Spirituality is a big word these days. Talking about God from the highest of learned platforms, conducting meditation camps, attracting milling crowds around to the chants of Om are today’s trends.
However, Dr Hari Parameshwar’s book on corporate spiritualism and meaning of life is about spirituality at workplace, spirituality while driving from a city to another, spirituality at the swimming pool with children and the vision of god through the eyes of the insane wanderer—there are many such tales in this unputdownable book.
This management professional, life coach and yoga teacher with his work experience in developing airport infrastructure has beautifully blended the art of flying high in the skies through routes invisible to the naked eye and yet coming down to that perfect landing when the wheels come in contact with the rumble and tumble of earthy tarmac.
Why do we call a donkey, a donkey? Many of our yoga asanas are named after living beings—bhujangasana (snake), makarasana (crocodile), marjarasana (cat), patangasana (butterfly), kakasana (crow), vrikshasana (tree), shalabhasana (locust)—these are postures in which those animals relax. And human beings, who are indeed considered a superior species but have forgotten to relax, learn how to do such a simple thing from these animals—to relax. How to just be and not try to be different from what is, is the lesson we learn from one chapter and the others that follow along– the blind fish, the blind man, wandering insane person and more of god’s beautiful creations.
Travelling in Others’ Shoes is all about the art of patient listening. As we listen to the sorrow of another, the misery and the difficulty, we go through the whole process, without actually having to endure the difficulty ourselves as we listen to the stories of Govind and others. Listening is cathartic. Listening is transforming. Listening is a sadhana that purifies the mind of the listener.
Lion CEO for Cat’s Company is a beautiful allegory — the highlight of the whole book in my view. Many of us are like the lion in the story, suppressing our true identity to please society, community and all those who actually don’t matter. When things change, as it happened in the cat’s company, the modified cat-lion was out of job and roaming on the streets. You lose your self-identity and self-respect too. This self-identity is much deeper than what your identity or visiting cards will reveal about you!
How much is the worth of your life? Please calculate—this is a daily dichotomy we go through—is one Skype conversation more important than a board meeting for which we have to be ready? What happens when there is a demand for our attention thousands of miles away, and some important work we need to do in the next room to where we are? Is there any connection between the two? Is there any connection at all between the characters we meet in life? Do they all have something in common to tell us?
Many Paths Many Answers is that fresh breeze of new-age spirituality that draws its inspiration from the waters of the source at its roots and takes them to its vibrant flowers blossoming out into the full view of a workaday world.