Tractatus Logico Philosophicus : Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico Philosophicus is one of the most remarkable book I ever came across. For me, this book depicts the very insight of a human being and intelligence. But if I am truly asked I would say that there is nothing unusual in this book other than one sentence with which Wittegenstein ends his book Whereof, one cannot speak thereof, one must be silent or I would simplify it That which cannot be spoken about must be passed over in silence.

This contribution to the new readings of the early Wittgenstein presents in detail how one might read the Tractatus as a sustained attack on Frege's and Russell's philosophical and logical conceptions while at the same time presuming Wittgenstein to have always been in some sense a "late Wittgensteinian," that is, already embarked on the therapeutic task of setting down "the way of release" from philosophical confusion and "ensnarement of thought" (1). Taking seriously the passage in the Tractatus (6.54) in which Wittgenstein assesses his "elucidations" as "nonsensical," Ostrow places himself among those readers who infer that straightforward theory-making was not Wittgenstein's aim, but differs from them in his original and challenging account of how the propositions of the Tractatus are nonsense.

This book, I love a lot.

Principia Ethica : G . E. Moore

Another book I am mentioning here is G. E. Moore's Principa Ethica. Moore is one of the most important, and the most overlooked, figures in Analytic philosophy. All too many historical surveys of early Analytic philosophy treat him as attached to Bertrand Russell’s hip, and as soon as they have got done discussing their joint break with Absolute Idealism and offered a rather Russellian understanding of Moore’s work on Analytic method, they pretty quickly move on to talk about what’s taken to be the heavy-duty stuff: Principia Mathematica, Wittgenstein, and the Vienna Circle. All of this is too damn bad; for as valuable as the parts of Analytic method that Moore and Russell developed more or less in tandem are, there are in the end deep differences between Moore and Russell, in the motivations that led each to adopt Analytic method and the understanding of the aim and right method of philosophy that resulted for each.

G. E. Moore in his seminal Principia Ethica stated that a naturalistic fallacy was committed whenever a philosopher attempts to prove a claim about ethics by appealing to a definition of the term "good" in terms of one or more natural properties (such as "pleasant", "more evolved", "desired", etc.).

The naturalistic fallacy is related to, and often confused with, the is-ought problem (as formulated by, for example, David Hume). As a result, the term is sometimes used loosely to describe arguments that claim to draw ethical conclusions from natural facts.
Alternately, the phrase "naturalistic fallacy" is used to refer to the claim that what is natural is inherently good or right, and that what is unnatural is bad or wrong.

This book, I love a lot.

Last Days Of British Raj In India : Leonard Mosley

Last Days Of British Raj In India helped me to understand the episode of Indian struggle for independence. The story of Independence is told from many great peoples but the important thing with this book is that it came out from a person who had no direct relation with the struggle.

Neutrality, like this has gives a hope. The book was written after 14 years of independence i.e. 1961 when the storm had cooled down.

But with this the importance of the book increases because it shows the mentality of Britishers towards the whole Indian struggle.

This book brings to light some interesting facts along with a proper way to understand the whole drama of Indian struggle.

This book, I love a lot.

Glimpses Of World History : Jawahar Lal Nehru

Another book with whom I am in deep love with is Glimpses Of World History, a book written by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1934, is a panoramic sweep of the history of humankind. It is a collection of 196 letters written between 1930-1933, as an introduction to the world history to his daughter Indira, then thirteen years old.

The letters, written in a span of thirty months when Nehru was imprisoned in various places by the British, starts off with one he sends to his daughter on her birthday. He says he is sad about not being able to send her any "material" gift from prison, so he would try to give her something he can "afford", a series of letters from his heart.

Written from prison, where he had no recourse to reference books or a library but his personal notes, Glimpses of World History contains the history of humankind from 6000 BC to the time of writing of the book. It covers the rise and fall of great empires and civilizations from Greece and Rome to China and West Asia; great figures such as Ashoka and Genghis Khan, Gandhi and Lenin; wars and revolutions, democracies and dictatorships.

The letters are written in informal language, with the contemporary and personal events too are mentioned. They reflect the world view of Nehru, and his grasp of history. It could be considered as one of the first attempts at historiography from a non-Eurocentric angle.

This book, I love a lot.

