My book "Songs of the Mist" journey across India...

One of the reasons, I am writing the three book series, "The Monk Key" of which "Songs of the Mist", is the first part, is to share the story of one young man's journey to 'find the divinity within'. As the series was conceived on the banks of holy river Ganges, in 1987 and firmed up across my travels to Rishikesh  Varanasi, Ganga Sagar. So it has been my deepest desire to offer it to that divine sources from which it draws its stories, energy and its blessings. 

The another purpose of writing this book has been to reach out to the young generation who, in my opinion are alienated from the deep source of our culture, heritage and thoughts - our ancient scriptures. When asked, if they have read our Vedas, Purana's and Upanishad's etc., they typically reply "What is the point of reading them" due the certain biases rooted in modernity. The book "Songs of the Mist" is one such attempt to share the knowledge and thoughts of Karma Yoga, based on Bhagwat Gita; in order to inspire them to connect proactively with our cultural heritage. At the book's launch at Chennai's famous book store, I shared my thoughts on the same.

My book "Songs of the Mist" was published in Dec, 2016 and within 9 days it reached two thousand ranking amongst millions of books at Amazon. In April 2016, it breached double digit ranking. Within a period of 6 months, I have been blessed with opportunities to fulfil my desire to dedicate the book to its sources of inspiration. From the Himalayas to plains of India, I have had few opportunities to dedicate the book to Holy Ganges, at Rishikesh, Varanasi, Kolkata; Goddess Durga of our ancient temple in the eastern UP village and Buddha Shrine at Kushinagar - a place where Buddha attained Nirvana. Through book readings and launches, I have also been blessed to reach out to the readers of young India.

It gives me a great pleasure to share some of the images and few video clips, chronicling my book's journey across India. Hope you will enjoy it.

Parmarth Niketan - Rishikesh

Sivananda Ashram - Rishikesh

Varanasi

Durga Ji, Buddha at Kushi Nagar and friends from Varanasi...

Book Reading at Leela Palace Hotel organised by
Apparao Galleries

Here is an introduction to my book by the Famous Author, Journalist and Writer, Timeri N Murari at the Leela Palace Hotels, organised by Apparao Galleries in an event called "An Evening of Art, Music and Writing".

"Many of us here yearn for something more in our life. Shashi has provided a spiritual release in beautiful book, Songs of the Mist. It’s unusual and thought provoking book. The book answers questions that we struggle to frame in our daily lives. Shashi’s descriptive beauty of the mystic nature of Himalayas interwoven with sufferings and the heartaches, and struggle of each protagonist, provide eloquent and thought provoking read. Not a book to browsed at glance and to reach books full potential demands commitment and investment of time to savor its subtlety and do grows." - Timeri N Murari

 

Odyssey Book Launch

At the Odyssey Book Launch, the popular Rapper - Blaaze (Baba Rap, Hosanna Rap, Slum Dog Millionaire, Delhi 6 etc.) and Keshav Ji - The Famous Cartoonist of the News Paper Group Hindu, who is foremost Krishna Bhakta echoed my thoughts about our ancient Indian Heritage and culture...

“When you just listen to it (Shlokas etc), …the sanskrit syllables are enough to get you positive energy, without knowing anything about it. … it can only bring peace in a world like this”. – Blaaze

“Our Purana’s (Ancient Vedic Scriptures etc.) give you how to deal with life, how to deal with situations and predicaments, as they have already analyzed and laid it out on platter so that you don’t have to think.” – Keshav ji

Chennai and Kolkata Book Fair

Hope you have enjoyed the journey with me amongst holy places of India as well as my thoughts shared within the video clips. If you would like to read my book "Songs of the Mist" it is available at the following places.

Amazon.in || Amazon.com || Amazon.UK || Flipkart || Google Play || Kindle ||

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Shashi 

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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"Language alone of our scriptures will change you" - Songs of the Mist Book Launch

When the Ashvin Ji, owner of the famous bookstore in Chennai - Odyssey called up to inform that they are planning to launch my book, I was pleasantly surprised and happy. It felt like I am making some progress towards my goal of getting the word out that there is more to our ancient culture and heritage.

