“a rare sensitivity...contains the main exemplars for living a spiritual life.... Whoever picks up this book will want to read it to the end.”–Professor Krishna Sivaraman, Editor, Hindu Volumes, World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest
These poetic narrations are the reflections of one of the central figures of 20th Century India, a close friend and major supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, who spoke of the author’s “sacred work”. Acclaimed as a “Karma Yogi,” Birla tells his life story within the epic religious story of India–the Bhagavata, the mythic sacred tale of Lord Krishna’s life which became for Birla, the authentic source and expression of his creative energy. His transpersonal and mythic consciousness is a remarkable corrective to our overstated Western individualism and rationalism.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Looking Back
The Ego
About Biographies
Chronicles of Good and Bad
Bhagavata Dharma
Bhakti, the Easy Path to a Richer Life
Bhajan and Kirtan
Yoga and Viyoga
The Search for Truth
The Name of the Lord
RealizationAn Avatara Has a Cause
The Power Behind the Image
Realization of Brahman–Soul Experience
Karma Yoga in the Gita
Karma and Sanyasa
The Welfare of the World
Krishna in the Two Poems
Krishna, the Superman
Justice and Mercy
Krishna in Kamyakavana
Yudhishtira Wanted Peace
Negotiations for Peace
Dharma and Adharma
Duryodhana–an Adharmi
The Great Assembly
Conquer Tour Senses
The Cosmic Form of the Lord
“This War Is a Yagna”
Karna and Kunti
The Begging Bowl of Indra
Yudhishthira
In the Middle of the Night
The Deaths of Bheeshma and Abhimanyu
Drona and Jayadratha
The Death of Karna
Duryodhana
The Gadayuddha
Anger, the Mother of Sin
Freedom–At Last!
Summing Up
The patriarch of India’s wealthiest and most powerful family of industrialists, G.D. BIRLA was an unusual combination of businessman, philanthropist, public servant, scholar, artist and holy man.