Reading is a form of listening, one should practise it

For living a fulfilling life, rising in the world and growing spiritually, we must not restrict our reading and should try out all of these: newspapers, literature, self-help and spiritual books.

We can briefly consider here one spiritual book, the Gita. Reading chapters 1 to 3 of the Gita regularly and repeating Ramanama were the source of Mahatma Gandhi’s soul force.

In the beginning of the Gita, Arjuna is disinclined to fight and Lord Krishna persuades him to do so. We can interpret this to mean that we must keep on making an effort even when we feel disinclined or discouraged. The Lord says that the soul is eternal and passes from one body to another at the time of death till it achieves liberation.

The Lord says a stithaprajna is a person who has given up the desire for sensual fulfilment and finds satisfaction from within. This is an ideal we can strive for.

There are two paths to salvation — knowledge and action.

Arjuna asks what impels a man to commit sin. The Lord says that lust and anger make a man commit sin. We need to control desire to some extent, according to this shloka.

Contemporary self-help books stress things not emphasised in spiritual books. Self-help books say that we should have one hour every morning for own personal development. These books also stress the need to take a nutritious diet. They say that the key to a good relationship is listening. We must try to become a world-class listener.

Finally, it is not enough just to read good books. We must also put into practice things which appeal to us.