NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, JAN 29
Governor of Tamil Nadu R N Ravi on Saturday launched two books titled ‘The Authentic Yoga’ and ‘Tales from the Vedas and Upanishads’ from Heartfulness as part of their Timeless Wisdom/YogUtsav celebrations. The event brought together the magic of books and Yoga as well as Meditation in day-to-day life and made practical knowledge on Yoga and Meditation accessible to all through these two book launches.
The event was attended by several Thought Leaders, Educationists, Yoga Enthusiasts, Social Influencers, and other professionals at Heartfulness Centre, Manapakkam, Chennai.
Tales from The Vedas and Upanishads has a collection of 25 stories retold by Guide of Heartfulness – Daaji and is meant especially for children.
The book published by Red Panda (Westland Publications) intends at introducing children to virtues in simplistic way. The Authentic Yoga on the other hand is highly philosophical although written in a simple and lucid language.
The beauty of the two books is not only in bringing traditional wisdom within the means of the common man in a decipherable way, but also the breaking the cliché of the benefits of Yoga and taking them one notch ahead that makes them valuable.
Originally written by PY Deshpande, The Authentic Yoga is quite a departure for him to write it in English because he was originally a Marathi novelist. It was Deshpande’s meeting with J. Krishnamurthy in 1961, that got him into spirituality and wrote a series of books. His book on Yoga Sutras in English put him at an international stage as a great writer and as a highly regarding philosopher.
Daaji has written the Forward and an additional chapter at the end of the book so as to bring Deshpande’s school of Yoga to modern consciousness. Daaji’s chapter in the book talks about how to take what Deshpande said and translate it practically in modern-day life. It is also beautifully laid out and easy to read unlike what it was in the ‘60s.
Releasing the book titled, ‘The Authentic Yoga’, Governor R N Ravi said, “It was about 6,500 years ago that our Rishis came to the fundamental realization of unity of creation. Like the millions of leaves are unique and different from each other but are connected through a tree, all living beings are also inter-connected with each other. The creation is governed by immutable laws and forces that go beyond the reasoning of mere intellect. Our Rishis taught us to understand creation through the intellect combined with Anubhuti, Intuitive experience.
“Rishi Patanjali helped us understand our ancient wisdom through his yoga sutras. The moment we realise that we are integrally connected, it takes away differences and conflicts. The ethnocentric view of life that humans are at the center of creation and everything else is just for our enjoyment is leading to reckless destruction of nature. This is opposed to the ancient Bharath view that we are not at the center of existence, but we are a part of the whole. Understanding this will help us move away from exploitation to co-existence. Yoga is essentially realization of connecting ourselves but what comes in the way is the sense of ‘I’ ness’, which gives rise to conflict. Our approach should begin with a healthy body because body is the medium of performing all our duties, and a healthy body can train the mind to be healthy to overcome the self-centered nature.”
Releasing a book for Children titled, ‘Tales from the Vedas and Upanishads’ by Daaji, the Governor added, “A child who reads a story also resonates with the emotions and develops a compassionate response. Books like these awaken the dormant goodness and such stories help children to nurture their wisdom at an impressionable age.” He also said, “India must grow to transmit its vision of a unified world drawing on our value systems and ancient wisdom.”
Dr Veronique Nicolai, Director, Heartfulness Yoga Institute explained in detail about the activities of the campus.
Dr K S Balasubrahmaniam, Dy Director Kuppuswamy Research Institute introduced Daaji’s book and spoke on the relevance of ‘Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras viz., Ashtang Yoga.
Prashanth Vasu, Working Committee Member of SRCM, Author & Ex-Partner in McKinsey introduced the children’s book ‘Tales from the Vedas and Upanishads’.
Venkat Lakshminarasimha of Heartfulness Yoga Institute welcomed the gathering.
