Soul Selfie By Sadguru Rameshji | Book Review

Being a professional reviewer associated with esteemed Team ThinkerViews I feel lucky to getting exposed to books of various genres. Our regular readers know that we talk about books exploring various subjects. Of course, we skip talking about books fall in adult-only, horror and some other segments.

We love to talk about genuine books in self-help, motivational, inspirational and spiritual genres too. Here are quick links to some such books we talked about in the recent past.

• Clarity is the only Spirituality by Susunaga Weeraperuma
• The Quest of the Sparrows by Kartik and Ravi Nirmal Sharma
• The Blue Moon Day: Five Men’s Magical Discovery Enroute Life by Santhosh Sivaraj

Adding to the list, I got a chance to read a nice book in the same genre, Soul Selfie: How To Click Into Your Real Self By Sadguru Rameshji. The book is published by Fingerprint! Publishing. We are thankful to them for providing a complimentary review copy. The review is unbiased and uninfluenced by all means, as always.

Let us take a look at the cover page of this book.

Book Cover:

Being the first thing to come across the eyes of a potential reader/buyer, the book cover plays a crucial role in making its first impression and thus influencing those decisions.

As per the Bharatiya beliefs, the soul is a form of energy and thus is immortal.
वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय
नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा-
न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ।।
It keeps changing bodies like clothes and we call it a cycle of life from birth to death, that keeps repeating.

Being a small unit of the Universe, the soul contains almost all the attributes of the universe. The cover designer tried to represent this concept through two segments of a human head. The cover page is quite interesting and stays true to the book cover and content.

For most of the books we read, we share a bird’s eye view of the story and our views for the books in two distinguished segments. This book is a little different and thus we merge both these segments here.

The preface of the book starts with the prayer to the almighty requesting him to enlighten our path forward.
ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय । तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।

These lines (written in English) sets the tempo of the book right from there, and the reader gets a very clear idea of what to expect in the following pages.

The author explains why he has named the book “Soul Selfie” in the book itself.

Everyone takes selfies of their physical appearance, but nobody bothers to take selfies of their inner appearance – the inner self, the soul.

A very logical and thoughtful reason, Indeed.

When we do internal discussion during our team meetings, we often agree on the fact that the people nowadays are more inclined towards physical beauty and appearances. Even the kids talk about fashion and make-up related stuff. Some schools even refer that we take our (KG) students of outing once a weak. That is definitely a good thing, but the places they refer then are not. They say that they take them to McDonald’s and Dominos. They claim to show one movie each week to these kids which they will enjoy drinking Pepsi and eating Pizzas. How can then you expect the kids to learn about good nutrition and healthy food habits?

While the western countries progressed a lot and some of the things they follow are really good to be followed. But, one has to filter out the stuff which is not to be followed. We seem to be following a blind run after modernization and thus doing the wrong things more than the right ones.

In the same aspects, the author also says that we try to find happiness in material stuff. That is a completely wrong way to search for happiness.

We think happiness is hidden in objects, situations, appreciation, desire fulfillment, or ego satisfaction. …

It reminded me of a conversation between a wise man and a seeker. The seeker asked the wise man to guide him to find happiness. The wise man asked him to follow him at night. The wise man then went below a lamp post and started searching for something on the ground. When the seeker asked him “What are you trying to find?” The wise man answered that “I lost my valuable somewhere on the way”. The seeker then asked “if you have lost the thing somewhere else, why are you trying to find it here?” The wise man answered, “because, it was dark there, and its light here!”. The seeker started feeling that the wise man must have gone mad. He explained to him that a thing can be found only where it is lost. The wise man than counter questioned the seeker that why are you visiting clubs and doing so-and-so activities? The seeker answered that “to become happy”. And while answering it, he realized that what mistake he is making 🙂 !

The book starts with a fascinating story featuring King Janaka and sage Ashtavarkra. The story is a must-read segment of the book. It conveys wisdom through simple and effective words.

I also like the way the author has used “SIM Card – mobile phone” analogy for the “Soul-Body” relationship.

At the end of each chapter, you will find a segment named “Nectar of Gyaan”. It summarizes the wisdom and spiritual stuff explored in the chapter in a summarized manner.

It is said that experience is the best teacher. And, almost every one of us, believes in that. From that aspect, we can also consider that the soul is definitely the most experienced entity we can find. By definition, a soul has experience of many births! The way the author talks about finite-infinite stuff is interesting too.

A soul has infinite potential, equivalent to the power of the cosmos and universal energies. … However, by virtue of identifying ourselves with a finite physical body we are unable to tap this infinite potential.

Usually, books on spirituality, talk more of abstract stuff and thus is found a little “non-practical” by many of the readers. This book is a nice exception in that arena. The following lines share wisdom in quite an effective manner.

Anything that is subject to change, decay and destruction is temporary and considered unreal. Anything that is imperishable, beyond decay and change, is permanent and considered real.

And at the same time, the author also says:

Adversity is inevitable, but suffering is our choice.

When you read simple lines like the following, you will definitely admire them for the essence they hold.

Temporary matter cannot be the source of permanent happiness.

We can be happy if we want to be.

The book has a number of spiritual experience and related stuff, that your rational mind don’t want to believe at first. But, the author explains it as personal experiences and thus are authentic. For example, the incident of the marriage ceremony held at a small village named Ladhun (Rajasthan). While the family wanted the maternal uncle of the author to visit the ceremony, they know that Mamaji moved on the path of spirituality, and thus he keeps himself away from social gatherings and all. The family insisted him to attend the marriage. What happens then after is worth reading.

The stuff then elaborates on the need for a Guru and more importantly the blessing of a Guru during the spiritual journey. In fact, the journey cannot be completed without a Guru. Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai emphasized the same thing in his book about Chanakya. You can read our review for the same at:

• Chanakya In You By Radhakrishnan Pillai | Book Review

A logical person must raise question(s) when he finds something illogical. Asking the right questions is the only way to get the right answers. In fact, entire Geeta (or Srimad Bhagvat Geeta) is nothing else but a Q/A session between Arjuna and Krishna. A rational person will admire the following lines and will get the essence of the same (and more importantly the explanation followed).

I don’t believe in rituals and idol worship. If God is restricted to temples and other places of worship, then I don’t want to go to him, and, if on the other hand, if God is present everywhere, then I don’t need to go anywhere to find him.

The author also advises on dealing with negative stuff. He is quite blunt in talking about how a negative mindset and attitude harms a person by hijacking his/her thought-process. The following line holds the essence of the conversation about negativity.

Take the negative comment as a challenge and say to yourself that you can do it.

The book contains some advices that are applicable in almost all the aspects of life. For example, here is what the author says about a leader:

A leader is not he who does only what is expected of him, but he who exceeds the expectations of others.

The book talks at length about meditation and Yoga. He shares a lot of good stuff based on his personal experiences. And, it seems that he is trying to share all the knowledge he has, based on his real-life experiences with the readers.

Summary:

Overall a nice book for those who love to read meaningful stuff.

Around 7.5 out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy Book From Amazon India – Paperback
• Buy Book From Amazon India – Kindle EBook
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Paperback
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Kindle EBook

Over To You:

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