It all started when I had been to the
dhobi shop to collect the pressed cloths. An elderly person came up to me with
a book in his hand. He insisted me to purchase it. I was not interested at all,
but he used the time my dhobi was taking to pack my cloths, to convince me. It
was “Vishnu Kosha” by Prof. S.K Ramachandra Rao. He was willing to give it to
me for Rs. 300 though it was worth double the price. I thought may be the man was
in need of money and I reluctantly bought the book from him.
I don’t remember who that elderly
person was but it was he who sowed the seed of book reading in me. That
particular book was about the iconography of Vishnu. I completed reading it and
as the publication was very close to my house I got in touch with them and purchased
Siva Kosha, Hanumat Kosha, Navagraha
Kosha vol 1-2, Salagrama Kosha, Durga Kosha, Sri Vidya Kosha, Gita Kosha and a
few others from the same author. The journey of reading started.
Reading became a habit then on, it
was a super activity and I thought it was a wonder drug. From the books on iconography
I shifted to art and architecture of ancient Indian temples which introduced me
to the grandeur of the Hoysala Era. Along with read about those ancient temples
I had the opportunity to take my family to those temples on holidays. An
experience endured which the words fail to express.
I feel reading is an exercise for
the mind and to have mental fitness one should read. Reading
has helped me flexes my mind. It has made me think and use my imagination. It has
let me comprehend ideas and understand the reasoning, and like any exercise,
the more I read the better I could grasp. Further initially the reading which started
as interest to comprehend turned into the best way to relax. I found reading to
be more relaxing as it let the mind to concentrate on the subject so that the
mind which always was doing the flip flop escape into the literary world to
ease the stress of the body and mind.
With my bookshelf
filled with the books pertaining to iconography and architecture, it was my
sister who presented the book titled “Living with the Himalayan Masters” by
Swami Rama. This was the book which took me from the ritualistic realm to
spiritual realm. I place this book as the highest in my reading as it was the threshold
for me to transcend from the iconography and art to nothingness. This book also
opened the floodgate to many books on spiritualism by authors like Swami
Shivananda, Swami Krishnanada Saraswati, Lobsang Rampa, Pandit Rajmani
Tigunait, Swami Veda Bharati and many more., Also I had the fortune of reading the
commentary on Bhagavad Gita by Sri Sri Sankara, Srimad Ramanju, Sriman Madhva,
Sri Madhusudhana Saraswathi, Swami Rama, Sri Chinmoy, Srila Prabhupada, Sri Aurobindo,
Tilak, Gandhi, Radhakrihnan and D.V Gundappa.
One advantage of reading
a lot of books is that I ended up with a rather large...vocabulary. Reading increased
the word usage exponentially and in turn those words nurtured the creativity. Being
able to express my ideas I was confident to write blogs on the subject I knew. I
have to credit my reading for the 1000 odd write up I have posted.
Yes I bow to that
elderly person who came into my life and has shown the path to accumulate knowledge and made me what I am today..... _()_
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