatar written by Dr. Kanhaiyalal Maniklal Munshi. I had written about the first book ‘Bansi Ki Dhun’ here [Link], which told the life story of Krishna from birth till the time of Kansa vadh. This volume covers the story from there till when Krishna weds Rukmini after rescuing her.

Since not all of us get to read the original Hindu scriptures (in fact a lot of us have relied on television serials to know about our mythology), reading from learned secondary sources is important. Sometimes lack of clear knowledge of facts and events result in embarrassing situations for us when confronted by others. Though Krishnavatar is a novel and the author has done some characterisation and written it in the form of a tale, it is nonetheless very well researched. I recommend everyone to read the whole enlightening Krishnavatar series.

Reading this volume cleared many doubts for me and touched upon the following events:

1.    How and why Krishna didn’t accept to become King of Mathura after Kansa’s assassination.

2.   How princess Rukmini fell in love with Krishna and how her brother became his enemy.

3.  How the Pandavas had early interaction with Krishna (Kunti was Vasudev’s sister, so the Pandavas were Krishna’s cousins; Bhim learnt gada-ruddha from Balram)

4.   A very adventurous episode with Panchjan and Punyajan Rakshasas (portion is based on traditions) based in Kushasthali (From here Krishna got his Panchjanya shankh)

5.      Why Krishna decided not to go back to

6.   Why Krishna and Balrama left Mathura when Jarasandh came attacking. (this whole episode is an eye-opener which clears all doubts and establishes how their fleeing the city was in fact an act of great intelligence and compassion)

7.     A very interesting episode of adventures on Gomantak hills and how Krishna and Balrama defeated Jarasandh but gave him jeevandaan.

8.  A very interesting and daring episode of elimination of Sringalav Vasudev, and rescuing Shwetketu and Shaivya.

9.  How Krishna leads Mathura’s people to migrate to Kushasthali or Dwaraka (in Saurashtra region of present day Gujarat)

10. The realisation that where there is shraddha, Krishna will protect us and do miracles, but if there is no shraddha, we shall be weak and vulnerable.

11. How Rukmini tried to revolt against the pseudo-swayamvar created for her and had to suffer. How Krishna called this psudo-swayamvar as adharma and foiled it. Still, he declared that he had gone there to rescue Dharma and not to acquire a wife for him.

The later part of the book describes Rukmini’s love for Krishna very well, which was full of womanly pride, envy, possessiveness and deep love in all its elements. Rukmini’s revolt against her chauvinist and political brother Rukmi is also well developed. I think Rukmini had all the elements of a ‘feminist’ by the term and deserves more exploration.

‘Rukmini Haran’ has been a deeply touching read for me and I feel very lucky to read it.

Highly recommended to all.

- Rahul