No Destination: Autobiography of an Earth Pilgrim: 70,99 zł
- Typ Okładki - Książka w miękkiej oprawie
- Wydawnictwo - Green Books
- Ilość stron - 320
- Rozmiar - 21.5 x 16.4 x 2.2 cm
- Autor - Satish Kumar
- Język książki - Angielski
Product Description Review "Describes episodes in the author's life which may people would dismiss as fable were they not true." -- David Nicholson-Lord, The Independent"If there is any single book which exudes both wisdom and tranquillity, then it is your autobiography." -- Victor Papanek, author of Design for the Real world"One of the few life-changing books I have ever read. I wish everyone would read it." -- Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul"Reading this book, you will have the rare pleasure of meeting a warm and witty, thoroughly genuine man, and one whose inspiration will not fail to move you." -- Kirkpatrick Sale"Satish Kumar is among the most important educators of the 20th century. His lifelong odyssey adds a compelling flesh and blood reality to the wisdom of the East." -- Theodore Roszak"Satish Kumar's unique story is stranger than fiction." -- Hazel Henderson Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Influences MY BODY, MY MIND, MY SOUL, and my self are made up of many influences, as a river is made up of many tributaries. I am not a separate, isolated, individual being. I am indivisible, interbeing. The thoughts, ideals, visions, and attitudes I embody have come from a multitude of sources. A Vedic prayer says: Let the noble thoughts come to me From all corners of the universe. The reverse is also true. Let us send our noble thoughts to all corners of the universe. Thoughts are not in our heads, thoughts are all around us, we live in thoughts. There is nothing new under the sun; I am not looking for an original thought. Nothing can emerge out of nothing, and something cannot disappear into nothing. Matter and spirit are in continuous motion of change, transformation, and recycling. I am part of that wheel of life, which is continuously turning and returning. However, there are certain influences on my life which I can acknowledge. In previous chapters I have talked about my mother, my guru Vinoba Bhave, and others, but there is one prominent figure who stands out like a beacon, and that is Mahatma Gandhi. I was born in a Jain family surrounded by Hindus; Gandhi was born in a Hindu family surrounded by Jains. That Jain influence made him an adherent of non-violence. In turn, he influenced many Jains, including myself, reminding us of the strength and depth of our own roots. Thus a circle was complete. Gandhi was a living example of the kind of life to which I have aspired. He dissolved the division between action and thought, practice and theory, and silence and speech. I never met Gandhi: I was eleven when he was assassinated. So I learned from Gandhi's writings as well as from his associates that politics and principles are two sides of the same coin. It is no good to leave the world and live in caves or monasteries, thinking that the world is a trap and the only way to be liberated is to escape from it. On the other hand, the majority of people believe that spirituality is only for saints and that it cannot be practised in everyday life. Gandhi took it upon himself to show that people can engage in politics truthfully and non-violently. Economics and ethics are indivisible. Religion must permeate everyday activity. When agriculture, business, industry, education, arts, crafts, homemaking, family life, human relationships, and our interaction with the natural world are built on a spiritual foundation, then human beings are able to find the true meaning of life. Some of Gandhi's contemporaries were absorbed with the single-issue campaign for the independence of India. But Gandhi himself presented the big picture. He knew that independence would come sooner or later, but the real point was not just to replace the white sahib with the brown sahib and continue on the same path of modernity, industrialization, materialism, and rule from the centre. He wanted to develop a new vision of statecraft, so that independent India would be very different from British India: it was a vision of total transformation. In order to create such a holistic and integrated nation, he proposed eleven principles on which the social order should be built. Before the whole of India, and for that matter the rest of the world, could adopt these principles, Gandhi established hundreds of ashrams. These small communities were experimental; in them willing volunteers came together to explore, modify, and refine the principles. Gandhi's interest in experimentation was legendary. He even subtitled his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth. These communities were and are models of a sustainable, convivial, frugal, ecological, self-reliant, and spiritual society. Gandhi composed a chant which strung together these principles and was sung collectively morning and evening by the members of the ashrams, in one of which Gandhi himself lived. I chanted this enchanting chant twice a day while I lived in the ashram. Composed of deeply meaningful Sanskrit words, it is like a rosary of moving mantes. I still chant it and find myself entranced whenever I do. Ahimsa, satya, asteya, Brachmacharya, asangraha, Sharirashram, aswada, Sarvatra, bhaya varjana, Sarva dharma samanatva, Swadeshi, sparsha bhavana, Vinamra vrata nishtha se, Ye ekadash sevya train. It translates as follows: Non-violence, truth, non-stealing, Sacred sex, non-consumerism, Physical work, avoidance of bad taste, Fearlessness, respect for all religions, Local economy, and respect for all beings, These eleven principles Should be followed with humility, care, and commitment. These principles are not dos and don'ts. They are not vows; they are aspirations and inspirations. They are like resolutions which are made on the eve of the new year. In this case the resolutions are made daily. They are guidelines for conduct, a framework to be interpreted by each individual and society according to its own context. They could be used as resolutions for the new millennium.
