This book is a collection of 28 questions as asked by one of the disciples of Sri Raman Maharshi. The questions focus on self inquiry. Although this book is only 16 pages but there is a huge depth in the answer to each questions. If studied carefully and practiced as mentioned in the book, one can reach the Goal.
Who Am I
On Sabayon 5 now
Last night installed Sabayon 5 amd64 on my laptop. All went fine except when I tried to do an update. I did the following as suggested in the Sabayon wiki:
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Spiritual Stories As Told By Raman Maharshi
This book is a collection of message giving short stories. As written in the book, Sri Ramana Maharshi used to narrate these stories in order to explain some of his teachings in more depth. My mother has told me some of these stories during my childhood, so it was a pleasure to read them again here especially this time as a lesson/message rather than a plain story.
The stories might sound unrealistic to people who are not familiar with Indian religion and culture as most of the mythological and other stories in Indian culture are symbolic and have a hidden meaning behind it.
I would definitely recommend this book to you, the only suggestion being the use of heart rather than the mind to understand the teachings.
The Nothing That Is – A Natural History of Zero
I bought this book from Berkley during one of my visits to San Fransisco. Robert Kaplan has done some good amount of research and have tracked the evolution of some of the fundamental concepts on which modern science and mathematics is based. Zero, a number which itself does not means anything but together with other numbers means a lot. The history of zero has been tracked to ancient Indian number systems where it was called as “shoonya”. It is unfortunate that the invention of zero in India could not be effectively proved since ancient Indians believed in passing knowledge by means of oral lectures and through very concise and crisp Sanskrit versus across generations. The concept of written manuscripts in India came much later and that too most of it is now lost. However, Kaplan has proved that a very advanced level of mathematics existed in India much before all that was rediscovered by the west by quoting various references from the Budhist era which is few centuries BCE.
The best part about this book is that any high school level student can easily read and understand it as it does not use any advanced mathematical concepts.
Jonathan Liningstone Seagull
Read it somewhere in 2002. My manager gifted this book to me. Highly encouraging book and an entertaining story as well.
Seagull are creatures which are known to fly from shore to food and then back to shore. They can not fly high and their life is limited to do the routine tasks that they are meant to do. This is the story of a seagull who gave importance to flying higher than eating because he enjoyed flying. And he continually strives to fly higher and higher and in turn seeks new heights where no seagull have ever been before.
This fable teaches two important lessons –
(1.) Motivate one’s own self to continuously seek higher purpose
(2.) Continually try to improve and find newer ways to seek greater heights and not be limited by conventional wisdom and knowledge which surrounds you.