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Bha-ra-ta: The Rhythm of a Nation
by
Sadhguru (Goodreads Author)
4.19 · Rating details · 37 ratings · 8 reviews
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ebook, First, 85 pages
Published January 2015 by Isha Foundation
Original Title
Bharatha: The rhythm of a nation
Edition Language
E
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Average rating4.19 ·
Rating details
· 37 ratings · 8 reviews
Jan 25, 2016Vaishali rated it liked it
Shelves: indian-authors, self-improvement, yogis
First off, I adore Sadhguru. Secondly, however, I found this book surprisingly arrogant, with plenty of badly-researched nation-pandering.
But Sadhguru being Sadhguru nailed some solid, lucid points:
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"This is a nation where a large population will give up everything a person normally aspires for – all pleasures of life, all comforts, all rights – to simply live in pursuit of what is ultimately right."
"Right now, we do not have enough space in the country to be too disorganized. If it was just one person per square kilometer, you could act crazy. But when there are this many people, how you keep every step matters."
"What kept us together longer than any other nation on the planet is essentially that we have always been a land of seekers – seekers of truth and liberation."
"A successful human being means you are complete in every way."
"It is very important to nurture an aspiration and to create the possibility that you can get there within your lifespan."
"Right now if the western countries open up their visa policy, eighty percent of Indians will swim across the oceans and go away! That is not the way to run a nation. People should want to be here."
"Between a possibility and a reality, there is a distance. Do you have the courage, the commitment and the conviction to walk the distance?"
"If we do not organize, if we do not focus this natural exuberance and free-wheeling intelligence, you will have a very chaotic situation that seems to be going somewhere but will not go anywhere."
"We don’t like any kind of authority. We would like to go all over the place. Just see – driving on the street is a clear demo."
"There are 600 million people in this country who hardly have a human existence."
"It is only by default that people became Prime Ministers in this country. We are a democracy on paper but our mindset is essentially feudalistic."
"We must, and we do, have a strong military, because human beings are still not in such a level of consciousness that we can simply live without protection."
"I would like to suggest to the government that they take these six hundred crores, and instead of buying a hundred airplanes, set up one hundred power stations in Pakistan. If you invest your money there, you are not going to bomb them. If they invest their money here, they are not going to bomb you."
"You can eliminate the enemy only when you eliminate your enmity."
"We have land that produces food twelve months of the year, which is a phenomenon. Very few countries in the world can do that. Food and water must be secured 100%. Otherwise, other nations will not attack you with bombs, they will control your food and you will fall at their feet."
"This was a very cosmogenic culture, never a god-oriented culture."
"Creation … is consciously created. Anyone who pays a little attention will clearly know that it is not happening haphazardly; it is in a process of genesis or evolution always, from within itself."
"I am one of the few who is continuing to create gods. ... everyone is supposed to create his own Ishta Devata, and worship their own favorite god."
"A spiritual process can take shape in any culture only after material needs are taken care of. That is an advantage that only the Indian culture had in the past. All other cultures were in strife, warfare, and in search of conquest most of the time. This culture had a long phase of established social and cultural situations where naturally, people looked beyond material comfort towards their inner wellbeing."
"India has always been known as the spiritual capital of the world, simply because no other culture has looked at the inner sciences with as much depth and understanding as this culture has."
"Nature is functioning around us. It is not fired by passion, greed or anger. It is simply on at its fullest capability all the time."
"Every life upon this planet, from a worm to an insect to a tree – if the necessary opportunity is there – they do their life at the fullest. You think anyone is doing 92% ? They are all doing 100% life because there is a certain equanimity."
"Your body and mind function at their best only when you are in a certain state of peacefulness and joyfulness."
"Equanimity brings you to ease. Ease allows you the adventure of being exuberant with life. Exuberance of the body, exuberance of the intellect, exuberance of the life energies, brings you to wellbeing in life."
