Vaidik Sanatan Hindutva by Manoj Singh (Book Review: 4.25*/5) !!!

1803rd BLOG POST -->>

It has been my wish to read Hindi books regularly but never got an opportunity for the same. Finally, because of this new will and wish within me to understand my religion as much as I can as I have started believing that religions though sounding very traditional and old-school speaks of dimensions that we don’t even think about while listening about them. And I believe how well a Hindi author can write about our religions such as Hinduism, Sanatan Dharma etc., no other language and their authors can do justice to it. This made me pick up the book named “Vaidik Sanatan Hindutva” written by Manoj Singh in Hindi language. Picking this book made it more relevant because author’s education profile is B.E and MBA which means he is probably not a blind-believer but has gone through the intricacies before believing in the same and writing about it.

The book “Vaidik Sanatan Hindutva”, I must say, as many of the people are mentioning on the Internet is not out-and-out spiritual book but talks vividly about how we, as a human being, live and thrive on the planet Earth and even after knowing that without it’s well-being, we can’t survive a second, we don’t think twice before polluting it and depleting our natural resources. Author is basically frustrated with the way scientists have started searching for another planet realizing that planet Earth shall not be healthy enough because of us- human beings due to which we shall need to look for an alternative to keep our species alive. Author is angry about how rather than talking about how we can save our planet, we are searching for another planet to make it another hell like Earth.

The book starts with criticizing one of these scientists, a very popular, Stephen Hawking. And then author talks about how our very own religion which is originated in our country, India, itself speaks about the importance of the Planet and its well-being. How in all our religions such as Sanatan, rituals such as Vaidik rituals and religious holy books such as Rigveda, there is mention about worshiping of Mother Earth not because of some blind faith but because the Sages of those era understood the importance of our planet which serves us with everything selfless like a mother.

Author discusses about all such rituals in the Sanatan dharma which speaks of things like Gayatri Mantra, Mahamrutyunjay jaap, yagya, Yoga etc. which might sound regressive to this modern generation but how they are also scientifically important for us, our survival and planet is also discussed. Similarly, author also talks about the seasons in India and how each of them are beneficial to us in its very own way. The importance of Sun is mentioned vividly in the book which discusses its importance for all the living and non-living beings on this planet as it is the single source of energy for us.

And finally comes the most interesting part of the book where all the festivals are discussed which are widely celebrated in India. All of us have just blindly celebrated the festivals without realizing the real meaning behind their celebration or why they even exist on particular day and time. The importance of each festival, the rituals that are performed during those festivals are mentioned which makes us realize what kind of geniuses our sages were that even if we blindly followed everything they said, we would have been in a better place today. I was literally surprised to learn so much through these chapters. How all the rituals have been planned keeping all the segments of people, all the societies inclusive is thought-provoking and astonishing whereas we have always considered them as regressive thinking.

Author’s language throughout the book is in the kind of Hindi we love listening to whenever someone like Kumar Vishwas or Amitabh Bachchan speaks in a very good command. The way all the chapters and topics are classified with their appropriate sectioning in the index too makes it easy to grasp the book. I would recommend everyone to read this book topic by topic every day rather than rushing on to it. As this is the first Hindi book I have completed, it took me 18 days to finish the 238 pages of this but I am happy to have invested around 3 weeks in grasping this powerful book which taught me so much about me, my country, my religion, my society and the way I should be changing my lifestyle with small changes.

Talking about the drawbacks, I must say that the way author starts this book is very negative and disappointing as the way author pounds on the scientists is very bad. Also, mentioning the name of Stephen Hawking specifically was not required and looked very bad on author’s part. If author, rather than mentioning the same, had talked only about what he did later in the book, this book would have been a very positive book spreading only positivism rather than blame game.

Overall, this book shall provide you many insights as mentioned above along with improving your Hindi language. I give this book 4.25 stars out of 5. Recommended!

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA