Release of 'Guru Nanak' by Dr Harish Dhillon (Nov 2005)
INDUS SOURCE BOOKS
A biography of Guru Nanak was released at a
function organized by the Women's Movement for Peace and Prosperity (an
initiative of the Times Foundation) and Indus Source Books on Sunday, 6th
November. Mr Ram Maheshwary, GM and Branch Head, The Times Group, was chief
guest at the occasion. The book has been written by Dr Harish Dhillon,
Principal, Yadavindra Public School, Chandigarh. He is the author of several
books on Sikhism and the Punjab, as also collections of short stories. The book
release was followed by a presentation by the author on Guru Nanak and Shabads
rendered by students of Guru Nanak School and Ms Meenu Gidwani with explanations
by Ms Shakun Narain
From left Ms Sonavi Desai, Ms Supriya Rai, Mr Ram Maheshwary, Dr Dhillon, Ms Shakun Narain,
A student, Ms Meenu Gidwani
Excerpt from 'Guru Nanak' by Dr Harish Dhillon
...My only justification for
retelling a story that has already been told often is the firm belief that a
story as beautiful and inspiring as Nanak's needs to be retold as often as
possible...
"...The janamasakhis are replete with stories of Nanak
performing miracles and displaying supernatural powers, stories that most people
have come to believe implicitly forgetting that the only supernatural power
Nanak acknowledged was the power of the Supreme Reality and the only miracles he
believed in were the miracles performed by God..."
Yet Guru Nanak said
'Jo maangey Thakur apney te, soee soee soee devey'
which means that whatever
Guru Nanak asked for, the Lord granted to him! Is that not a miracle. I believe
that when ones intentions are not selfish and ones motive is sincere and one
makes a 'Shubh sankalp" one enters the realm of miracles and the Lord
perforce grants! 
Above:
From left: Ms Supriya Rai, Myself, Ms Sonavi Desai
Both these wonderful ladies, Supriya and Sonavi were deeply
influenced by their mother…and love for Music and Culture brought them
together.
Supriya used to read Zen Buddhism as a teenager, and was
much influenced by its philosophy.
She did an Art of Living Workshop and ‘saw’
Buddha in Guruji (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar). This Spiritual reaction brought
her back to Buddhism and she wrote and released a novel on Buddha.
Sonavi ‘believed’ in Shirdi Sai Baba, had a personal
Spiritual experience, which one could safely classify as a ‘miracle’. This
‘happening’made her move towards Spirituality. And she wrote and released a
book on Shirdi Sai Baba.
Sonavi and Supriya felt that children should be
exposed to Hindu Culture and Spirituality and believed that there was a need for
‘simply written books’.
They took recourse to a little fiction not deviating from
the basic teachings (taken from recorded texts) of the Spiritual characters they
were writing about.
Indus Source Books was born out of the desire to promote
what they believed in.
So that they continue to pursue their vision it was
important that they retain editorial control.
The books that they continue to‘release’ is a symbolic
offering to their Master.
I am not surprised that the satisfaction they derive from
this effort, far outweighs the material gain!
I wish them all the very best and am so happy to be
associated with them!
Shakun Narain
Read: Good people
 
|
