In a pristine valley embraced by mountains and the never-ending evergreen forests of British Columbia, Bhagavad-gita, one of the oldest spiritual teachings in existence, guides a community of off-the-grid, joyful pioneers. In the silence and expanse of an unlikely but somehow ideal setting, ordinary people explore their tiny role in an incredibly complex and stunningly beautiful network of life that gently yet persistently asks for their awareness. This is the story of a family that joins this diverse community of individualists and harvests soul-stirring, sweeping life lessons suited for any time, place or circumstance.
This is a meditation on provocative wisdom that, in these trying times, offers an enduring basis for personal, ecological and social happiness and harmony.
"Bhagavad-gita is one of the most beautiful and profound texts of world literature." — Octavio Paz, Nobel Prize in Literature
5 star review by Susan Sewell for Readers' Favorite
Harmony and the Bhagavad-gita, Lessons From A Life-Changing Move To The Wilderness by Visakha is a spiritual anecdote in a narrative form. Being an atheist most of her life, the author discovers jivatma, which translated from Sanskrit means soul. To achieve sacredness, the narrator and her family needed to live in a more pure and natural place. They lived in Los Angeles, California, filled with concrete and chaos. To fulfill their souls' conscious needs, the family moved fifteen hundred miles to the remote location of Sharanagati. There in their beautiful secluded home, they find it easier to connect with jivatma. With bhakti, the service to God and the help of Krishna and the Bhagavad-gita, lessons are internalized in harmony with nature.
When the bears ate all but one of the carrots that the author had so diligently cared for, she was able to correlate the premise from yoga, "to abandon all attachment to success or failure." It, therefore, left her free to find the humor in the unforeseen incident and be the recipient of a gift of carrots later on. Her battle with the ants was sorted when those same bears came and cleaned out the ant's nests. Through the many changing seasons, the family finds their desired spiritual harmony. Without the noise and the chaos of the modern world, they see the connection of all things and are content.
Harmony and the Bhagavad-gita, Lessons From A Life-Changing Move To The Wilderness by Visakha is a spiritual and devotional narrative. The book is the author's memoirs of her family's move to a secluded countryside. It is integrated with the spiritual lessons that she learns from her experiences. The author relates her experiences to the Bhagavad-gita and other religious teachings included in each of the chapters. The author has done a marvelous job writing this book, and I am grateful that I was able to learn from it. This book is an inspirational memoir and is a pleasant reminder that there is a spiritual side to our existence.
