[BOOK] Thirteen Months In The Himalayas: Chronicles of a Monks Sadhana - Om Swami

[bazera]

Couple years ago I read Om Swami's book "If Truth Be Told", and it affected me in a very deep way.

I just stumbled upon a book that he wrote last year that I want to share, where he documents his sadhana in Himalayas in great detail, he describes his routines, techniques, obstacles, experiences, realizations, and much more. It was an amazing read, for those who've read the autobiography and wanted to know more about what he actually did in those thirteen months, don't miss reading this one. It is very inspiring. 

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/221033478-thirteen-months-in-the-himalayas

Want to know what real hardcore meditation looks like? Read the book. Dude was concentrating on God for 16-22 hours a day for weeks and months until he literally met with God.

Nicely dovetails with Leo's recent blog-post on meditation: https://www.actualized.org/insights/awakening-is-not-a-different-place

Edited 16 hours ago by bazera

[r0ckyreed]

Nice! His first book was a great read. Too bad he goes more in-depth on the techniques than his actual insights/“awakening”. 

[bazera]

3 minutes ago, r0ckyreed said:

Nice! His first book was a great read. Too bad he goes more in-depth on the techniques than his actual insights/“awakening”. 

No he goes in-depth on both actually. He describes his insights and awakenings in great details, to the point that I almost teared up reading it.

One thing to note is that what he describes is tainted with Hinduism, but I think beneath that he was just going to the Truth itself.

It's a great account of what serious meditation can do.

Edited 16 hours ago by bazera

[r0ckyreed]

Nice! In his first book, he didn’t go that much in-depth on his awakening. I am hoping in the second book he goes more in-depth.

[bazera]

1 minute ago, r0ckyreed said:

Nice! In his first book, he didn’t go that much in-depth on his awakening. I am hoping in the second book he goes more in-depth.

Yes, he wrote it exactly for people like us who wanted to know more. 

[SamC]

@bazera Amazing! His first book is one of the best books I've read. Thanks for sharing

[BlessedLion]

10 hours ago, bazera said:

Dude was concentrating on God for 16-22 hours a day for weeks and months until he literally met with God.

i always wondering about this, as i've read the book too, it's a beautiful book, but i found this a strange ending because it creates God as a dual being, something outside of him, makes me question if it was more mind because God is not a person or being you can perceive like that. 

[Leo Gura]

Thanks for sharing.

[bazera]

7 minutes ago, BlessedLion said:

i always wondering about this, as i've read the book too, it's a beautiful book, but i found this a strange ending because it creates God as a dual being, something outside of him, makes me question if it was more mind because God is not a person or being you can perceive like that. 

Yes that was also strange to me, as I mentioned his story is tainted with Hinduism a lot, he is a religious person who wanted to know Truth. 

Even if his realizations wasn't ultimate or was limited (which it clearly was as far as I understand), it's still a very inspiring story worth reading. Especially if you meditate and want to see what hardcore meditation looks like.

[BlessedLion]

1 hour ago, bazera said:

Yes that was also strange to me, as I mentioned his story is tainted with Hinduism a lot, he is a religious person who wanted to know Truth. 

Even if his realizations wasn't ultimate or was limited (which it clearly was as far as I understand), it's still a very inspiring story worth reading. Especially if you meditate and want to see what hardcore meditation looks like.

Definitely 

[BlessedLion]

It's crazy how he just totally mastered the world of material pursuits and money then just gave it all away before pursuing consciousness, inspiring.