Book Review- Mystic's Musings

Book cover of Mystic's Musings

Actually this is not just a book review but also in a way a continuation of my previous post. So those of you who have read my previous post- Enlightened Masters would understand. In that I had written about Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev too and that I had ordered his book.
A few days later, now I have finished that book. I had gone home for 3 days and in those 3 days, I did manage to read it. Actually I managed to finish those 500 pages within two and a half days!

People say that such books- specially, have to be read slowly not just like a novel and it has to be read again and again. But I have never treated Spirituality books any differently. And one of the main reasons I think, which is important for these kind of books is that they are not really for the intellect. So you don’t really have to read and understand as such from the mind. It is difficult to understand because we only know that way and no other but these kind of books have a special purpose which Sadhguru himself said for this book that at certain points there are some keys in it........
 We just have to let it do its job. I have also seen many people when they are attending any talks of Masters or Gurus, they even note or jot down the things they are saying and I feel quite sad and I can’t even imagine what these Masters would be feeling because it is definitely not about their words. When you are in their presence, you just have to open up. Even if you don’t listen, you will benefit so much. It is their sheer presence that’s the most important and that is what ‘satsang’ is.

Now coming back to this book, I have only read it once that too with good enough speed and now I don’t have it with me so I cannot quote anything from it nor mention any chapter name etc. so it is important also that I write this post now otherwise I will forget a lot of things. I knew this was an interesting book by reading reviews on internet, like the one I am writing, and it was written that the first thing you will notice about this book is its shape-seemingly a perfect square although not to the naked eye, and it was written that it is not for the faint-hearted and how true it was. I must admit that I started reading the book from the time I got up in the morning - to the time I went to bed, and on the second day’s night, I was afraid to go to sleep! Now no one can imagine that a book on spirituality will or can make anyone afraid but actually these book progressively deals with more and more mysterious and esoteric topics. So on that second day, I had already reached the parts of after-death and disembodied beings etc. Reading Osho had made me skeptical of almost all things that people do- rituals etc because he never emphasized those things although he knew their meanings whereas Sadhguru openly answered all the questions that were asked of him.

The magnificent Dhyanalinga, consecrated by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev after 3 years of intense process of prana prathista

Now I will bring in Osho here too from time to time..and the thing about this book is that it was actually meant for the close disciples and not necessarily the general public. And this is also important because some information if it is available to the general public can even be dangerous and that’s why a lot of things are closely guarded. But obviously he was aware that such a book is being published and will be available to the general public so he would have said if he was worried of any such thing.

Another danger that I see with it being available to the general public in addition to the fact that people might harm themselves because any spiritual practice needs guidance and people might invite things which they are not capable of handling which was also written in the book and the second thing would be the knowledge seekers would be really happy to get such a book which would help to increase their knowledge or might lead to people believing or disbelieving what is written in it. Many of the things that he has talked about, we do not have any experience of it so in no way can we approve or disapprove or accept or reject it. Osho was very particular about what he talked. He was aware that whatever he says about the things that people didn’t know, they will either start believing or disbelieving it so he always talked about this and avoided speaking on such things. I distinctly remember Sadhguru saying twice in this book that what he is saying – don’t believe it because it is not yet in your experience- and they consistently insist on not accepting anything unless it is your experience; but disbelieving it too would be foolish is what he says.

While reading this book, I felt as if I was almost reading the Gita because here too it was only question-answers and he was very authoritative while answering and an answer lead to another question. Only once when one of the question was answered, another question in connection to it rose in my mind and thankfully that was exactly the question that was asked next. Sadhguru really seemed to be very patient- answering all kinds of questions even when you could see that the questioner’s mind is only weaving more and more questions and Sadhguru’s answer would not be his answer. In this book Sadhguru was frank and very open. He disclosed a lot of personal things, including details of his previous births and even a picture to go with it.

While reading the book, I did wonder – since I am an MBA student and we have to have our resume, so I was wondering if he had his biodata, he could even write about his previous lives and I imagined what kind of an interview it would be. I was smiling within thinking the plight of the interviewer. It also made me think that you could easily make a movie on this book. Such a vast book, with so many things-especially the ones related to the Dhyanalinga are the most intriguing.

The Dhyanalinga Yogic Temple, the first of its kind to be completed in over 2000 years

This book will take you through an amazing journey, with tales of why the snake and the cow are special among animals, meanings of many rituals- tying together the toes of the dead, information on Occult temples and practices, what is a Dhyanalinga, why it is special and what goes into making one and so much more. And almost all the questions that you can think of asking an enlightened one-even those of curiosity like can he read minds etc. I can only think of one or two questions that he did not really answer and a little information that he held back because it would be too unbelievable for the people.

So 295 rupees is really worth this book, I got much more than what I was expecting but make sure you know why you want this book. And what’s more, you can even order it online like I did from Wisdom tree for no extra charges. I did it because I had been looking for this book all over Gujarat, Mumbai and Pune and even Bangalore without any success so for the first time ordered online and it was a good first experience.


* Note:


Please see the video below, one of my favourites, a tribute to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, his various facets and a mind-blowing, soul-stirring song - "You are my perfect mirror, you show me what I am not......Thank You endlessly" I had been searching for this song for months and found it with great difficulty. Putting it up here for the benefit of all you readers and others like me who are in search of this wonderful song!

VIDEO OF THE SONG- YOU ARE MY PERFECT MIRROR...

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Quote - "If Krishna lived today, he'd make you all very uncomfortable. Your wife would want to go dancing with him, so would your daughter and your 80-year-old mother." - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev