October 2023 MBR The Religion/Spirituality Shelf

The Religion/Spirituality Shelf

The Secret of Love: A Glimpse into the Mystical Wisdom of Rav Kook
Rabbi Aryeh Ben David
Kasva Press
https://www.kasvapress.com
9781948403412, $24.95, PB, 220pp

https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Love-Aryeh-Ben-David/dp/1948403412

Synopsis: "The Secret of Love: A Glimpse into the Mystical Wisdom of Rav Kook" by Rabbi Aryeh Ben David is a book about love. To be more exact, it is a book about how to become a more loving human being. How to love ourselves, our families, our communities, other human beings, and all of creation -- more. It has been inspired by the writings of the contemporary mystic, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, usually referred to as Rav Kook.

Rav Kook teaches us that loving is primarily a spiritual experience. It flows from our souls. Or more exactly, it flows from the Source of the universe into and through our souls. Just as our heart naturally circulates blood throughout our body, so too our soul naturally streams love throughout our life. Loving is our most pure and natural state of being.

Critique Of special appeal, relevance and value to readers with an interest in personal transformation and spirituality, "The Secret of Love: A Glimpse into the Mystical Wisdom of Rav Kook" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, and academic library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections and personal reading lists.

Editorial Note: Rabbi Aryeh Ben David has worked in Jewish Education for over 30 years, as senior staff at the Pardes Institute, Educational Director of Livnot U'Lehibanot, Spiritual consultant for Hillel International, and founder and director of Ayeka: Center for Soulful Education. He is the author of Becoming a Soulful Educator; The Ayeka Shabbat; The Godfile: 10 Approaches to Personalizing Prayer; The Ayeka Haggadah; and Prayers of the Lost & Found. Some people call him a rabbi and master teacher; he refers to himself as a work-in-progress.

Wisdom of a Yogi
Rizwan Virk
Bayview Books
https://bayviewlabs.com/bayviewbooks
9781954872103, $14.95 Paper/$9.99 ebook

https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Yogi-Lessons-Seekers-Autobiography-ebook/dp/B0C32T742X

In 1946, long before 'new age' was a term, Indian wisdom was largely acknowledged in Western circles, or Paramahansa Yogananda was known to the world, the publication of Autobiography of a Yogi reflected his life and evolution as a spiritual thinker and young man. Over the decades, the book became a worldwide classic filled with the monk's paradigm-changing and challenging thoughts that brought the ancient lessons of karma, yoga, and meditation to Western minds. Wisdom of a Yogi is a much-needed book that re-envisions the lessons in Autobiography for a modern audience. It comes from an unlikely source - a technologist and entrepreneur who incorporates internet and video game technology's modern focuses into the finer art of synthesizing and interpreting the Yoganada's fourteen lessons for modern audiences. How do stories of miracles in the Himalayas and acts of psychic and physical transformation apply to modern technology-laden (but spiritual) readers?

Just as Yogananda's spiritual lessons reached into the hearts and minds of generations, so Virk's Wisdom of a Yogi presents these reinterpreted lessons in a manner that modern audiences can more readily understand and apply to their lives. The contemporary references allow greater access to the basic underlying concepts of the original work than one might think, with chapter headings as varied as "Go Out of Your Way For... Pilgrimages" and "The World is Like a Movie, a Dream..." Key to understanding and absorbing many of these new perspectives are links between traditional yoga and current thinking: "While traditionalists will say adapting yoga to other traditions is not really yoga, if you use Patanjali's definition, then any practice that helps to smooth out the whirlpools in the river of consciousness is a type of yoga. And there is no greater authority than that ancient sage. Yogananda himself wrote: 'Anyone who practices a scientific technique for divine realization is a yogi.'"

Especially intriguing are analyses that could only come from a writer such as Virk, the founder of Play Labs at MIT, who here applies his technology focus to matters of spiritual enlightenment and intention. Why consider this overlay to be so essential? Because, as Virk points out, "Assuming we develop some of those technologies, which are the crux of what's now called the Metaverse, it's likely we will also develop a 'full immersion' mode for ourselves within a few decades." It's refreshing to view a new age spiritual focus that doesn't necessarily eschew technology, but reconsiders its place in the larger scheme of humanity's evolutionary processes. The fourteen lessons Virk synthesizes from the esteemed Swami's original reinterprets his ages-old advice, taking his classic stories and examples and providing new focus by adding stories of modern seekers, teachers, and students. What does karma, yoga, or meditation have to do with video games, social media, and avatars? Plenty, as Virk points out in vivid chapters that will appeal to a new generation of readers and thinkers. This group needn't have prior familiarity with Autobiography of a Yogi (although this is preferable as either a preface building even stronger appreciation for Virk's approach, or as an adjunct to remind prior fans of the importance of staying relevant to modern times and technologies).

Libraries and spiritual thinkers seeking a path to new interpretations of traditional yogi wisdom would do well to consider Wisdom of a Yogi a mainstay in their collections. The book synthesizes and reinterprets the original tales and lessons in a manner that promises its wide accessibility and discussion to seekers of all ages.

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