by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
“In this age of unlimited spiritual guidance — from real to virtual — it's often a case of quantity without quality; current strains of "spiritual" books so much lack character that one will do just as well as another; they look similar, sound similar, and require little more from the seeker than acquiescence.
So a book like Mystic's Musings, beautifully produced, intriguing, thought provoking, even occasionally shocking, is exciting.
Mystic's Musings contains ten years of conversations with the maverick spiritual master, Jaggi Vasudev, whose ISHA Foundation (www.ishafoundation.org) runs yoga centres world wide as well as an orphanage and several medical centres in South India. The Isha Yoga Centre at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains is the hub of ISHA Foundation's activities. From here, it runs regional community health programmes as well as the Action for Rural Rejuvenation programme.
Mystic's Musings is remarkably eye-catching for its perfect square actually seduces you into picking it up, and it comes as no surprise to read that the shape is not accidental.
In the afterword, the Sadhguru reveals that the written word in the book was crafted to function as a yantra, " ... When you labour through 500 pages of words, we want to provide you certain keys to the Existence, opening a certain dimension of life which is not in normal access to people. If you are open to it, it will do things."
What these keys are, the reader will have to find out, but this much at least is guaranteed, that the journey through the words of this master is not dull. For one thing, there is a profusion of photographs, which are captivating in their variety and in what they reveal about the master.
There is no straight biography in the book but these pictures tell a story - Sadhguru on his BMW, in a robe playing with a snake, on a football ground, climbing up a hill, in meditation, playing drums, dancing, in meditation, playing football, climbing.
The conversations that the book records cover a period of 10 years and are those that selected and carefully prepared disciples took part in.
The editors say: "When we embarked on the mission of compiling these monumental pages of intense interactions with Sadhguru, it was not without an element of mischief. Over the years we had seen many people approach Sadhguru with questions... some casual and curious; some cynical and sceptic, some mischievous and malicious. Yet, each received fittingly... "
This is what divides the book into two sections, for the questions fall into two separate kinds — section one is easily read, the questions and answers touching the intellect and the practical world, while the second section is of a more closed nature — spirit energy, ghosts, karmic misdemeanours, the Dhyanalinga... and much more.
It is the second section that makes one pause before putting finger to keyboard and passing judgment, for it is difficult to either endorse what is written there or to dismiss it because one simply doesn't know. So all the reviewer can really look for is whether the material expresses what is intended and whether the answers form any kind of pattern for the reader.
Thus, when one reads the answers to questions about pain, loss, death and how to live in peace, in the first section, and then, in the second section, explanations about bad spirits, energy patterns in the spiritual sphere, disembodied spirits, trapping spirits and about the Sadhguru's efforts to construct the Dhyanalinga, they appear to settle into a definite pattern, taking the questioner (and, if you are willing, the reader as well) deeper and deeper into a spiral, which becomes more complex with each turn until it comes to a stop with what appears to be a definite answer from the master.
The first set of questions creates a simple flow taking the reader inward and also outwards, into self and back into the world, while the other set of questions and answers might make you uncomfortable, the Sadhguru made it clear that people need answers to such questions too.
Mystic's Musings is certainly more interesting than several dozen other spiritual books that I can think of off hand. The bonus is that the book is also physically attractive and that Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is intriguing, and there is rarely a dull moment in the book. What one gets from a book like this, as the Sadhguru himself points out, depends on what one is looking for.
-Review by Kala Krishnan Ramesh in 'The Hindu' ”
