Gita & Vedic Wisdom: Greatest Spiritual Wisdom by Pranay | Book Review

Spirituality is often mistaken with religious stuff (in bookish sense). However, spirituality is, in a sense, breaking off from this material world and exploring beyond the same.

That’s the reason spirituality helps us in performing better at all the aspects of life including social, economical, and others.

Gita or Srimad Bhagvad Gita, is an essence of timeless wisdom, knowledge and practical to-do-list for us. Spoken by Lord Krishna himself, this timeless gem can be our guide for life, if we understand it properly.

Recently we are introduced to author Pranay‘s books looking at spirituality from the management and leadership perspective.

Here are quick links to these books in the Spirituality and Leadership series we’ve reviewed so far.

• Hinduism: Spirituality for Leadership and Success
• GITA: Spirituality for Leadership and Success By Pranay
• BUDDHA: Spirituality for Leadership and Success By Pranay
• Vivekananda: Spirituality for Leadership and Success By Pranay

So when offered by the publisher – Fingerprint! Publishing – about his new book series – Greatest Spiritual Wisdom – we happily accepted the review copies for a few books in the series.

Today we are going to talk about Gita & Vedic Wisdom: Greatest Spiritual Wisdom by author Pranay.

Cover Page:

We firmly believe that a book should not be judged by its cover. At the same time, we also acknowledge the importance of an attractive book cover. It not only help the book to stand out in the display shelf, it also influences purchase / read decisions.

Let us take a look at the cover page of Gita & Vedic Wisdom: Greatest Spiritual Wisdom.

As you can see, the cover page uses all cheerful colors. The diamond shape frame filled with the red color looks amazing with bluish borders on the yellow canvas. The symbol “ॐ” adds to the spiritual vibes.

I like the cover page very much.

The Book And My Views And Reviews For The Same:

Usually we talk about the storyline ond our overall views for the book in two distinguished segments. As the nature of this book is little different, we are merging both these segments here.

Spread over in 19 chapters, this book has some fantastic gems to read. Of course, in addition to Gita, you will find references to many other literary stuff in this book. Following his own signature style, the author refers many other modern (comparative) prominent figures during the conversation. It includes but not limited to: Buddha, Guru Nanak, Matsyendranath, Gorakhnath, Dattatreya Rishi, Archimedes, Ramanujan, Albert Einstein, Mozart, and others. Eg:

The Upanishads teach us that nothing can be done against nature.

India’s great modern mystic, Sri Aurobindo, referred to the Bhagvad Gita as a living-text.

Of course, the Gita can be defined differently for different persons. The book also does the same. Eg:

The Gita is a catalyst or a trigger to know that phenomenon which is beyond space and time.

What Krishna is really guiding Arjun towards is a state of meditation: a state where Arjun’s mind becomes completely free from limitations. Free from anger, from confusion,, from desire, and so on.

What Krishna is telling Arjun in the Gita is to fight without ego.

It is about unfolding our self-potential in the best way. The whole of the Gita is a resurrection of Arjun’s inner power, a transformative resurrection.

The author’s interpretation is worth explore, you come to know his perspective when he says: “Arjun symbolizs us”.

This is a very good perspective to look at and study “Gita” for sure. When you put yourself in Arjun’s shoes and try to find answers for the questions bothering you; you are going to get answers from Gita.

The book says:

Just as a bird uses two wings to fly, so too must we use both the wing of spiritual knowledge and the wing of dynamic action, to fulfil our lives!

The author also talks about different sides of Lord Krishna’s persona. I like the way he summarized it to:

The first thing is Krishna as “Yogeshwara”: the ultimate and most profound master/lord/teacher of inspiring yogic wisdom.

The second thing is Krishna as “Madhava”: the one full of spiritual sweetness/delight/charm, whose nectar-like message is to be heeded and enjoyed deep within ourselves, inspiring and awakening us to the highest happiness, bliss and ecstasy of living.

Some oneliners in the book are small yet impactful. Eg:

Inward relaxation leads to inspired inward power.

Leave misconceptions behind.

When you want to look beyond the material stuff in search of inner piece and enlightenment, you have to think about the soul – the energy that keeps the life going on.

It is not easy to look beyond the material stuff, for sure. As it is the only thing we see, hear, can touch and can work with. Our lives are revolved around them. You cannot identify a life without a body! So, what is the key? How can one look beyond the physical aspects?

The correct psycho-spiritual attitude is of being slightly detached.

When you detach yourself, especially, in terms of emotions, you tend to get a chance to see a bigger and clear picture. And it applies to almost everything. Dhyan, meditation or other form of Yoga actually focuses on it and makes you able to extend the boundaries of your thought process. The author rightly says:

The highest knowledge is that I am pure Soul: formless, pervasive, indestructible, luminous, pure intelligence!

The author also talks about the concept of Purush and Prakriti (importance of Male and Female forms of energy and their union. In simple words he says:

All material creation in Hinduism is centred around the concept of higher energy, manifested as Nature herself: Prakriti or Adishakti.

How did Arjun get answers for all his doubts?

By asking quesitons, right?

And, why does these questions arised?

Obviously, because he was curious and keen to get answers, right?

So, curious mind is the key?

Well, in those aspects, the following lines form the book give you a thought to bank on:

The universe is a mystery. The cosmos is a mystery, but even greater than that is the mystery of its very being there! …

The book also talks aobut the “illusion of sorrow” in an interesting maner. Same we can say about “wholeness”. It would have been better if the author has quote the famous hymn:

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥

If you want a summarized definition of the Gita/Dharma, the author put a nice summarized context.

Five secrets of Hinduism:

• Gita is primarily a text on the soul or atma.
• Purification of mind-body-spirit.
• Follow Dharma.
• The idea of nichaya.
• Become a Purna Yogi.

And, the last and the most important point is:

The whole concept of Indian spirituality and the deepest Hindu mysticism is mukti or moksha: becoming free.

All, this is good, but, if the book doesn’t convey, the stuff in the modern perspective and in our day-to-day language, it is like reading just another spiritual book right? Here are the lines I found that a reader of our time will found more relatable.

To be an adventurer, risk-taker, true leader, or innovator of any kind requires us to step out into the unknown.

No matter how tough things get, we can proceed towards fulfilling our infinite potential through such spiritual understanding and enlightenment!

The book should have quoted various shlokas from the Gita, which is missing. Also, if the author has tried elaborating the chronology in the same manner (as in the Gita), it could have been more appealing. It is a generic spiritual book focused on ancient Indian literature, not just Gita. Also, a few metaphors and stories could have added to make it a little lighter read. The author needs to focus on making the books in the series even more concentrating on the theme it tries to explore and elaborate, as per my opinion.

Summary:

Overall, an informative and spiritual book focused on GITA (Srimad Bhagvad Gita) and the lessons we may learn from it by linking and referring various modern day people, scenarios and examples. If you love spiritual books, you will like it. It has to be more focused on the Gita, though.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy - Gita & Vedic Wisdom: Greatest Spiritual Wisdom by Pranay - Paperback - Amazon IN
• Buy - Gita & Vedic Wisdom: Greatest Spiritual Wisdom by Pranay - Paperback - Amazon US

Over To You:

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