Some people ask God for temporal gifts. In the author's case, he has never asked God for anything. But being a devout Hindu for twenty years was only bringing misery, disease, poverty, hunger, and social ostracization in his life. There had to be a better path for him to follow. In his forties he started to engage with the Light--Christ--that he had done so in his formative years. He just asked for his will to be done in his life. He found more solace and less confusion and more clarity wi...

The respected Times of India journalist reveals the truths and consequences of the country's unprecedented COVID-19 lockdown.On March 24, 2020, with approximately five hundred reported COVID-19 cases reported and only hours notice, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the most stringent national lockdown the world has ever seen. Two months later, Modi announced the fourth phase of national lockdown with some relaxations.Now in phase five of...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been known to be critical about India's policies in Kashmir. But when on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday in 2020, Merkel sent him a note wishing him with the words Liebe Narendra (Dear Narendra), written in hand, one knew that Modi had arrived on the world stage. Modi 2.0: Beyond the Ordinary is an objective analysis of the prime minister, his struggles and achievements, his spiritual journey, the men and the women in his life, ...

The "courageous and clarion" Booker Prize–winner "continues her analysis and documentation of the disastrous consequences of unchecked global capitalism" ( Booklist).From the poisoned rivers, barren wells, and clear-cut forests, to the hundreds of thousands of farmers who have committed suicide to escape punishing debt, to the hundreds of millions of people who live on less than two dollars a day, there are ghosts nearly everywhere you look in India. India ...

A follow up to Pico Iyer’s essay “The Joy of Quiet,” The Art of Stillness considers the unexpected adventure of staying put and reveals a counterintuitive truth: The more ways we have to connect, the more we seem desperate to unplug.Why might a lifelong traveler like Pico Iyer, who has journeyed from Easter Island to Ethiopia, Cuba to Kathmandu, think that sitting quietly in a room might be the ultimate adventure? Because in our madly accelerating world, o...

Interest in India has never been greater. Here Shashi Tharoor, one of the subcontinent’s most respected writers and diplomats, offers precious insights into this complex, multifaceted land, which despite its dazzling diversity of languages, customs, and cultures remains-more than sixty years after its founding-the world’s largest democracy. He describes the vast changes that have transformed this once sleeping giant into a world leader in science and technology, a nation once poverty-stric...

In this landmark work, internationally beloved teacher of meditation and “one of the great spiritual teachers of our time” (Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple) Jack Kornfield reveals that you can be instantly happy with the keys to inner freedom.Through his signature warmhearted, poignant, often funny stories, with their a-ha moments and O. Henry-like outcomes, Jack Kornfield shows how we can free ourselves, wherever we are and whatever our circumsta...

Five books of essays in one volume from the Booker Prize–winner and "one of the most ambitious and divisive political essayists of her generation" ( The Washington Post).With a new introduction by Arundhati Roy, this new collection begins with her pathbreaking book The Cost of Living—published soon after she won the Booker Prize for her novel The God of Small Things—in which she forcefully condemned India's nuclear tests and its construct...

Thich Nhat Hanh explains how to find true safety in an age of terror. With simple insight, he illustrates how we can transform and uproot terrorism through the practices of compassion, deep listening, and mindful communication. This book offers key teachings to heal the misunderstandings that divide us. With his signature empathy and insight, Nhat Hanh addresses the deep questions of how to create individual and national safety while at the same time showing true compassion. Calming the Fe...

Everyone is shattered these days, and there's no one who doesn't get hurt in his life, but that doesn't mean we break our hearts every day for everyone. People give us pain, and we try to heal it. I always think when I was a little child, I was never as miserable as today as I am. Why? Because we are growing unhappiness and guilt in our minds.In the world of silence, we are broken inside with loud noise. We don't know what we really want. Some days...

A colorful and revealing portrait of the rise of India’s new billionaire class in a radically unequal societyIndia is the world’s largest democracy, with more than one billion people and an economy expanding faster than China’s. But the rewards of this growth have been far from evenly shared, and the country’s top 1% now own nearly 60% of its wealth. In megacities like Mumbai, where half the population live in slums, the extraordinary riches of India’s new dynastie...

For millions of South Africans, Nelson Mandela's passing signalled the end of an era. Returning home to cover the story, journalist Azad Essa finds his countrymen looking a little lost, insecure of the future, even as they celebrate the life of a great man. Essa travelled around his native South Africa to track the mood of the nation. He notes the deification of this global icon despite the muck and grime of the great swathes of poverty that remain in South Africa two decades after the fal...