Mrityunjaya : Shiwaji Sawant

The search for the meaning of Being is man's eternal quest and the subject of his greatest creations. Shivaji Sawant's Mrityunjaya is an outstanding instance of such a literary masterpiece in which a contemporary Marathi novelist investigates the meaning of the bewildering skein that is life through the personae of the Mahabharata protagonists. For over two decades since its first publication the vast non- Marathi and non-Hindi readership remained deprived of this remarkable exploration of the human psyche till the publication of this English translation by the Writers workshop – a contribution for which there is much to be grateful for.

Mrityunjaya is the autobiography of Karna, and yet it is not just that. With deceptive case, Sawant brings into play an exceptional stylistic innovation by combining six "dramatic soliloquies" to form the nine books of this novel of epic dimensions. Four books are spoken by Karna. These are interspersed with a book each from the lips of his unwed mother Kunti, Duryodhana (who considers Karna his mainstay), Shon (Shatruntapa, his foster-brother, who here-worships him), his wife Vrishali to whom he is like a god and, last of all, Krishna. Sawant depicts an uncanny similarity between Krishna and Karna and hints at a mystic link between them, investing his protagonist with a more-than-human aura to offset the un-heroic and even unmanly acts which mar this tremendously complex and utterly fascinating creating of Vyasa.
The beginning of the novel is riveting in its newness and simplicity: "I want to say something today.... a time comes when the dead have to speak too. When this flesh-and-bones living behave like the dead, then the dead have to come alive and speak out". That is Sawant's pregnant comment on the state of contemporary society, where class and caste ride roughshod over innate worth; where the most intimate ties are denied for the sake of conformity with social norms.
This blunt beginning is immediately capped with a succession of images. Memories are like peacock feathers or like vakula blossoms that fade but leave their fragrance behind; life's events disperse like herds of wild horses galloping crazily after ear-splitting flashes of lightning crash in a forest; life is a temple with Champanagari as its sweetest tinkling bell.

Sawant begins very much in the manner of an epic film, giving us first a panoramic view of life as a battlefield strewn with arrows and flashes of disparate memories of things past lighting up the gloom, with Karna's voice-over. He then zooms down in a sudden change of mood, to focus on "creeper-covered, bird-and –beast haunted" Champanagari where Karna's earliest memories begin. And why all this? "For one reason only", says Sawant's Karna. "To make sense of it for myself". And in that very reason lies the secret of the spell cast by the novel. For is not that the deepest craving of each one of us to make sense of our lives for ourselves?

Sawant's Karna is a rebel against caste. He does not hesitate to ask Drona who has refused to train him alongside the princes, " Are the royally born blessed with hundreds of arms? Why do they get this special importance?"

The keynote to Karna's character is egotism which cannot reconcile itself with low social status and absence of recognition. Sawant shows us a rebel who chooses the sun as guru and excels every one in skill and strength through self – discipline. A number of incidents are introduced to pour humiliation on Karna's head, such as Drona's rejection of his heroic capture of a cheetah for a sacrifice. Along with this we get an extremely realistic depiction of the perplexity within Karna who cannot understand why he alone should feel agitated at not being trained with the princes. With his crying need to be recognized and loved, Karna responds immediately to the affection displayed by Ashvatthama, who considers him the finest archer (why Kripa, the preceptor, never notices this remains a mystery), and to the sympathy shown by Duryodhana.

The turmoil within Karna arising out of his inability to understand why he feels ashamed to declare his lineage is splendidly brought out in the tournament. There, too, Sawant departs from Vyasa in having Bhishma declare Karna to have bested Arjuna's feats. Yet, this same Bhishma remains mysteriously silent when Bhima laughs at Karna for his low birth. That silence is repeated when the Pandavas are given Khandava forest to rule over and when Draupadi is disrobed in open court. Characteristically, Karna terms Bhishma a senile fool clinging to power only when he berates Karna for fleeing from the gandharvas and classes him as "ardha-rathi". That extreme sensitivity regarding his self-esteem is what makes Karna so appealingly human, and someone with whom we can identify, despite his being a hero.


This book, I love a lot.

Harry Potter : J K Rowling

Yes, Harry Potter. I love all the books of this series.

J. K. Rowling has created a magic. Indeed, when I started reading them I found my self attached with all the characters. Ron, Hermione, Hagrid always seemed so close to me.

I've read all the six books published by now.

1. The sorcerer's stone

2. The chamber of secrets.

3. The prisoner of Azkaban.

4. The goblet of fire.

5. The order of phoenix.

6. The half-blood prince.

I am eagerly waiting for the seventh book the survivor.

