The Miscellany of an Indian Yogi (Book-2): Life Sutras By Durga Dash | Book Review

Reading is to mind what exercise is to body. We firmly believe in this saying. One need to remain physically and mentally fit, it is even more necessary when the time is challenging.

A while ago, we came across a book named Life Sutras (Meditation on Art of Living), by Durga Prasad Dash. I came to know about Durga Dash through Indiblogger platform and found the content he shared, interesting. So, when the book (Kindle EBook Version) was available for free, I got it downloaded. Of course, based on the long book review queue we have, it took time to share my reviews for the same. In the meantime the book is renamed to The Miscellany of an Indian Yogi (Book-2): Life Sutras. The essence of the same “Life Sutras” remained the same.

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

Book Cover:

The cover is responsible for making the first impression of the book (or for that matter, any media). And, we know the importance of the first impression, right? So, despite believing in the fact that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, we must acknowledge that, a large number of book picking/purchase/read decisions are influenced by the same.

It is a challenging task to design a cover page for a book that falls in motivational/wisdom/spiritual genre. As, the book is self published, the author mostly has to design it himself. In the first version of the book, the author has used white and yellow background (the cover shown in the right). The illustration of the hands of a potter shaping an earthen pot, signifies the philosophy of the book quite effectively. The wisdom lessons or life sutras are meant to shape the life in the better way. Of course, the cover page is not very attractive. The second version of the cover page, shows the updated book title and the abstract background of cheerful colors is simple and moderately good. Not very attractive, of course.

The Book And My Thoughts About It:

Usually, we talk about a book in two distinguished segments, each for the book plot and our views for the same. The nature of the book is different, so we are merging these segments in this case.

It is not easy to consolidate life-lessons in a way that it shouldn’t look like preaching, and yet convey the words of wisdom in an interesting manner. I found this book doing a pretty decent job in this segment.

Spread over in 20 chapters, this book contains talks about many important aspects, starting with “health”. Irrespective of your financial status, health is always considered as the the primary goal as per ancient Indian (that is Bharatiya) culture, and is reflected by all the cultures around the world. If you want to enjoy all the happiness, material success, or if you need to fight the adversities of the life and stay strong in struggle, or even if you want to live a selfless life, to serve others, you need to be able to do it. And, you can be “able” only if you are physically and mentally strong. Remember, health is not only about the physical strength and stamina, the “mind over body” concept applies here as well. The author says beautifully in the book that:

To be whole is to be healthy.

Very interesting definition. He then goes ahead and defines the word “Swastha” that can be translated as “fit”.

The Sanskrit word Swastha is defined as, “to be established in self”.

The author’s inclination towards the spirituality is quite visible through the book. He not only talks about the importance of these attributes/goals, but also talks about, how to achieve them. He mentions that:

It is good to go to a remote place once in a while to be in touch with mother nature.

That’s why ancient Gurukuls were in the abode of nature, and sages used to do their penance in isolated places. When you spend sometime with mother nature, you develop your senses to hear the sound of nature, absorb the energy from the nature, and more. Since more than year now, we are facing COVID-19 pandemic, and people understood the importance of health, and living healthy way in much better way, these segments proves to be more relevant.

In early childhood, most of us (if not all) are taught the ideal way of living. How to keep away the evil attributes and so on. The things eventually takes backseat and people got attracted towards bad habits. The one shot of alcohol or one smoke for try, becomes the habit and cages a person who started it with the thought of “just experience it once”. It then becomes a habit so strong that you cannot detach yourself from it. The author talks about “This time only” trap in the book and also talks about “Why do stimulants cause high feelings?”. Here are some interesting quotes related to habits.

Habits are what we do on a periodic basis.

A bad habit binds us, so does a good habit.

While it is important to get rid of bad habits, it would be wise to not to get into bad habits first of all.

And more importantly, the book says:

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for they become destiny.

The author also suggest to get the valuable knowledge from everywhere, regardless of the source, the depth of the knowledge is more important. He metions the famous line:

Jat Na Puchho Sadh Ki Puchh Lijyo Gyan.

To add to his logical arguments, Durga Dash also refers sage Astavaskra (or Ashtavakra). How, despite his physical deformities, he possessed the superior knowledge and beat the intelligent and knowledgable Mandan Mishra is a well known tale in our culture. The author also conveys the gems like:

The first impression becomes the only impression.

And he is very practical too. He doesn’t shy away in mentioning:

Sometimes the division becomes a practical necessity.

He also talks about some spiritual organizations, their original goals and how they turned out to be doing something unexpected from them.

It is surprising to see that in spiritual orgazinations that are supposed to be more concerned with the inner beauty, the same madness goes on.

The book has references to various fields, businesses and segments of life. Talking about them all will lead to spoilers. And, my main aim here is to give you the glimpse of the content of the book, so you can get a fair idea about the content and the quality of the same, without disturbing your reading experience. At least, as much as possible. The quote above must have had give you a fair idea about the book.

The book has some segments that could have been explored and elaborated in detail. It is like a collection of articles which are of limited length. There are references to some TED talks, including links is expected. The book has some proofreading errors too.

Those who never worked in an office writer books about how to succeed in the work…

However, they doesn’t affect much to the reading experience for a regular reader, the attentive ones will notice them. Taking care of them can make the book even better.

It is worth to note that the book is available as “Kindle EBook” only. You can read it on Kindle app (free for Andriod/iOS devices) or Kindle device. You can also open it with Kindle Reader in your computer system (PC/Mac/Laptop/Tablet). When I am writing this, the book is available to read for Free, if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. It is a short read of 70 pages and you must give it a try, in that case.

Summary:

A collection of life-lessons worth reading. Strictly for enthusiasts who love exploring books in this genre. A short book that is a little heavy and requires implementation of the lessons mentioned. Not for time-pass reading.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7 to 7.5 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy – The Miscellany of an Indian Yogi (Book-2): Life Sutras By Durga Dash – Kindle Ebook – Amazon India
• Buy – The Miscellany of an Indian Yogi (Book-2): Life Sutras By Durga Dash – Kindle Ebook – Amazon US

Over To You:

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