A Journey in Ananda             

Review by: C.S.Rao

To write about the book, A Journey in Ananda, is to write about the personality of its author, Dr. Surya Prakash Vinjamuri, because it is an honest and truthful document of his noble thoughts and feelings; and these are happily translated into deeds of social service inspired by compassionate concerns and convincing commonsense. To borrow an expression from John Milton, it has issued forth from his ‘ life-blood’, and hence there is no difference between the person who has written the book and the persona reflected in the book. Prof. Middleton Murry observes that style is the man: that is to say that as is the man so is his style. The book under review is like the author, Dr. Prakash himself: it is simple, honest, straightforward, fluent and unpretentious. We don’t have lyrical outpourings or rhetorical flourishes or obsession for fine writing for that is not his nature. We have, in their place, simple heart-felt truths of life deeply experienced by him.

Dr. Prakash is a committed social worker; I can even call him a karma yogi with the enlightenment of a Jnana; work is his service, work is his mission and work is his worship. What kind of work is it?  It is bringing succour to the hungry, restoring health to the sick and extending a helping hand to the needy. Ably and joyously assisted by his wife, Dr. Kameswari. He sets apart quite a deal of his time for social work. They run an Open House for the needy where they can have food, shelter and medical assistance and then move on. For a man with such a frame of mind, success and failure have no relevance. One may fail as Gandhiji has failed or Jesus has failed in the narrow sense of the term, but the lives they have led, the deeds they have done, the thoughts they have left behind and the values they have cherished remain vibrant and keep on working on people’s minds through ages.

He says in the very first poem itself:

‘Life is not long enough to do

What we like to do, still

We have to do.’

These lines sum up his life and work

The book seeks to impress upon us the need for bringing about an attitudinal change in ourselves to life and its legitimate demands for our happiness and for that of others in the society. Ananda is possible only with the sublimation of self, with sharing with and caring for others with compassion. Ananda lies in simple living and noble thinking. He tells us how we invite discord into our lives with our pet notions of self-importance

‘We try to prove a point

When there is no point’

How true! We find his sensitive response to the misdeeds we do and the misery we cause to others and to ourselves in the end. He bemoans

‘I wish I should have been blind

I wish I should have been deaf

I wish my senses are taken away.’

But doesn’t deter him and his mission of service continues. He says

‘We should be silent

But we should not be silenced.’

That is his nobility and strength.

‘Like’ is one of the good poems. We don’t miss to feel a sort of cool comforting serenity descending on us as we read these lines: he says he wants

‘…to roll like a stream

Spread like early morning sun

Sway like tender leaves

In the morning twilight

And smile like a toddler.’

His love of nature and naturalness and simplicity does automatically become ours.

He dislikes greedy exploitation of nature by man, and wants us to live in a simple way in harmony with nature and its graces and promptings. He is sad at man’s alienation from nature, with technological revolutions one after the other ‘ and no one knows where they ultimately lead us to.

He says elsewhere in the book that what matters is how many smiles we generate by our words and deeds. He is sincerely committed to the message he offers us in the following lines:

, Spread goodness around the world

Silently, beautifully

And silence the

Nuisance, noises and nonsense

Around the world.’

We have to do our utmost and best, and then we

Need not even petition for God’s help for God will surely

‘Receive us in our last stumble’

Dr. Prakash is young in years, but mature in wisdom. His aim is clear, his path sure, and his faith unflinching.

Review by

C.S.Rao

(This book is available for free download on KINIGE.COM here: http://kinige.com/book/A+Journey+in+Ananda)