One of the main reasons of writing and publishing “The Monk Key” series is to reach out to the young generation who, in my opinion are alienated from the deep source of our culture, heritage and thoughts - our ancient scriptures. When asked, whether they have read our Vedas, Purana's and Upanishad's etc., the typical replies is "What is the point of reading them"? This is due to the certain biases ingrained through the modern education system, which reflect the western philosophy. The first book “Songs of the Mist” of ‘The Monk Key’ series is my attempt to share the knowledge and thoughts of Karma Yoga, based on Bhagwat Gita; in order to inspire them to connect proactively with our cultural heritage. Here I must thank my Publisher of my book's Hindi Translation - Story Mirror which will allow my book to reach wider audience.

Then, as the whole universe conspired to make my attempt a reality, famous Rap Singer / spiritualist Blaaze and Sh. Keshav Ji - Hindu Cartoonist and foremost Krishna Bhakt, agreed to discuss how positively the ancient Shloka’s and scriptures affect our selves, provide a great source of energy and peace as well as the way to live. Thank you Raghwesh, Paul and Ashwani Bhai connecting me with wonderful people, who graced the occasion.

The Chennai Bloggers Club rallied behind and started a contest on the topic ‘What Spirituality means to you’, in which numerous bloggers participated and wrote wonderful blog posts that in itself inspired many more. I must thank Mahesh, Bragadeesh and Sindhu - Admins of Chennai Bloggers Club for such wonderful support in making this event huge success.

It also inspired Blaaze in a way that he worked continuously for 18 hours to finish our collaboration 'Gita Dhyanam' rap, just two hours before the launch and played for the audience for the first time as they settled in.

But above all it was the wonderful discussion with such creative souls, which underlined my thrust for the younger generation to dive into the depth of knowledge that our ancient culture and heritage carries within. My book "Songs of the Mist" is in reality just a little such attempt to reach out to the young generation, through its underlying theme - Karma Yoga i.e. the essence of Bhagwat Gita for young generation.

"When you just listen to Shloka, the Sanskrit syllables are enough to get you positive energy, without knowing anything about it. It can only bring peace in a world like this". - Blaaze

BlaaZe, my friend, is an amazing guy who is not only a friend with whom I collaborating on the monk's 9 songs from "Songs of the Mist" but also is the inspiration who got me thinking about Shloka rap. From Baba Rap of Rajnikanth Sir's movie, to Slum Dog Millionaire, Delhi 6, Bunty or Bubli to Shyamala Dandakam, he is one amazing guy. Thank you for coming BlaaZe, I could not be more grateful. Om Namah Shivaya.

“Our Purana’s and ancient Vedic Scriptures etc., give you how to deal with life, how to deal with situations and predicaments, as they have already analyzed and laid it out on platter so that you don’t have to think.” - Keshav ji

Keshav ji is the man behind my upcoming coffee table book "Essence of Bhagwat Gita" which is based upon the "Songs of the Mist". Here in this book, I am giving you all the glimpse of 9 songs of the mysterious Monk, who took Ashutosh under his wings and explained the way to live. Keshav ji, apart from being one of the most famous cartoonists of Hindu Group, he is also a great painter and above all a Krishna Bhakt.

As Mahesh, the host took over the mike, the venue was overflowing with readers, few of my friends from book club and fellow authors like Arun, Riti Prasad from the Publisher Story Mirror. Later one of the book club members, T Suresh commented that it was an unique event in many ways, which started with invocation of Saraswati Vandana by Vidya Devanathan (Thanks to my friend Jothivel from CBC) and Shloka rap, Shyamala Dandakam and ended with Krishna songs, something he had never seen before.

On my part, I purposely avoided talking a lot about my book and focused primarily on the idea of getting the younger generation inspired enough by my talk and by my book ‘Songs of the Mist’ to start connecting with our heritage and culture. Start reading our ancient texts like Bhagwat Gita, Purana’s and Upanishads. Start listening to Sanskrit Shloka and saying it out loud as in the words of Blaaze “Sound of Shloka is enough to give you positivity, energy and peace”

Here is a videos where Blaaze is describing his journey from Baba Rap to Shloka Rap, Keshav Ji on his journey from Cartoons in Hindu to painting one picture of Krishna on Face Book everyday. Hope it inspires you to connect with our culture and heritage too.

Leaving you all with some wonderful photographs from the event, (thanks to an amazing photographer Vinod from CBC again, who covered the event) hope you will enjoy it.

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Shashi 

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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Hindu Lit for Life 2016