Man who saw God and got transformed into a new human being.

Om Swami (2014): If Truth Be Told, a monk's memoir. Harper Collins. Pp.253. Rs.499.

ಕನ್ನಡ ಅನುವಾದ: ಬಿ ಸ್ ಜಯಪ್ರಕಾಶ ನಾರಾಯಣ (೨೦೧೬): ಸಾಫ್ಟವೇರ್ ನಿಂದ ಸಾಕ್ಷಾತ್ಕಾರದ ಕಡೆಗೆ, ಸನ್ಯಾಸಿಯೊಬ್ಬನ ಆತ್ಮವೃತ್ತಾಂತ. ವಂಶಿ ಪಬ್ಲಿಕೇಷನ್ಸ್. ಪು. ೨೮೫. ರೂ. ೨೫೦.


Of late I have been seeing here and there , in the magazines, writings of one Om Swami on the topics of spirituality, and our ancient wisdom. I was wholly impressed by his clarity, sincerity and thoroughness. I was wondering who is this Swamy suddenly appearing out of the blue as it were. Last week I had a visitor at home who asked me to suggest him a book that impressed me most. Having replied I asked him the same question. He suggested the above book, an autobiography of a monk. I got the book online and started reading and finished it almost at a stretch in spite of my age and ailments, such is the power of his writing, of his honesty.

 It is a story of a man(Amit Sharma) from Haryana who at his eighteenth year heads to Australia, gets his bachelor degree in Business and an MBA  from Sydney and with his knowledge of computer programming sets up business in software in Australia and later in Canada, UK, US and India , becomes a multimillionaire at the age of 26, and by the age of 30, having provided for his parents and sibling comfort through out their life , gifts all his wealth to a third person, heads to Himalayas to see God that was his goal right from his early childhood. Having studied all the scriptures already, finds gurus in the Himalaya, does vigorous sadhana with rigorous discipline in the caves, often in most  excruciating circumstances. In much less than 10 years God appears in front of him, hugs him and disappears. He was, to use a cliche, never the same man again. The scintillating experience of merging with infinity, of being one with all beings, living and nonliving. It was an indescribable 'experience', impossible to put it in words, as, an Upanishad says, no word and mind can reach it, much less comprehend and even approximate It. Yet, the author was able to script It in few words that is spell binding.

Some quotes from the end pages: " ..... to be enlightened means to live in the light of love, compassion and truthfulness." "Your knowledge of rituals and the scriptures, the time you spend in place of worship, the money you raise for religious causes - such things, I am sorry to tell you, have absolutely no connection with God unless the heart is open to the divine."  "...... objective of religious acts is to purify yourself and cultivate compassion and gratitude." : "We need both spirituality and science." ".. truth is not a one-size-fits all. It's a personal matter, a private affair. Einstein found it in a laboratory. Buddha found it under a tree. Edison found it in a light bulb, ....."  "A sense of fulfillment comes from walking your own path. For some it may be meditation, for others it may be music, dancing, painting, writing or reading. Find what makes you happy and pursue it." " I've given you my truth. Go, discover yours."

He lives in his ashram at the foothills of Himalayas. His blog, omswami.com, where he writes every week, gets more than a million views annually, says the blurb. The latest I saw was more of a dialogue, question and answers, than a discourse.  It was fresh and profound. He is all over the globe, sharing his experience and conducting meditation camps.