Tripura Rahasya by Dattatreya

Tripura Rahasya by Dattātreya
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As complex piece of a philosophy as can be. After reading the whole book I cannot say that I understood the contents. The understanding is in parts and rest are esoteric. It will take time and multiple reading to understand major portions of the book.

It is a dense treatise and needs time to digest.

Read, but read slowly and multiple times.

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Pandharpur Wari - A walking pilgrimage to Pandharpur - Experience, Tips and Guidance from an IIT engineer by Deepak Phadnis

Pandharpur Wari – A Walking Pilgrimage to Pandharpur: Experience, Tips and Guidance from an IIT Engineer by Deepak Phadnis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Irrespective of whether one is familiar with the Wari or not one should read this. The book describes the experience of a first time warkari on his pilgrimage to Pandharpur on foot from Alandi. The author is passionate about the journey and it shows in the writings.

A wari is a pilgrimage to Pandarpur from Alandi. The participants are called warkaris. They carry a Palkhi of Sant Dyaneshwar along with them. They walk on foot over several days. Each day they put up in a set of tents or halls or hotels depending on which wari one registers with and travels with. The goal is to reach Pandharpur for Darshan of Lord Pandurang or Vithal on the Ashada Ekadashi.

At the end of every day there are bhajans and other traditional rituals organized by the various waris.

One must read the book, especially if one has been thinking of undertaking this journey.

A good read.

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Gods and Godmen of India by Khuswant Singh

Gods and Godmen of India by Khushwant Singh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kushwant Singh at his irreverent best. The book as the name indicates is about his denunciation of Gods and specifically the numerous godmen in India. He spares none.

In the first section he ridicules the practices like Vaastu and how religion has become a business for many.

The second section is his take on prayers of all types which he believes are humbug.

He reserves most of his words for the last section on godmen. From Dalai Lama to Satya Sai Baba to Chandraswami, he has spared none. He mocks, pokes fun at, ridicules one and all. He has maintained a good relationship with some of them and he is all praise for the discourse of Osho, Rajneesh.

A good read for the agnostics of this world.


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Fun in Devlok by Devdutt Pattanaik

Fun in Devlok: Omnibus by Devdutt Pattanaik
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A nice set of stories to be, as usual different from the normal mythological twist, one can now say with the Pattanaik flavour.

Introduces a set of gods like Indra, Yama, Kama, Shiva and others to the children. The stories have been blended with the current state of affairs so that the children can related to them. It is meant for the upper middle class where the children go to school, do their homework, their parents take them to parties etc. And probably these are the ones who would read this book too.

A nice bedtime read for the children.




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The Journey Home - Autobiography of an American Swami

 The review at good reads The Journey Home by Radhanath Swami

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The book is about an American from the hippy culture who wanted to break away from convention. He is into Rock and Roll and Acid and everything that epitomized his generation. He left for Europe against the wishes of his parents and during his travels in Europe he got his calling came. He was only 19 years old, he left all of that and left India on foot, traveling across the European and Asian continent to reach India via Pakistan.


He gets into India after much pleading because of the kindness of a Sikh immigration officer. He then travels to the Himalayas and meets various Gurus and experiences the path followed by each of them. He is not convinced to join any of them although he sees their spirituality, their kindness and their sincerity in what they are doing. He also come across a few bogus guru who are Gurus only for their selfish gains.


Finally he finds his Guru in Srila Prabhupada of ISKCON in Vrindavan. He is now a part of the organization and goes around helping others follow the path of Bhaktivendanta.


It is a good book to read. There is no doubt about the experiences that author has had during his travels, but some scenarios seem to be contrived and there seem to be too much of coincidences for a "rational" thinker to accept.

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