"Samskriti focused essentially on developing a human being to his fullest capability. It is just to develop the body and mind to the highest possible capability, and allowing the system to rise to its highest possible peak."
"The immensity of being human is being completely missed because we are too engaged with other things. If we pay enough attention to the human mechanism, the things we want to do in the world are just a play."
"Language is a conspiracy between two people."
"The moment you pay substantial attention to what you call 'myself,' there is nothing that will not yield to you in the existence, because that which you refer to as the source of creation – whatever that is – is functioning within you."
"Human consciousness is such: if you pay enough attention, the whole existence has to yield. There is no other way."
"If you are in a place like (a pitch dark tunnel), your attention becomes really heightened. If you can keep your attention like this every moment of your life, then you will glow. You will really glow."
"Every product, no matter what, can be a contribution to someone’s life. You don’t have to worry about how big it gets. If you are doing your best and enjoy doing your best, what’s the problem with life?"
"Today, with the tools of science and technology, we have brought ourselves to a self-threatening situation that everyone in the society needs to turn spiritual, otherwise there is no survival for this world."
"Superpowers are ugly and too full of themselves."
"Our aspiration should be to become a sensible, gentle nation, which is for wellbeing for itself and, as far as possible, wellbeing for everyone in the world."
. (less)
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Sep 24, 2019Aishwary Mehta (The_Fugitive_Biker) rated it really liked it
Shelves: 2019-reads, spirituality
32nd book of 2019 (116th book overall)
Quote from the Book I Liked - 'The people who occupied us for so long somehow managed to bring a certain sense of shame about our roots, which has to go.' (Loc. 183)
Rating - 3.5 Stars
My Review - The book is divided into 2 parts. In the first half, Sadhguru is in an Interview with Kiran Bedi, who asks the questions regarding our nation Bharata. The interview took place in 2015 and talks a lot about the actual meaning of Bharata and why people and mainly youngsters prefer to go abroad rather than feeling proud and staying in our own Country. In the second half, Sadhguru goes deeper into the question of what made us, Bharatvasi, detached from our roots. What was the cause that now we see west for authentification of what is already known here for thousands of years? The book is a must-read to every citizen to know what this nation is and what actually lies in its heritage and knowledge which if not preserved or felt proud of may lead this ancient land to a much worse place.
Conclusion - A very important and essential read for every Hindustani.
Full Review on Blog.
Link to Blog - The Tales of Fugitive Biker (less)
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Sep 19, 2016Idyll rated it did not like it
You know that know-it-all uncle you bump into at family reunions who says exceptionable things that you want to take issue with but don't because he has long left Planet Logic for Outer Specious? So you just nod your head and bear it, not understanding what's making you stay in that conversation. Why aren't you leaving?
Of all the existentialist questions there are in the world, one that begs to be asked is "What keeps us fastened to the seat next to that nettlesome uncle, when we can excuse ourselves to the bathroom?"
"Love, Harry, Love."
In the case of Sadhguru, I think I was holding on very tightly to the hope that this will end soon. It's only 85 pages long. Once I got past the hopeless interview, the second half had some anecdotes, myth-based conjectures and questionable platitudes that were engaging enough to pull me through to the end. Also, thankfully, he was digressive and vague, like that faint headache that you can feel but can't exactly place, except when he used words like 'science' and caused my temples to throb like a subwoofer. And then, it was over before I needed to reach for an Advil.
(If you find yourself agreeing with Sadhguru's general mentations about India's rich heritage, and the need for models for inclusive social and economic development for all citizens, I suggest starting with Amartya Sen's Development as Freedom and The Argumentative Indian. Sen's type of academic knowledge may also be supplemented with spiritual meditation. The two are not mutually exclusive. I also recommend Pema Chodron's How to Meditate, a practical, no-frills, instructional guide that welcomes anyone in the world wanting to live a life of true joy and deep compassion to try it.
