The Queen: Book Review: The Calling by Priya Kumar

I believe in Karma, I believe in the law of attraction, I believe that everything happens for a reason.

With that thought, I believe that this book “The Calling” by Priya Kumar came to me for a reason.

About Priya Kumar

Born and brought up in Chandigarh, her journey from there to today, an internationally acclaimed motivational speaker, nationally renowned and award-winning bestselling author & the CEO and Chief Facilitator of Priya Kumar’sTraining Systems has been, in Priya’s words, “my sheer drive and purpose to make people’s lives better.”

An international publication once introduced Priya as “When Priya speaks, people listen.” A leading national daily wrote, “Priya has the power to change lives.” All this and more, resonates the impact Priya has had on the lives of people across the globe, through her work and books.

(Source: www.priya-kumar.com)

Priya Kumar us the winner of six international awards and has been voted the most popular book on 2015 on Amazon India in the Biographies section. She has written quite a few bestselling books. One of them is “I am another you”

A brief about the book

· The Calling: THE ANSWERS LIE WITHIN

The Calling is a spiritual adventure. It is an encounter with the truth, the wisdom and the force that is innate to us all. At the brink of a divorce and personal breakdown, Arjun took a trip into the heart of the Himalayas, on the insistence of a sadhu, who predicted that the journey up to Hemkund Sahib would align him to his purpose and change his life forever.

At every turn the mountains holds secrets and tests that urge Arjun to evolve into the person he had denied to be – himself. Pretenses, falsities, confusions and untruths fall apart as Arjun is forced to confront the mess he had created in his life.

What started off as an opportunity to escape reality, turned out to be an opportunity to escape from the dwindling spiral of self-created misery. Filled with spiritual insights and sprinkled with light humor, this story will help you find your calling, your voice and who knows, even your true self.

What I felt about the book

Recently after being to a vacation at the foot of Himalayas, I loved the cover of the book to start with. Its about this man, Arjun who has a successful but not so-satisfactory career, his family life is disoriented, his wife has filed a divorce and he is away from his daughters.

Arjun, meets with an near to death accident, with a broken neck, fractured limbs and a crashed car nowhere. He is almost sure that he is dead, but encounters a sadhu, who ties a purple thread on Arjun’s wrist and asks Arjun to go to Hemkund Sahib to find the answers to his life’s problems. The sadhu asks him to find the thread on the tree. Arjun wakes up next morning on the street at nowhere miraculously healed of his broken body.

He was sure he was dreaming until he sees the purple thread tied to his wrist. Later, the thread vanishes from his wrist and Arjun remember the sadhu’s words of finding the thread on the tree in Himalayas. After a while, he makes a decision to go to Hemkund sahib to find that thread and solve this mystery.

With the help of his best friend Jay, Arjun starts his journey at the foot of Himalayas, where he meets Chandu, an 18 year old, spiritually high,a man with amazing knowledge about leaves, herbs, so much so that he can bring a dead back to life, with two of his donkeys.

NOTE: I loved the subtle inflicted humor with Chandu and the donkey

The lessons this book gave, has to be implemented in life this instant

This world is yours, its your responsibility to keep it beautiful
Everyone in your life is there for a reason, put them to use else they will become redundant
Being positive is a state of mind, and you are responsible for your own happiness. Do not let negativity seep into you
What you sow, so shall you reap

Everyone in this world has a bigger purpose, finding yourself, feeling happy inside will make everyone around you happy too.

As a reader, you can feel yourself travelling with Arjun through the Himalayas, you can see Chandu, you can get the whole experience sitting where you are. Its like attaining sadhana exactly where you are.

When the book ended, my heart was beating really fast in my chest, I let out a happy sigh, I fell silent for a while, pondering everything I read in my head. I loved the way something peaceful, something calming washed over me.

There are a few quotes that I loved in the book

“The end is the beginning. The beginning does not have a past, it only has the future”

“Regret is to life like termite is to wood, it will eat you up”

“I haven’t done anything that will worry me. You have however done a lot to work yourself up that you have no control over yourself”

“God is a spiritual potential in action. When one feels spiritual compassion. They feel divinity”

This is not one of those positivity preaching books, its forms a story that gives you very positive vibes.

It’s a must read for everyone. Read it for you, read it for your soul.