The book reinforces peace
and renews humanistic values, in a religious way. More than a single religion,
its ideas go through many of them, but always around a central point of view,
which are the beliefs of the Yogi. This lecture can calm one’s spirit down; it
works on peaceful intentions, promotes lots of nice thoughts about human
behavior, values and the possibility of a great life of souls alone and
together. The author is very descriptive, and if we were to tell by his book
about his speech, it would be a calm and tranquilizing one.
There are repeated references
to miracles and reincarnation –things not understandable or provable through a
book. Nevertheless, they aren’t treated as requisites to understand God,
working more in terms of human arguments. There are some contestable statements
that affirm things with no further explanations but presumably enough examples.
Maybe that’s one of those arguments made with the idea that the interlocutor
would be satisfied or understand it easily. Chapter 30 provides good
reflections over science and God and great wisdom can be known from the yogic
quotations all over the book.
It’s able to awake a true
curiosity about Indian saints and spirituality, both for the feelings it brings
and for a will to see if the author claims correspond to reality. There are
more attempts to prove the miracles and phenomena than most religious
arguments, including photographs and references.
This yogic history claims
to diverge from religions, but in divers points it sounds similar to them. It
happens especially when he concerns to spread his philosophy over all other perceptions of God. Comparisons with other
beliefs, found many times in the book, reinforce what the author wants, but the
worldly aspects of religions and of his beliefs are not carefully analyzed.
It associates sexual experiences
to something bad, as if people were not supposed to do it, following
traditional moral censorship. In
Paragraph 41 he defends caste system, as if it was formulated by a great
legislator, despites its origin is controversy, tending the other way than honorable.He talks about the union of different people as pernicious, using
even the term “purity of the race” to refer to Indian society over others.
Later he seems to lighten it by referring to caste system reformation, but
his previous emphasis makes hard to believe he’s free minded about it.
One may expect, from the beginning,
a book with a more peaceful approach relating to western and eastern cultures,
but it’s hard to ignore several statements attempt to remark differences.
Although it claims to fit to western readings and promote peace, it’d be better
read by Indians looking for self-affirmation in comparison to western culture. Whenever
he agrees with an occidental, this person actually believes the same things he
does.
A good book, because of the messages of peace; if one can set aside ethnocentric aspects.