Do you know when you find out about Beatle George Harisson’s favorite books and you are excited to hear him say in an interview that the book touches the hearts of all religions? He talked about “Autobiography of a Yogi,” written by Indian guru Paramahansa Yogananda. He liked to distribute this book to friends who came to his house, and kept several copies scattered in the house where he lived.

I realized that this generous act of Harisson had touched my subconscious when I noticed that I had already purchased more than 8 copies of the book “Close Your Eyes and Open Your Mind – Introduction to Spiritual Meditation” by the monk Acarya Nabhaniilananda Avadhuta (www.themonkdude.com), and that they always disappeared from home. You can already imagine what I was doing to make them disappear, right?

Like Dada Nabhaniilananda, I am a deep admirer of the the contemporary philosopher PR Sarkar, to whom his book is dedicated: born in the state of Bihar, India, around 1920. A great sage, who brought such a simple and current philosophy, that requires an uncommon effort for our agitated mind to understand.

Imagine people from the four corners of the world, with different cultures to dialogue with, trying to spread a knowledge that starts from a systematization of something born in India thousands of years ago? In this simple approach lies the wisdom of Sarkar, a master who challenges us to develop creative content so that fundamental knowledge can touch and transform the lives of those who come in contact with them. This is what made me consider Dada’s book an important spiritual reading, capable of bringing a synthesis of why meditation has become a practice and a science so valued throughout the world.

Here are some features of this book that may convince you that Dada Nabhaniilananda has managed to overcome the limits of that flat monotonous reading:

    1. He is a musician, artist, mentor and consultant to innovation companies in several countries and values ​​the diversity of the readings of several masters around the world, bringing a common approach to all. He brings a light reading by quoting phrases from great sages that reinforce the thoughts addressed throughout the chapters.
    1. He begins the book not with answers, but with 23 questions that will open your mind for you to seek for internal questions.
    1. He brings the secrets of mental health in a relaxed way so we can take care of our inner “donkey,” which shakes our thoughts non-stop.
    1. The book also invites us to a game of opening and closing – close your eyes, open your mind, open your eyes and expand your mind – a filter between silence and contact with “I am,” which shows the importance of self-control facing our senses. Only in this way, we can begin to relax our corporeal mind and move toward something more precious than escaping from present stress, future anxiety and depression of the past.
    1. The book exemplifies the impacts of meditation practice as something scientific and positive on internationally known practitioners.
    1. He finishes the book with various appendices and ten steps that help improve your meditation practice, and list steps for anyone who follows the path in the yogic life philosophy.
    1. Suggests music cds and recommends a bibliography, affirming his monk’s intelligence stimulates the search for diversity in spiritual reading.
  1. It is a book that can bring a comprehensive unit of elemental issues to simply being who we are and accepting others as they are.

I end up with an invitation to open your eyes wisely and read this book – and maybe you can pass it on to other people as a service to friends. Have a good time!

Indrajit (Igor Amin) is a multimedia artist, audiovisual educator and spiritual walker. He searches for a way of life based on the teachings of Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar. He founded the Instituto Mundos and he is currently studying an interdisciplinary master’s degree in Human Sciences.

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