Reviewer Bani Sodermark. Bani has a Ph.D in mathematical physics and has been a teacher of physics and mathematics at the university level in both India and Sweden. For the last decade, her interests have been spirituality, healthy living and self-development. She has written a number of reviews on Amazon. Bani is a mother to two children.
Author: Vaishali
Publisher: Purple Haze Press
ISBN:
978-1-935183-09-9
A
Guidebook to Life that was not given to us
This is a book, the
reading of which left a trail of fragrance that lasted over a week. I
felt blessed for having read it.
In this book, the author
dwells, in greater detail, on the basic philosophy behind her earlier
books You are what you Love and Wisdom Rising I.
As in Wisdom Rising I. she presents a prescription for living under
the three headings of Mind, Body and Spirit. Therein, she talks of
creating a life, where the ego has been sufficiently chastened, and
lightness and laughter replace routine imposed heaviness and boredom.
A life embodied by the immortal words of the Indian poet,
Rabindranath Tagore
“Where the mind is without fear and the
head is held high,
Where knowledge is free
Where
the world has not broken into fragments by narrow domestic
walls
Where words come out of the depth of
truth....”
In the Mind section, Vaishali gives specific
prescriptions for the all too well-known problems on relationship,
money and health. She illustrates her points with incidents from her
own life, (a life that has had more than its fair share of trials and
tribulations), with cartoons at the beginning of each chapter and
also with some tabloid characters, Bugs Bunny among them. There is a
chapter that provides very practical tips on how to handle sociopaths
without going into “victim” consciousness. About economic
problems, Vaishali shows how to deal with them in funny and joyful
ways, precluding a return to a “scarcity” mindset.
As per
health problems, Vaishali emphasizes the need to love one’s body
and the necessity to abandon the tenet of “one size fits all”.
This is how she makes incursions into the Eastern medicinal
traditions of Ayurveda which characterizes people into three main
groups and treats maladies from the standpoint of their basic
constitution.
The last section on Spirituality is especially
readable. Drawing from the works of the Swedish mystic, Emmanuel
Swedenborg, whose major dictum as Vaishali sees it, is “You are
what you love”, she shows that spirituality ultimately boils down
to a specific choice that one exercises every moment of one’s life,
a choice of love over fear.
In this book, Vaishali also
counters “doomsday “ predictions around the end date of the Mayan
calendar with a strong anchoring in the Now. This input forms part of
an interview with Kathryn Brinkley, editor of “Kinetics Magazine”
which is also featured in the text.
This book was for me, a
joy to read and a very fast one as well. The text flows fast, the
ideas topple themselves pell mell into your head and their
originality feels like cool, soothing showers on a hot, sunny day.
This book has transformational power, Vaishali has gone through many
vicissitudes in her life and she has used them as stepping stones to
a future where she helps many others go through their own challenges,
one at a time.
I recommend this book warmly.