In the year of the pandemic, lot of us found ourselves with a good amount of time to spare as well as a great need to make sense of what was happening all around us. Amidst this chaos, spiritual and philosophical literature came to our aid with myriad range of authors trying to impart sage wisdom on how to keep calm and just bake the year away!

‘The Beautiful Heart’ by Acharya Prashant was an unexpected find and ended up helping with much more than the stress of the present times.

The book is best described as an anthology of all the existential issues which an individual goes through in his lifetime. While reading the book, one feels that they are going through a journey where progressively complex questions were examined and answered through use of logic, common sense and also a bit of humor!

The central premise of the book is to elucidate on what really is meant by thinking from the heart or living by the heart. It focuses on the existence of a ‘deeper self’, the one not only beyond the cold-calculative mind, but also beyond the soapy, emotional and idealistic self.

The book also contains, in several places, excerpts from popular philosophers and personalities of the spiritual world such as Kahlil Gibran, Hafiz, Rumi and Kabir.

A better structure and rationing on the information could have helped in building a better rapport with the reader.  The first half of the book is a little more pedantic in nature while in the second-half the author launches on to a series of couplets and poems of the afore-mentioned wisdom teachers.

The second half also flows more freely and gives out more positive vibes. Every section has their own unique message which doesn’t necessarily depend on any sequential reading or reading the book in its entirety. In sum, The Beautiful Heart is an important read as opposed to simply a recommended read.