This book, I love a lot

Thus Spake Zarathustra : Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spake Zarathustra, became for me one of the books with whom I cannot avoid loving ever since I read it. It is the masterpiece of Nietzsche.

Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher (1844-1900), was appointed professor of classical philology at the university of Basel in 1869. Thus Spake Zarathustra is the title by which Nietzsche is popularly known, the work's literary genre has placed a considerable obstacles in the path of it's author's reception as a serious philosopher. However, in Nietzsche's case, to question whether his writings are artistic or philosophical is profoundly misleading.

In Thus spake Zarathustra Nietzsche rejects the Christian ideas of God in favour of the superior powers of the superman. This superman would be any man who throws off the shackles of religion (in this case Christianity, but relevant to any religion conforming society) and creates his own values. Only under heavy distortions allows it to appear to fit in with the ideals of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich movement. It may see a much purer model in the future, where the mass realisation - God is dead or more accurately never alive in the first place and man takes full control. Here man may use scientific knowledge such as genetics engineering combined with spiritual knowledge through meditative techniques to evolve to a vastly superior being.

Though Nietzsche once lamented that he wrote rather than sang, for most of his creative life there was never any rigid distinction between the literary and philosophical dimensions of thinking. In Thus Spake Zarathustra Nietzsche allows his imagination full rein. To quibble about the philosophical or literary status of the text is foolish. What matters is the subject matter of the endeavour rather than its formal idiom. There is no doubt that Thus Spake Zarathustra was written by Nietzsche as if he were possessed by a tormented and tormenting muse.

He writes that when Zarathustra was thirty years old, he left his home and went to the mountains for the enjoyment of his spirit and his solitude. He came down ten years later and met and old man to whom he said, ' dont you know that the god is dead '. And from here starts the journey of Zarathustra where he meets many persons whom he discourses.

I would like to quote an elegant remark of AJ about Nietzsche, ' Nietzsche, for me draws very blur and thin line between reason and insanity. '

But Nietzsche, for me, was an unfortunate fellow. He knew everything about the superman but never became one. He filled his mind with so much questions but failed to find the answer. He lived the last ten years of life in a mental asylum and died in 1900 in a very desperate manner.

But he left his legacy in the shape of Thus spake Zarathustra.

This book, I love a lot.

Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic : Osho

This belongs to one of the most notorious person in human history. Yes, in every sense Osho was notorious. But that very thing adds to his beauty. I fell in love with Osho when I was merely 16. He was a conman, as he calls himself. He used all the big names of Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Zarathustra, Krishna, Mahavira for his own purpose. The very core of his teaching was meditation. He developed nearly 112 meditation techniques.

Osho never wrote a book in his life. All the books on his name are the written form of his oral discourse which spreads in 650 books. One may find it hard it believe that the man spoke much. This book, Autobiography of a spiritually incorrect mystic, the collection his talks with his dentist and caretaker when he was in public silence.

The very title of the book is eye catching. One may never understand Osho untill & unless one does not understand oneself. In his own words from the book:-

If you really want to know who I am, you have to be as absolutely empty as I am. Then the two mirrors will be facing each other, and only empitness will be mirrored. But if you have some idea, then you will see your own idea in me.

He also talks about his own story and believe it's extra-ordinary.

In college I used to wear a long robe, with a wrap- around LUNGI as it is used in India, and with no buttons on the robe so the chest is open. The principal told me, ' Coming to college without buttons is not according to etiquette .' I said to him, ' Then change the etiquette, because my chest needs fresh air. And I decide according to my needs, not according to anybody's idea of etiquette. '

My mother came to me, she was a little worried. She said, ' It is beautiful to see you dancing, but now you have started dancing with the girls ! ' She was concerned that if people in India see this, in the pictures, on the videos, they will be very much shocked. I said, ' So far, so good. But I am free- more free than Gautam Buddha, more free than Mahavira. Gautam Buddha did not have the guts to dance with the girls.

I want the world to know that I have ninety-three Rolls Royces because that is the only way to make any bridge. And then I can talk about the truth and enlightenment, too, on the side. Without Rolls Royce there is no communication at all. I know my business perfectly well.

In the book, he talks about his whole transformation, his enlightenment, his childhood, his youth and in the later part he talks about his commune and his groups. For him the Novo-Humane will be like Zorba-the Buddha. Dancing and enjoying like Zorba the Greek and silent from within like Gautam The Buddha.

