"Inner Engineering" by Sadhguru

"Inner Engineering" by Sadhguru is a 271 page book consisting of two parts. In the first part author writes about his childhood and youth days about how he became Sadhguru. He writes a lot about yoga, health and spirituality, using various stories as an examples. Some stories and examples are actually funny.

In the second part, Sadhguru focuses on body, mind, energy, and joy, answering some important questions. 

It was interesting to read the part where Sadhguru wrote about his childhood, travels and first experiences. When it comes to explanations on herbivores and carnivores and why one should be (basically) a vegetarian, I am not sure I am convinced by it as people like Eskimos and the residents of Yakutia and Iceland were not considered (there is winter most of the year and no plants grow, so meat would be the only option).

Also, many sentences start with: "The biggest problem with the world today..." and it seems as if author complaints about the world and the way humans are (humanly) which makes it seem negative, depressing and not true. Spiritual gurus were saying the same thing 2000 and probably 100000 years ago. 

Author, as well seems to just drop facts and various unrelated information all  over the book, without trying to develop one particular idea very well, which seems chaotic and not boring  but looses the point. 

So, I am happy that I've read the book (I've learned a lot and it made me giggle), however it also made me think with my own head and judge the statements given.

"Satyopanisad -Volume 3" by Anil Kumar Kamaraju

 "Satyopanisad -Volume 3" by Anil Kumar Kamaraju is a Q and A book between Sathya Sai Baba and his devotees. 

The book is by Anil Kumar Kamaraju. It has three parts:

a) "The Inner Door"

b) "Human Values"

c) "Scriptures and Baba"

"Satyopanisad" is a spiritual book where Sri Sathya Sai Baba - a famous Indian guru from Puttaparti answers his devotees' questions about meditation, truth, human values and Hindu scriptures such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. 

I used to read a lot of Sai Baba's books in my childhood translated into Lithuanian language and used to find them quite powerful. I also liked Sathya Sai Baba's simple, humble and yet very powerful explanations on spiritual matters, the life that a person should/could lead and about Universe. 

I have found this book in a local library and it even has his signature (I hope it's real). I truly enjoyed the spiritual Q and A that, I think, can be useful and thought provoking to the majority, however I found the scriptures part a big boring and confusing as I am not familiar with Ramayana or Mahabharata. The many names of Gods and what happened between them feels like listening to a gossip about people I have never met. However, someday I would like to dive deeper into the Hindu scriptures.

Despite of that, I found the book heart warming, optimistic, encouraging and inspiring. I'm not anymore the 17 year old who used to read his books but a 39 year old who has lived more live and done more mistakes. By reading to these seemingly simple Q and A's and looking back at my life I can see that Sai Baba is right on many points, especially human values. No matter what, we should strive to be a better human and rethink our values on a daily or weekly basis. If we cannot help, it's at least better not not hurt anyone. But, as Sai Baba says, practice is worth more than book knowledge.