In general, one can't go wrong with books written by development economists or academic historians who don't confuse facts with opinions, and provide lots of data pulled from many reputable sources and proper back-of-the-book indexes. Similarly, good spiritual gurus share wisdom drawn from knowledge and awareness, through instructional training that is open to everyone.
The credibility of both good academic and spiritual books is in their ability to remain nonjudgmental (especially in their critiques) and accessible to all. This is unlike Sadhuguru's book which plays up Indian culture by putting down the West (especially America). That's uncool and unspiritual! It messed up my Bhava. (less)
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Mar 05, 2018Niranjan rated it it was amazing
I’m not writing any review of this book, but want to comment on few assholes who ignorantly bashed the Sadhguru. This class of Protestant breed has ruined the whole world, they can’t digest the fact that someone could be different from this ducking Semitic monsters. And the funny thing was that some one suggesting Amartya Sen over Sadhguru, Sen was a corrupt bastard who doesn’t even know the ABCD of this culture he was a living example for the moronic bastards sons of Macaulay. Let me tell to you Protestant monsters spirituality is not something which you get by reading some scriptures and by doing some yoga. It’s needs a great Sandana And prajna bhava, you would not attain it in your fucking life’s because your attached to an external agency. I don’t know how the fuck one can attain the spirituality which is innermost experience when your fucking mind was on some fucking external being. I doubt if your breeds can be even called as religion from the eastern sense. (less)
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Oct 14, 2018Rinkan Rohit Jena rated it really liked it
This book started with a conversation between sadguru and Kiran ,and again with his intelligence he answered those difficult questions which will help in making a nation . In this book sadguru not putted the same things again (quite different ) he wrote a lot of new possibilities which he sees in Bharat . And specially he is taking about and above identity and identification . You need to identify yourself you get your identity . And specially he is asking to change the wrong rhythm into right one . He is clearly saying now our goal is to make this a happier country first and they we may evolve as a superpower . He is talking about the correct rhythms and also as guru dakhyina he asked to practice Isha kriya .. simple awesome book must read it if you are a Bharatiya . (less)
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Apr 22, 2016Chetan Hemaraju rated it really liked it
Bha-ra-ta: The Rhythm of a Nation
Talk about a Nation in a Spiritual way and yet convey that to a modern society and objectify the why's & If's! Valid points# Ponder over it# Research on it# Fact or not but its completely logical#
I do agree for the name change to Bha-ra-ta#
Sadguru always has the right answers! I would recommend to any Indian#
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Sep 28, 2015Vyas Prateek rated it it was amazing
Found my answers. thanx Sadhguru sir _/\_ hope we'll have the option under country section everywhere as "भारत".
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Jan 28, 2016Abhinav Yadav added it
bha – ra – ta
Bhava - Raag - Taal
We are not a manicured garden. We are like a forest.
I don’t believe it is the government or the law or the infrastructure. Somewhere, there is something in people which still keeps things rolling. We know how to create a very organized chaos. That is what this country is.
People who think in a structured manner cannot understand the possibility of the chaos.
If you want to be totally disorganized, if it was just one person per square kilometer, you could act crazy. But when there are this many people, how you keep every step matters.
What we do to enjoy the mess we have created, but also to make the mess work. It is a mess only for those who look at it with a simplistic mindset. Otherwise, it is a tremendous possibility.
we have always been a land of seekers – seekers of truth and liberation. In this seeking, we found oneness. When we look for sameness, we try to become a land of believers.
once their survival is taken care of, they always want to know the nature of their existence, and of
everything around them.
I have driven across the country on my motorcycle and sat in dhabas and teashops so much, and one thing I have seen is – the guy who is making the tea there will be telling you how Tendulkar
should have played the right shot, how his technique is not good, how he is going for a wrong approach. He will be talking about how the Prime Minister should have run the country differently.
The only problem with this guy is he does not know how to make good tea!
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