BENGALURU: The pandemic has seen a surge in people who, in the face of fear, have become open to talking about faith and spirituality. In 75 countries in the month of March 2020, internet searches related to prayer skyrocketed to their highest levels in five years. Probably, Covid-19 has unintentionally created a massive spiritual awakening in mankind.
As we are unable to venture outside, we have been forced to look inside ourselves. I have personally read (and listened to) more books on spirituality than ever before. There is a distinction between religion and spirituality. While religion is a specific set of beliefs and practices shared by a community, spirituality is more of an individual search for purpose and meaning.
One of the most popular books on spirituality is Autobiography of a Yogi, the autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda first published in 1946. An introduction to the methods of attaining God-realisation, the book is acclaimed as a spiritual classic and has been in print for 70 years and translated into over 50 languages. This was the book Steve Jobs gave to family and friends to be read at his memorial service in Stanford because it had a huge influence on his life.
Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master is the bestselling autobiography of Sri M of Madanapalle. Sri M is a true ‘modern mystic’. Born in a Muslim family, he became a yogi in the Himalayas, got married, raised a family, and founded two successful schools. He neither offers namaz five times a day nor prays at any temple. But he can recite texts from the Quran and the Bhagavad Gita with equal command. He teaches Vedanta and Kriya Yoga and is a guru to thousands across the world.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is one of the most popular gurus of the current generation. His Isha Foundation has thousands of volunteers and his talks are followed by millions around the world. I was able to listen to his book Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide of Joy on audible. In his revolutionary book, Sadhguru distils his own experiences with spirituality and introduces the concept of inner engineering, a practice that serves to align the mind and the body with energies around and within.
Jiddu Krishnamurti was a unique philosopher in that he negated the aura and the authority that goes with being a guru. Of all his books, Krishnamurti’s Notebook is one of the few that he wrote himself (others are mostly collections of his talks or compilations of texts from his talks). Something that Krishnamurti required us to do, and which I found very relevant, was to inquire about religion without aiming for an outcome.
By sitting and emptying the mind of all judgement of the surroundings and allowing oneself to be open to any and all truths, one is then able to see things as they truly are. Of the various spiritual books by non-Indians, I have loved The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh, The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav, The Secret by Rhonda Byre, Siddharta by Hermann Hesse and Book of Mercy by Leonard Cohen.
When it comes to spiritual books, it helps to find that one book that connects with you and to read it daily. Every time you read it, you will glean insights from it.
A piece of advice: read the book slowly, internalise it, and let it live with you for some time. And don’t be surprised if you become more confused after you read them! The important thing is to gather all your energies to seek and to find.
(The author is a technologist based in Silicon Valley, who is gently mad about books)