Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Review of Instaread Summary, Analysis & Review of Sadhguru's "Inner Engineering"



Review of
Instaread Summary, Analysis & Review of Sadhguru's  Inner Engineering
 
Five out of five stars
 In the “Author’s Style” section, there is the following statement. 

“At times, his statements seem contrarian for a self-help book— although he claims at the outset of the text that it is not a self-help book. For example, he writes, ‘I am not interested in offering anything new. I am only interested in what is true.’”

This is of course more than slightly nonsensical, for this is without question a self-help book and the author of the summary is to be commended for including this bit of internal inconsistency.
 The proof that this is a self-help book appears in the list of key takeaways. 

 *) People can understand their own limitless nature by experiencing it first-hand.
*) Yoga helps people achieve self-mastery of their mind, their body, and their energy.
*) People seek to experience their own infinite nature.
*) Thoughts take information from outside stimuli and can therefore be an obstacle to inner joy.
*) The practice of inner engineering can generate profound joy.
*) Rational knowledge is overvalued in today’s society.
*) Responsibility means responding to the universe.
*) When people achieve enlightenment, they are coming home to their essential nature.
*) The spiritual path is about finding truth, not drawing conclusions. 

As well as in the first sentence of the summary.

“’Inner Engineering’ by yogi and mystic Sadhguru is a nonfiction book that explores the path to spiritual enlightenment, a state in which joy is constant.”

 Once this fact is established, it is clear that this book is just another in the line of books telling the reader of the value of yoga as a solution to their problems. Change a few words and the content is no different from a yoga book by another author that I reviewed over a decade ago.  Although the author of this summary uses a tone that indicates belief in the position of the author, they do a great job in pointing out the internal contradiction as well as the similarity to other books. Whether it was inadvertent or not, it was accurate, after reading this summary you know exactly what the book is about. 

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