Osho, for me, is the superman Friedrich Nietzsche used to talk about. He was the superman among the supermans. He was the best among the bests.

For generations to come of enlightened persons, Osho has created a difficulty now. Now, the primitive idea of enlightenment is no more and all the credit goes to Osho.

This book along with this person whom we call Osho, I love a lot.

The Prophet : Kahlil Gibran

This book, The Prophet was first published in 1923. Kahlil Gibran, the author, instantly placed himself on highest platform of human thinking with the publication of this book.

Kahlil Gibran ( 1883-1931) , a Lebanese writer and thinker was versatile. He was an artist also and drew many sketches which are considered today as metaphysical. He setteled in New York, America. But apart from being an influential thinker, writer and artist Gibran was an alcoholic to the marrow. He died of liver cancer due to execissive drinking of alcohol.

The prophet is a story of a chosen man of god, Almustafa, who lives in a small town of Orfelis. He waited for twelve years for a ship to come which will take him to the land he was born. The ship did came but as he was about to board the people of town came to him to ask the questions of wisdom. Almustafa discourses them. This small book is nothing but commentries on life by Kahlil Gibran put on the mouth of Almustafa.

Gibran's way of seeing life is entirely different as is evident from his writing. He divided the book into various chapters such as Life, Love, Fear, Unhappiness, Law, Marriage, Punishment, Freedom, Sorrow, Friendship, Time, Blissfulness, Beauty etc etc. What Gibran writes, reminds me of J. Krishnamurthy.

Some of his writings:-

1. When love calls you, you should follow it. Although it's way is very difficult. When love opens it's wings, you should devote yourself to it even if the sword hidden in those wings may wound you.

2. Love on one hand crowns you and on the other hand crucifies you. On one hand it develops your soul and on the other hand cuts you in into pieces.

3. Your clothes hide what is beautiful in you but cannot hide what is ugly in you.

4. If you really want to witness death then open your heart fully to life. B'coz life and death are the same just as river and sea are the same.

5. Mostly, the kindness which sees itself in the mirror turns into stone.

And like this the story goes on. Almustafa departs from Orfelis with a promise to come back. The Prophet is Kahlil Gibran's masterpiece.

This book, I love a lot.

The Dhammapada

Another book that I am in deep love with is The Dhammapada.

The Dhammapada is to buddhism what the sermon on the mount is to christianity: a simple summary of it's teaching expressed with harmony and simplicity. Probably gathered from Buddha's direct who wished to preserve his wisdom.

Translated as the path of truth, The Dhammapada sets out the the route taken by the path, which can be followed by anyone on the quest for the higher good. If one can think in a way that leads us to act in accordance with the teachings of Buddha, we can begin to shape our lives and experiences in a postive, fulfilling way. This , says the Dhammapada, is the first step towards self-realization.

The book contains various teachings of Buddha, and the reader can see how practical they are even in today's world.
Some of them are:-


1. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it; and joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.

2. " He was angry with me, he attacked me, he defeated me, he robbed me"-- those who dwell on such thoughts will never be free from hatred.

3. Even the gods emulate those who are awakened. Established in meditation, they live in freedom, at peace.

4. Let us live in joy, never hating those who hate us . Let us live in freedom from hatred.

5. Observing silence cannot make a sage of one who is ignorant and immature. He is wise who, holding the scales, chooses the good and avoids the bad.

Every sentence of the book is like a diamond.
For me, The Dhammapada is the core of the teachings of Buddha.

This book, I love a lot.

The Rise & Fall Of The Third Reich: William Shirer

The fifth book I am metioning here belongs to a well known historian William Shirer and the book is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

It is history of whole second world war including a very good sketch of Adolf Hitler's life. What impressed me was the style of Shirer's. The way he put the events into words is brilliant.

The book throws a detail light on each and every events of the war.

Though William Shirer himself had served under third reich during the first half of it's brief life, watching at first Adolf Hitler consolidate his power as dictator of the great but baffling nation.

For me, this book is like an encyclopaedia of world war second and Adolf hitler.

The book was first published in 1960 and untill today this work of Shirer's has no match as far as the history of second world war is concerned.

This book, I love a lot.

The Katha Upanishad

The Katha Upanishad or Kathopnishad is basically not a book but it is an exercept taken from Yajur Veda.

