IF TRUTH BE TOLD : A MONK’S MEMOIR

Gurur Brahma

Gurur Vishnu

Gurur Devo Maheshwara

Gurur sakshat Parambramha

Tasmay Sri Gurave Namah

Shat Koti Namans To Thy Divine Lotus Feet Beloved Swamiji .

‘’ You don’t pray to Krishna’s wives

You pray to Krishna

Be The Krishna’’

Swamiji 

These empowering words Swamiji said in a video on osme this week. 

( I am quoting from memory not verbatim . Forgive me for any mistakes. )

Today I am bringing you a small  review of one of my most loved books of our Beloved Master Om Swami Ji ‘’ IF TRUTH BE TOLD: A MONK’S MEMOIR’’.

Speaking Tree  Blogs

I first saw Swamiji’s Blog in the Speaking Tree edition of TOI  in the year 2013. I remember the first Blog of Swamiji I read was about the comparison of the human body to a musical instrument. If I am right I wrote a comment to that blog and started following Swamiji. That was also the moment Swamiji picked me up from the lowest of low of existence.

 Next blog was  about the quiet and serenity of Badrika Ashram.  I think in the third blog I read on Speaking Tree  Swamiji informed us He will not be writing in Speaking Tree  and  He gave us a link to follow His writings. Omswami.com. Our beautiful os. me community was omswami.com then.  Swamiji started giving us The Blessing of His blogs every Saturday through this portal. My only prayer to Swamiji was Bhagavan please don’t make me miss a Blog of yours any day.  I will wait for Saturdays impatiently to read Swamiji’s Blogs, tears will flow down my cheeks reading them. My daughter used to ask me ‘’Mom, why are you crying ?’’ I would tell her ‘’ Reading Swamiji’s Blog’’ smiling through tears. Words are not enough to describe Swamiji’s Kripa. Jai Sri Hari.

 During that period, I was following the writings of all Spiritual Leaders like  Sri Sri, Sadhguru, Mata Amrutanadamayi Devi, Osho, Deepak Chopra, etc on Speaking Tree.  When Swamiji stopped writing on Speaking Tree I too left reading it.   

 In 2014 Swamiji went away for a six months solitude.  During those days also Blogs came regularly every Saturday, not making us miss Him or His writings.

If Truth Be Told: A Monk’s Memoir.
 

After Swamiji returned from solitude we got the exciting news of this great book, a gift of Divine Love. There was a small period of waiting in excitement and anticipation. I got a copy of Divine memoirs signed by Prabhuji. I didn’t want to share it with anyone so I purchased another copy from Amazon for my small library. J I have read this literary masterpiece many times ever since.

  Swamiji had a vision of God at the age of eight which made Him dream of meeting God one day. In this book of memoirs, Swamiji is telling us the gripping story of a young twenty-six-year-old multimillionaire who set off to find truth and God in The Himalayas, renouncing all material riches. .  His intense Sadhana in The Himalayas brought Him the realization ‘’ I am what I have been seeking’’.

Every time I read ‘’If Truth Be Told ‘’ I get new Gems of wisdom.

Here, I randomly opened a page :

Swamiji says

‘’ Sip by sip, I enjoyed the sparkling water, its bubbles reminding me of the rush of desires in the human mind. They would continue to rise till the water turned flat, but this did not mean I had to drink hurriedly. Bubbles of ambition and desire, of situation and circumstance, of thought and emotion, would keep emerging, but I still had the option of enjoying my drink one sip at a time, at my own pace. These bubbles were good, they were even necessary. They were not to be loathed but enjoyed, for they had made the flat water sparkle in the first place.’’

Notice the ‘’one sip at a time’’. If we can just follow this one simple practice life would be so much more beautiful!

 Another excerpt from Swamiji’s experiences in The Himalayas :

‘’A true yogi must rise above the needs of the body. Just like an athlete must push herself to test her pain barrier, to test her limits, a spiritual aspirant must learn to control his body. When we start to tame the body and its needs taming the mind becomes easier. The yogi must become indifferent to comforts until he has attained not only the state of emancipation but also learned to live in it’’

Swamiji says about His experiences of intense Sadhana:

‘’ My quiet and concentrated mind gave birth to an unusual phenomenon. I realized I could shut down my heartbeat at will. I didn’t do any yoga, I wasn’t aiming for it; it just happened naturally as a result of my extremely powerful meditations. I gained significant control over the involuntary functions of my body including the regulation of my blood pressure, body temperature, and pulse rate.

My consciousness traveled beyond my body and explored other planes of existence. However, I knew well that such experiences of astral travel could simply be a state of mind rather than nay actual travel ;the boundaries are blurred when you move through various states of consciousness’’

Can’t read these lines every time without getting goosebumps. And in the next chapter, Swamiji goes on to tell us about The Realization and Darshan of Mother Divine on 13th February 2011 in The Himalayas.

As soon as I received the book from Amazon I went and gave five stars in review with the happiness of a child.

Get your copy of  ‘’ If Truth Be Told: A monk’s memoir’’ <a href="https://www.amazon.in/If-Truth-Be-Told-Memoir-ebook/dp/B00PFWH4T8?ref=kindlecontentin50-21