Book Title -Dear River : Love, Loss & Spirituality
Author - Heather Drummond
Genre - Spiritual
Publisher - Directory Publishers
ISBN - 978-1616113209
This book is certainly one of its kind. Though this book is an autobiography which naturally means is based on true accounts, you would never feel bored because of the contents it has to offer which is Universal. This book is written by Heather Drummond to pass on her knowledge and learning to her son River. She is married happily to Garth Drummond. Though this book was written in 2011 before the arrival of Dune(second kid of the author), the content stands good till date.
The book has 90 chapters with 240 pages (no chapter is lengthier than 4 pages except 2). The book encompasses ideologies from Christianity, Christian Science coupled with Yoga and Meditation which she learned from The Art Of Living.
To start with, I liked this quote in the book:
“All these practices, all the knowledge in the world is available to you from an infinite amount of places”
Heather's Parents divorced when she was 2.Fortunately, she had a nice Step father who was Non alcoholic. Her mother was so good that she adopted an old man - Uncle Johnny who lived with them for 15 years.
Author was good at Tennis, Swimming & Hockey. Played Hockey for Zimbabwe. After her education, she went to London to work in Guinness. Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, France, Spain, Germany, Italy & then to Mauritius. You would know how successful she was, when you read her book.
Its time to see one of the quotes that I liked, yet again:
“We should look to our past a little as we do our rear view mirrors when driving. We will never go forward, if we keep looking behind us”
Talks about BAD Touch in chapter 2. I guess this is the need of the hour. The reference of Yesterday - History : Tomorrow - Mystery : Today - Gift may be old but would still make you smile.
Her meeting with her soulmate(Garth is a vegetarian and a teetotaler) happened casually and the SMS that changed their spiritual journey is this ->
“We are not human beings having spiritual experience but spiritual being having human experience”.
There is another quote which is worth mentioning here:
“God is everywhere & nothing apart from HIM is present or has power”, Mary Baker Eddy
Einstein’s chapter was a great revelation . It is from here, the book starts getting intense. So, buckle up and get ready to immerse yourself with contents which is full of reality and wisdom.
Do you know what are the 5 love languages?
Do you know the significance of AUM?
What is Meditation?
Another quote which found its place in the book is definitely worth its mention:
A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open - Frank Zappa
Author faces a real bad experience when she flies in a business class. Even she had a miscarriage, she felt that “Nothing is lost in God’s Kingdom”. How many of us would have felt that same, had an unfortunate event like this had happened? I sincerely pray that this wouldn't happen to any but shows the positive mindset of the author.
The book finds mention about:
Satsang
Lord Shiva's Trishul
Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic foods
Aayurveda
Vatta, Pitta, Kapha and its association with the body
Five Elements and how they are connected to our body
Circumcision
Yoga and its types
Benefits of Yoga
The Seven Chakras
Five Horses and Pancha Koshas
Seven Synonyms to describe God in Christian Science etc are certainly worth the read.
Author is of the opinion that “GOD is beyond religion, beyond idols, beyond books & beyond temples” and comfortable with God being called in different names but believes on one God, one higher intelligence who is infinite & diverse
The reason as to why she did not have her marriage in the Church is rational. The theme was “a touch of the east”
“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about” by Wayne Dyer is a classic quote in the book when author faces an awkward situation in a church in Harare where she wanted to teach course for Art of Living
Everything is an expression of God says the author. How true is that....
Author was a part of AOL Silver Jubilee Celebrations in Bangalore, 2006 where 2.5 million took part in the largest guided meditation in the history of mankind. There are few interesting stories that finds its mention in the book including that of Joshua Bell’s incognito performance at metro station organised by Washington Post.
A dedicated chapter which talks about the difference between Teacher & Guru is stupendous and shouldn't be missed.
Do not miss reading - What are the obstacles on Spiritual Path?
How will I not mention the quote from The Guru - Sri Sri Ravishankar in this review - “Enlightenment is a joke. It’s like a fish in the ocean looking for the ocean”
A perfect read which is applicable to all ages, people, culture and customs including atheists....
This book is available on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback and Audiobook formats.
1 comments:
Sarath, thank you for this wonderful review. I hope your followers find inspiration through my story. I love to hear from readers and I invite them to connect with me online for some deeper work in the form of yoga, meditation, breath work and food for the soul. They can contact us through www.dearriver.org. Much love and thanks again. Heather Drummond
EmoticonEmoticon