Title:
Open-eyed Meditations
Author:
Shubha Vilas
Publisher:
Fingerprint! Bel!ef
Pages: 279
Genre: Self
help
About the
Author – Shubha Vilas has degrees in Engineering and Law but in essence he is
an author, a motivational speaker and a lifestyle coach. Travelling across the
world he teaches the importance of living a life as per dharmic principles by
giving spiritual lifestyle tips and contemporary wisdom to deal with modern day
life situations.
About the
book – There are sixty four chapters or thoughts which are compiled to help the
reader cope with various stresses in life like anger management, ego problems
and the like. In this compilation of thoughts he gives analogies from Ramayana
and Mahabharata and demonstrates how these age old epics can be of help to the
modern man in living a life of peace with oneself.
Each chapter
consists of an average of four pages, wherein the problem is discussed and what
the causes are, along with solutions or thoughts, from either the Ramayana or
Mahabharata. These problems range from problems of communication to ethics
(when good is bad and when bad is good). At the end of each chapter the salient
points are boxed for easy reference. So one can either read the whole book and
check if any of those are applicable to one’s life or if one already has
isolated the problem with one’s life, one can go directly to that particular
chapter in which it is dealt with and see how best that knowledge can be used
to solve that particular life problem.
A case in
point and one that most of the people today in these stressful times is
concerned about is anger management. This topic is dealt with in the twenty
sixth chapter under the heading ‘Are you angry against Anger’ I will just
reproduce the salient points mentioned in the box at the end of the chapter to
give you an idea of the way the author has tried to delineate the situation and
how to deal with it.
I quote ‘Anger is the result of an unsatisfied need.
The trick is to differentiate wants from needs. Needs can be quenched, wants
only get magnified. Anger triggered by unmet needs can be tackled whereas that
from unmet wants is unmanageable.
Aggression is the weapon of the weak. Needbased
anger can be dealt with assertion. And when wants come into the picture with
the situation going out of control, then anger ought to be replaced by
acceptance of the fact of not being in control.
By identifying your unmet need, you identify
the trigger point of anger. Get a grip on the enemy called anger before the
enemy gets a grip on you.’ Unquote.
The above
thoughts are detailed in around five pages with examples from Mahabharata,
Ramayana and Bhagavata Purana.
My opinion
of the book – It is a great handbook for all those who feel that self-help books
are a way to make life liveable. It has neatly demarcated problem areas with
the causes and solutions, all given in very simple language as it should be.
Priced at
Rs.250/- the paperback version is available at a discounted price of 200/- on
Amazon.in and the Kindle version for Rs.199/-
