Icons of Grace - Book Review

If you look carefully, the book's cover featured in the title cover has gold inlays and design patterns. (I shot the pic myself using my paperback edition).

The entire book is laden with PURE GOLD. Chapter after chapter, story after story, the book drops gold nuggets as you read.

This is my first official "spiritual" book review, and I hope it is not my last! Please give me candid feedback if you would like to receive similar reviews (10-20%).

A quick intro to the author - Nityanand Charan Das is the lead monk at the Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Temple, ISKCON Chowpatty, Mumbai.

I had the chance to interview Him for this book a couple of years ago (produced at the end of this review), and ever since, we have become the best of friends, besides him being our precious spiritual mentor.

If you live in Mumbai, you should meet him!

Now, WHY you should get this book:

This is a book dripping with Bhakti (Love and devotion). It's not an intellectual brain twister but rather a heartmelter!

IMHO, while we all strive hard in the material world, we MUST also ENJOY the realms of the spiritual world, where there is no pressure, competition, race to be the best, or hoarding of money and fame. It's a beautiful space to be YOURSELF.

This book is ONLY about stories! Who doesn't like stories?

Inside are the tales of 21 Spiritualists - some very famous, so unheard of. But each story of theirs is beyond goosebumps.

More than anything else, this book gave me an unexpected insight - that the greatest of spiritualists have been mortal men. They are affected by greed, lust, pain and sorrow. They have risen above their miseries and failings by working on their flaws. If they can, so can we!

Here are some samples of the nuggets from the book that will delight you as you read:

Ramanujacharya

"A few days later, Ramanujacharya called all of them and said, ‘Dasharathi and his wife have kept a lot of money with them. I think we should take that money away. They are hypocrites.

The disciples went at night and started stealing everything. Dasharathi’s wife, who was sleeping, was wearing some jewellery, and they decided to take that too. However, when they tried to do so, she turned over, and the disciples ran away, afraid that they’d woken her up.

When Dasharathi came, and she told him what had happened, he scolded her. ‘Why did you turn over? Why did you move? You should have let them take everything! Maybe our Gurudev needed money, and that is why they came.’

But the wife said, ‘My dear husband, I did not move to scare them. I moved because they were taking from only one side, and I also wanted to allow them to take from the other side.

Ramanujacharya made his disciples overhear the entire exchange from outside and then said, ‘When you saw that your clothes were torn, you started pointing fingers at each other. Externally you seem to be renounced, but this is real renunciation. Even though they live in the middle of opulence, they are ready to renounce everything.’

All the disciples were embarrassed, having learned their lesson."

Sant Tukaram - The Story of Pundalik and his standing posture

The Lord called out to him, ‘Pundalik, Pundalik, I have come.’

Pundalik said, ‘You can just wait over there.’

He threw a brick in the Lord’s direction for Him to sit upon.

The Lord stood on this brick, hands on His hips, waiting for Pundalik to finish serving his parents. While waiting, The Lord changed Himself into a deity form, which the whole world now recognises as Lord Vitthal standing in the same position.

This event is believed to have happened twenty-eight yugas ago. Millions gather every year to pay their respects to this most charming form of the Lord, who stands proclaiming the glory of His dear devotee Pundalik."

Tansen and Akbar

On the way back, Akbar told Tansen, ‘You know, your Swamiji’s singing is so extraordinary. Why can’t you sing like him?’

Tansen said, ‘My dear sir, that will never be possible! I sing in front of the king of this country. But Swami Haridasji sings in front of the king of this whole creation. I use my talent to please an ordinary king of this world. Swami Haridasji is using his talent to please the king of the whole of creation. So, naturally, his singing will have much more power than mine.’

Bilwamangala Thakur - The Story of the Prostitute

On one such occasion, when Bilwamangala was away with Chintamani (the prostitute), his father passed away. There was nobody to perform the last rites because the son, who was supposed to do it, was with a prostitute.

Bilwamangala’s wife decided to go and bring him home personally. Even though she knew he was living with a prostitute, she did not bear any ill will towards her. She was focused on doing her duty properly.

She went and pleaded, falling at Chintamani’s feet, requesting her to let her husband come home, at least for a day, to perform the final rites for his father.

As a saintly lady, Chintamani was very touched by the wife’s behaviour. She told Bilwamangala to go. He was hesitant and unwilling but had no option. He came and hurriedly performed the rites. But his heart ached to go back to Chintamani.

By the time the sun set, he couldn’t control himself and left again. His wife followed him as she loved him deeply. It was raining heavily, and when he came to the river Krishnavena, he saw that it was flooded. Taking a different path, he went down to the river. His wife soon lost her way. When she was unable to find him, she jumped into the river and gave up her life.

By now, Bilwamangala Thakur was in agony over his separation from Chintamani. To reach her faster, he decided to swim across the river. But soon, exhaustion took over, and he couldn’t swim anymore.

Just then, he saw something come close to him and held on to it. In the dark, he presumed it was a raft sent by Chintamani. He managed to cross the river and went to her house.

The entrance door was locked as it was raining heavily. At the back of the house, he saw a rope hanging and thought, Oh! My Chintamani has thrown down a rope for me! He held on to the rope and climbed, but the door to her room was closed.

He didn’t want to knock, fearing that he would wake up everyone. So, he jumped into the courtyard. Hearing the thud, Chintamani stepped out and was shocked to see him there. ‘How did you come? You left your wife and managed to come on such a scary night?’

Bilwamangala replied, ‘How could I not after you sent that nice boat for me? You had even thrown a rope to help me climb.’

Realising something was amiss, Chintamani stepped out and was horrified to see that what Bilwamangala had climbed was not a rope, but a big poisonous snake.

Bilwamangala was so mad with infatuation that he had not realised it. Then she took him to the river to see the boat, only to realise that what Bilwamangala had thought was a boat was actually the dead body of his own wife.

This was too much for Chintamani to handle, and she was furious. Bilwamangala’s obedient wife served him when she was alive, and even after leaving this world, she had served him with her dead body. Chintamani chastised him. She told Bilwamangala,

‘You are such a rascal. You are such a fool! You are so attached to this body of mine, that is nothing but a combination of flesh, blood, bones and mucus. For it, you crossed this river and gave up your loving wife! You even held on to that serpent. Have you gone insane? If you had a similar attachment to Krishna instead of this perishable body, you would have been a great saint by now and would have seen Him face to face.’

The transformation These words hit Bilwamangala like a thunderbolt, and he decided to give it all up.

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My interview with the Author:

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