This book is about exploring the larger issues of life and cosmos, aided by spirituality and technology. Anil K. Rajvanshi, who has more than 40 years of experience in renewable energy R&D and rural development, is convinced that a spiritual path can lead to positive transformation in humans. In simple language, spread over 65 easily digestible chapters, he explains how.

Years of personal experience have convinced the author that one of the prerequisites to having happiness and a sustainable lifestyle is the development of a powerful and smart brain. He reveals how one can lead a happy life by making the brain powerful through spirituality, and then using it to solve our problems through technology. Spiritual progress can submerge emotions of greed and lead one towards humility and simplicity – and from there to happiness and rewarding life.

Spirituality and technology

Rajvanshi is equally confident that as people evolve spiritually, they will also become a technologically advanced civilization. According to him, the mantra for India’s and the world’s development should be spirituality with high technology. Meditation of course helps in the calmness of mind and happiness. Rajvanshi wants people to realize the link between spirituality, technology and happiness so as to understand the bigger picture of life and universe.

We are what we think. The propensity to hoard wealth and material goods is the result of a shallow mind. It is also the mind that leads to overindulgence, at times leading to sexual disorders. Rajvanshi admits that today’s society does not put a premium on reading or thinking deeply on something. Deep thought, on the other, requires energy, application and a will to achieve it.

This is why, he underlines, that it is vital that we consciously inculcate in our children, from a very early age, the desire to read – which will cultivate the habit of imagination. One way of making the brain powerful is by yoga, which the book suggests should be introduced in schools. If people take to yoga in large numbers, conserving energies that are too often frittered away in unfulfilled desires and emotional knots, human beings will become more benevolent and sharing in another 100-200 years.

Meditation, chanting

Good sleep and meditation can be the basis of a healthy brain. Meditation is the elixir of life. Pranayama or breathing exercises can stimulate the vagus nerve and have a very beneficial effect both on the heart and gut. Similarly, the chanting of mantras or deep-throat singing as practiced by Buddhist lamas also stimulates the vagus nerve. This stimulation helps in reducing blood pressure and improves the rhythm patterns of the heart. Rajvanshi is, however, clear that some of the difficult yoga postures (asanas) affecting the deep nervous system should be done only under the supervision of experienced yoga teachers.

The author warns about the dangers emanating from mobile phones and the Internet. He admits these are very useful devices and have made a difference for the better in the world. But he does not want people to become their slaves, or be overwhelmed by them. For long years, Rajvanshi has been telling youngsters in his inspirational talks that people should try to be away from mobile phones and the Internet for one day a week, to start with. This day can be used to just sit and talk or read and do some other activities which allow us to interact actively with our environment.

Rajvanshi emphasizes the need to lead a moral and upright life so that death is welcomed as a friend rather than an enemy. The practice of yoga helps in creating what he calls a “spiritual mass”, which will ensure that the transition of memory from one body to another human body is smooth and it can also go to other planets by will. It is necessary to have less memory locked up in the brain about mundane and routine worldly activities and attachments. 

One should honestly evaluate our actions and be able to live with them in peace. He quotes Patanjali as saying that undisturbed calmness of mind can be attained by cultivating friendliness towards the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous and indifference towards the wicked.

Scientists, spiritual masters

Rajvanshi says: “For most of us, this planet is the only home we have. This means that besides our personal evolution, we should also contribute as much as possible to mankind’s evolution. In this, technology will play a very major role. It allows us to take care of our physical needs and its progress and evolution will allow us to live in a sustainable manner. Thus, to my mind, the contribution of people like Edison, Ford, Einstein and Newton of this world towards mankind’s evolution is at par with that of spiritual leaders like Buddha, Christ, Patanjali… I believe that once our technology becomes very advanced, then it will be possible for humans to have a long life.”

Spiritual readings can at times be tough. Son of a freedom fighter who was jailed during British rule, Rajvanshi, a mechanical engineer by training, has been immersed in spirituality from a young age. He writes with the perspective of one who knows the subject, tackling complex issues of life and beyond in a very simple and easy manner. Anyone who is keen on embracing or is already on the spiritual path must read this book.

Title: Exploring the Mind of God: How Technology Guided by Spirituality Can Lead to Happiness; Author: Anil K. Rajvanshi; Publisher: Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI); Pages: 328; Price: Not mentioned

(The reviewer is a veteran journalist and political commentator)