After reading Robin Sharma’s “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” I was on a roll and so decided to go for the book that 2 friends had recently recommended - “Towards The Silver Crests Of The Himalayas” by Mr. G. K. Pradhan. The library, however, didn’t have the original in English. I have never really cared for Marathi translations of English books. I mean, if you can read the original why go for a translated version, right? In this case, however, I didn’t want to get my hands on the original one so I brought home the translation.
A week later, I was pouring out my disappointment to my friends over Email. The book is about a very bright guy who, as is the tendency of most of the educated people – including myself – is highly skeptical of anyone who talks about “Spirituality”. Life, however, has other plans for him with the result that he finally leaves the material world for the spiritual one.
I found that most of the book is devoted to this story and what little talk there is about spiritualism is couched in such heavy words that it makes the subject seem more difficult than it actually is. Of course, it could be the fault of the translator and the original need not be so. What does equally apply to both versions is that there is very little guidance on what a normal person like you and me should do to take our first baby steps in this direction. So it ends up overwhelming you. When I wrote about this to one of the 2 friends who had originally suggested the book, he chastised me for expecting a spiritual cheat-sheet. I, however, wasn’t looking for any.
We all know that the path to true spirituality is a long and hard one, not to mention riddled with people who are there to dupe you in the garb of holy men (and women!). And most of us cannot renounce everything to march to the Himalayas one fine sunny morning. But that shouldn’t preclude us from making a small start. And this small start is precisely what the book is silent about.
Sadly, the silver crests of the mighty Himalayas remain light years away :-(
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7 comments:
I am just about to finish the book ... and only thing I can say is that you definitely did not understand the message of the book. The teachings provided there are just amazing and simple.... This book is so inspiring, for those who can grasp the essence of it ;))) maybe in few years time it will be your cup of tea :)
Heena
I've read the English version of this book. A lot of grammatical errors, but I was able to follow the story.
I have to say that the philosophy in the book doesn't make sense. The whole premise of the book seems to be that happiness can be attained by renouncing worldly goods and relationships.
This seems to be in contrast with human nature and objectivity (common sense), which dictates that the only logical way to live is by aiming to continuously improve our lives, facing our problems head on, and not abandoning them to live in filth.
Hey Swapnagandha, Even I had started with the Monk who sold his ferrari a few years back.But just a few chapters into the book and I found that it contained most of the stuff that I was used to hearing from my Dad. Although I don't disagree with the book, it had stuff that I had already heard, so I left it midway. Then in my Dad's collection, I came across Towards the Silver Crests of Himalayas. I was at once absorbed into reading it, the protagonist being exactly being my kind of skeptic. To be honest, I found the book enlightening. It made me understand that if looked beyond the superstitious beliefs that have become rooted in religion, it has the potential to make us understand the very reason for our existence. Where you say that the book says that true enlightenment can be achieved only by denouncing the world, I think the author says otherwise. The Guruji shows Mohan's dad and mom the way to live and his mom dies a peaceful and happy death. I guess the book says that there are different paths to self realisation and they are different from everyone, every person has a right to choose his own pattern in life. I was very happy to find an Indian book that was so well written(leaving aside the Indianised English used).
I read the Marathi translation of the book in for the 1st time in 1984 when I was 16 years of age. Till date this book never fails to inspire me.Whenever I am depressed , I just open any page from the book & start reading from there & it gives me peace of mind . This was the 1st book in the category of spiritualism which I ever read , The character of Guruji & Madhav have a special place in my heart. I have also read the original in english but somehow I always find the marathi translation close to my heart.
I am reading the marathi version for the second time after 2 years.. Swapna, I think you have missed the point.. please go through pages 29 through 35 of the marathi book - which are Gurudev's initial talks addressing the people - I will say read leaving all your present critique aside - the first step starts from you, from observing the mind - he has termed it as 'atmasanshodhan' - read and pause and try to absorb Gurudev's words I am sure you will get the real message - your first step starts right there!
Hope this helps.
~Sujata
Namaskar,
There is a very interesting backstory behind G.K. Pradhan writing the Silver Crests of Himalayas.
The following link provides more information on this:
http://www.vvshirvaikar.de/SMBiogr/WEBSMCH%206-7.html
This is not spam, I am but a devotee of Shri Shankar Maharaj of Pune, who gave Pradhan the divine knowledge(gnyaan) to write Towards the Silver Crests of the Himalaya, and I believe in all wholeness that it is a beautiful book with supremely powerful messages in
it.
Pradhan also wrote another slightly harder to read book called "Know thyself", published long after Towards "The Silver Crests of the Himalayas".. I've never read it but I understand that it is a good read.
Peace...
Personally, I feel that this book is about experiences that surround spiritual attainment. As a result, only going through them can help shed light on the lessons. As a result, it's much harder to access but for the explanations provided by Madhav's guru. Know Thyself and A New Earth are much easier reads that provide clear cut steps.
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