It is a story of a brahmin boy Nachiketa whose father Uddalaka, once conducted a ritual. In the end of the ritual he had to give some cows to the participant brahmins as a gift. Being a cunning man Uddalaka chose weak & sick cows to gift. Nachiketa ,when saw the shrewdness of his father, started nudging him whom he will gift his son to. In the beginning Uddalaka simply ignored his son's question but finally he got irritated and said to Nachiketa that, " I will gift you to Yamraj ( the god of death) ".
Nachiketa took this as an order and started on a journey to Yamlok, the home of Yamraj.
On reaching Yamlok, he found that Yamraj was out. Therefore he decided to wait outside. He waited for three days without eating anything.
Yamraj, when came back, found Nachiketa waiting. On asking, Nachiketa narrated him the whole story. Yamraj was impressed with Nachiketa's will and obedience. He granted three wishes to Nachiketa.
For the first wish Nachiketa asked that ,' let my father's anger be cooled down and when I go back he would love me as ever'. Yamraj agreed.
For the second wish Nachiketa asked that, ' fire is behind all the pleasures of heaven. This earth is also made up of fire. So please give me the knowledge of power'. And Yamraj agreed.
For the third wish Nachiketa asked Yamraj to let him know the secret of all secrets the brahma - gyan itself. This time Yamraj was shocked. He tried to persuade Nachiketa to ask for something else. But Nachiketa did not moved. In the end Yamraj had to give what Nachiketa asked for.
This whole Katha Upanishad is the dialogue between Nachiketa and Yamraj about the brahma-gyan. And the whole dialogue is immensely beautiful. There are some places where the reader gets confused but one shouls always keep in mind that the thing which Yamraj is talking about, cannot be said , but only can be experienced.

Some of the dialogues are:-

Yamraj says,'The brahma is universal and omni-potent. But it cannot be achieved by listening discourses or reading books but it is achieved only by those whom it accepts from it's own'.

Yamraj says,' If your senses are indulged in the outer world, you are going to miss it. For example your eyes sees the whole outer world but does not sees it in your heart. Your ears hear everyhting but misses the sound of it.

Yamraj says,' One who knows this secret , will not speak. But he will be silent. And he spontaeously resides in the kingdom of it.

The author of this upanishad is unknown. By the way there are atleast 108 upnishads said to have been written nearly around 1500-600 B.C.

The word upnishad simply means to sit near the GURU and listen.

This book, I love a lot.

Man's Search For Meaning : Victor Frankl

The third book I am mentioning here belongs to an eminent pshychiatrist Victor Frankl and the book is Man's Search for meaning. This book is an autobiographical account of frankl's days in concentration camp.

Frankl was arrested in september 1942 along with his new bride, his mother, father & the brother in Vienna. They were taken to a different concentration camps. Frankl was subjected to Bohemia's concentration camp. He was freed by American Army in april 1942, only to find out that all his loved one's are dead. He was then given a position of a director in Vienna Neurological Polyclinic where he served for 22 years.

This book is divided into two parts. First contains his experiences in concentration camp & the second contains his psychiatric theory- logotherapy.

For me, both the parts are worth reading. It is fascinating to see the life in concentration camp from an eye of a psychiatrist. What it seems that, yet in the moments of utter despair and sorrow , Frankl tried to maintain his vision. What he writes, is surely thinkable.

In his own words:-

There were many similar surprises in store for new arrivals. I would like to mention a few of them: we were unable to clean our teeth, and yet, in spite of that and a severe vitamin deficiency, we had healthier gums than ever before. I learned there that all medical textbooks tell lies.

Because of the high degree of undernourishment which the prisoner suffered, it was natural that the desire for food was the major primitive instinct around which mental life centered. The majority of prisoners when happened to work near each other , would start discussing food.

For the first time in my life, even in moments of utter desolation I knew a truth. The truth- that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: the salvation of man is through love and in love.

The second part of the book contains his psychological theory: Logotherapy
Logotherapy postulates a will to meaning.
Will to find the meaning of life in love, essence of existence and in suffering.

Frankl quotes Nietzsche in the perface, ' He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how'.

Altogather, this book presents an idea that one can keep his individuality intact in worst situations also.

This book, I love a lot.

Beyond Good & Evil : Friedrich Nietzsche

The second book I am mentioning belongs to the one of the most influential thinkers of all time : Friedrich Nietzsche & the book is Beyond Good & Evil.

Nietzsche was controversial to the marrow and still is controversial. This book of his Beyond Good & Evil followed his famous work Thus Spake Zarathustra. But here instead of talking about his superman Nietzsche simply summed up his philosophy- but in less flamboyant and more systematic form. The various parts of the book are designed to give idea of Nietzsche's thought.
It is interesting to read Nietzsche's comments about the prejudices of philosopher, the free spirit, virtues and nobility.

But for me, the core part of the book is epigrams and interludes section of the book which contains various qoutes of Nietzsche.
Some of them I should mention:-

1. " knowledge for it's own sake"- that is the last snare of morality: with that one becomes completely entangled in it once more.

2. Love of one is barbarism; for it is exercised at the expense of all others. The love of god too.

3. Whoever despises himself still respects himself as one who despises.

4. A soul that knows it is loved but does not love itself betrays it's sediments: what is at the bottom comes up.

5. If we train our conscience , it kisses us while it hurt us.

6. Whatever is done from love always occurs beyond good & evil.

So, this was the man like. But one may find some of the Nietzsche's remarks on women as hideous. But the fellow never cared while writing this book what we are going to make out of his remark.

In his own words from this book -" In truth the matter is different: while you pretend rapturously to read the cannon of your law in nature, you want something opposite, you strange actors and self deceivers ! Your pride wants to impose your morality, your ideals on nature- even on nature- and incorporate them in her".

The book was first published in 1886. Nietzsche experimented himself of having something published at his own expense; assuming to cover his expenses if 300 copies were sold. Unfortunately this did not happened. Only 114 copies were sold in 5 years. But by 1903, 17000 copies were in print & today this book is considered as classic. But Nietzsche never lived to see all this. He died in 1900.

Altogather, this book offers some thing vague and dramatic ideas.

This book, I love a lot.

Meetings With Remarkable men : G. I. Gurdjieff

The first book I am mentioning here is G. I. Gurdjieff's Meetings with Remarkable Men. This is 2nd series of his collected work All And Everything.

G.I. Gurdjieff(1877-1949), literally unknown mystic was born in Alexandropol and trained in Kars as both physician and a priest. Later on he formed a society Seekers Of Truth and went on travelling the remotest regions of central Asia and Middle east. He also went to India and Tibet in order to seek the truth. This journey of his lasted for about twenty years. These years were crucial in the moulding of his thought. On his return, he began to gather pupils in Moscow but had to fled away during the Russian revolution. P. D. Ouspensky, a well known Russian mathematician, discovered Gurdjieff when he was hiding in the hills of Caucasus. Later on gurdjieff settled in the outskirts of Paris where he opened his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in 1922 on a larger scale.

This book of his, is an autobiographical account of his journey. The book contains the memoirs of Gurdjieff with numerous people whom he considered remarkable. These people namely his own father, his first tutor Dean Borsh, Bogachevsky, his companion during many journeys Captain Pogossian, his friend Abram yelov, Seeker like himself Prince Yuri, Ekim Bey, karpenko and Proff. Skridlov. For Gurdjieff, these men helped him to understand the very core of human intelligence. For me, these men were painters who painted the man whom we all know by the name of George Ivanovitch gurdjieff.

Every chapter of the book resembles not the remarkability of these men but also the insight of the author. What I liked the most was the style of writing the book. As if I was reading a novel or watching a movie. Gurdjieff mentions his father as a practical man. He writes in the book some of the subjective sayings of his father-

1. Without salt, no sugar.

2. He is deep down, because you are high up.

3. If a man is coward, it proves he has will.

4. Truth is that from which conscience can be at peace.

5. He is stupid who is ' clever'.

6. Happy is he who does not sees his unhappiness.

7. If you wish to be rich, make friends with the police. If you wish to be famous, make friends with the reporters. If you wish to be full--with your mother-in-law. If you wish to sleep--with your wife. If you wish to have peace--with your neighbour and if you wish to loose your religious faith make friend with the priest.

In the word of gurdjieff that man can be called remarkable who stands out from those around him by the resourcefulness of his mind, and who knows how to be restrained in the manifestations which proceed from his nature, at the same time conducting himself justly and tolerantly the weaknesses of others.

The book was first published in 1963. But the manusripts were complete in 1927 and was revised by Gurdjieff over a period of many years. The book was originally written in Russian and later on translated in English.

This book, I love a lot.