If Truth Be Told: A Monk's Memoir

It is 5 o’clock in the morning. The alarm from my Huawei smart phone rings in the other room. It is the same song “dream it possible’ from Delacey waking me gently. This sounds the start of my morning ritual. Once the song is over, I get up, walk to other room, switch off the alarm and silently thank the Almighty for giving me another day to live and hence another opportunity to work on myself. I move to the kitchen, take a full glass of water and sip it slowly. I try to be mindful but the realities are the realities. I know I am still a work-in- progress personage. Nothing is wrong with that; we do what we can as per our capacity. No comparison with others and no neurotic frustration should stem out of our current limitations. This is another reminder for me that it never pays to be too hard on oneself. Striking the right balance is key. ‘Treading on the middle path is the way to go’, says the Buddha. After my glass of water is over, I feel my bowels move. I switch on the wifi box, take my tablet, press on the start button and sit in the most relaxed demeanor on the toilet pot. I have 20 minutes in front of me to read my next spiritual book: If Truth Be Told: A Monk's Memoir by Om Swami. This is my second book by this author. His previous book on mantra has intrigued me. From what I have gathered from that one, Om Swami gives me the impression of a young chap but oh so full of knowledge and load of spiritual experiences. From his writing, I also got a gist of him being a hard disciplinarian in his own life and his spiritual quest. Hmm he simply means business..period. I wanted to know more, because he sounded courageous enough to renounce everything and set himself on a spiritual adventure which has leaded him to his current lifestyle. It was with such mulling that I decided to give ‘If Truth Be Told’ a try. A certain number of mornings later, each session tags to the 20 minutes and few seconds, the book is finally over. Verdict: A inspiring piece of work. I can resonate with many of the episodes of the Swami’s earlier life and struggles. He is another fellow companion on this roller coaster ride calls life. His story can never be identical to ours as each one of us is on our own hero’s journey too. Yet we can learn and fortify our personal resolves by learning about his trial and tribulations, his woes, his victories and finally his enlightenment. Om Swami has set the bar high and his story can be considered as one gauge among the many examples that life has shown us throughout the history of humanity. It is up to us to take it as a model. This is a book from a compassionate being whom I feel, honestly wants to help others like me, in their quest to find their own truth. This book will never make you enlightened and it should not, because this is not its purpose. Read it, reflect and continue your path. One day will come when you too will have your own story to tell. Just keep going, no matter what.

I throughly enjoyed reading this book. As a disclaimer, I haven't met Om Swami personally and I only know him through this book. The book is remarkably well-written. The writing is crisp and clear, marked by simplicity, candour and humor.The book traces the transition of Amit, born in Patiala, into Om Swami - a tantric monk. It is a heart-warming tale that is believable. Amit appears to have been a precocious child, who was a voracious reader from the age of five. As a child, he was fascinated by spirituality and God. Amit early education was in India. Aa a teen, he was well-versed in Vedic texts and also became an astrologer. His tertiary education was in Australia, where he acquired an under-graduate degree in Business and an MBA in 2002. He was extraordinarily successful over the next six years, starting a software business that had operations in Australia, USA, UK, Canada and India. He seems to have been highly focused, energetic and very hard-working. He saw both highs and lows in business. On March 15, 2010, at the age of 30, Amit renounced his material wealth and embraced spirituality. He went in search of a guru and spent nearly five months in Benares with a Naga saint, who comes across as anything but saintly. The saint, who had been conferred the title of Tantric Emperor, had not mastered his own anger. Amit was mistreated and exploited but he bore the whole experience rather stoically. Amit decided to go on his own. He went to the Himalayas. Spending 13 months in exclusion, he intensively meditated and was rewarded with a direct vision of the Goddess.I have spent nearly 25 years on a spiritual path and the book strongly resonates with my own experiences. It seems genuine and authentic. Right now in India, it is hard to find a spiritual master who is not a charlatan or a fake. Most of the so-called masters are not enlightened. Their knowledge is bookish. They run a slick marketing campaign and attract gullible people through franchised meditation workshops or large-scale idols of Indian gods. On the other hand, Om Swami's insights seem to be from direct experience. His recommendation for life appears simple: "Live. Love. Laugh. Give." This is not some new age psycho-babble but a profound insight based on intuitive knowledge.Who is this book meant for? It is a book for a spiritual aspirant seriously interested in God. Regrettably, 99.99% of the population is not interested in spirituality or God. They seek saints to fulfill their trivial material desires for wealth, partner, health and comfort. Some individuals have approached Om Swami to help them locate misplaced jewelery! One should not waste a Master's hard-acquired spiritual energy in fulfilling such petty desires.Om Swami is well-versed in Vedic texts and his knowledge of scriptures is astounding. He is an orthodox monk specializing in the tantric path. This path may not suit everyone, as it is hard. It requires enormous discipline, faith, courage and persistence. If you are unable to master your senses and passion, you might fall on the way. If you are under the misconception that tantra is all about amazing sex, he is not the right person for you. On the other hand, if you are genuinely curious about God, he can show you the way. But be aware that you are unlikely to see the Goddess as he did after 13 months of meditation in the Himalayas. His achievement was probably over several life times. It was destined that he would be enlightened in this lifetime.Even if you are not a serious seeker, it is worthwhile to read the book as it is a truthful account of how to become a spiritual master. Ultimately, it is grace that makes you enlightened but it is unflinching effort that attracts grace.

The book is well worth it, but since he never had a great guru, and stopped looking before finding one, you need to know that it appears both sincere and useful but is not a classic. Except for rare cases, it takes a long sadhana and great teachers for nearly all of us who have been seekers.Since he had some real spiritual experience that was perhaps better than most seekers, he stopped being a student too soon. No great swami was around to tell him he wasn't fully cooked.This is like so many teachers today. Their friends didn't do better so they do not know they have not gone the whole way, though they likely got a glimpse of it. I recommend the book anyway.

After 53 years of diving ever-deeper into Indian fountains of wisdom, watching yogis rise and fall, and reveling in the Sanskrit literature and personal meditation, I cannot express my gratitude for discovering Om Swami, whose practical, no-nonsense approach to personal truth refreshed my hungry soul like no other.My appreciation of this book was enhanced by first watching dozens of his You Tube videos and reading his simple yet comprehensive guide to meditation, "A Million Thoughts".

An amazing life story. From a middle-class Indian background to struggling university student in Australia, to a multi-millionaire life of luxury, and then to a sincere seeker of God back in India, having given away nearly all of his money. Clearly this is a culmination of spiritual striving in countless previous lives. Swami's resolve is absolutely super human. The journey is extraordinary, however, by the end of the book it seems evident that there is much that has been omitted. The spiritual aspect of the story only occupies a fraction of the book and mostly revolves around Tantric practices and rituals. Also near the end Swami declares that he is 'no celibate monk,' which I thought was strange as the book is subtitled 'A Monk's Memoir.' I prefer my monks to be celibate, but each to their own. Inspite of my 3 star rating (could have been 4 star), it is a compelling read written in an easy flowing style. However, in my opinion it is not quite up there with the classic 'Autobiography Of A Yogi' by Swami Yogananda, or 'Apprenticed To A Himalayan Master, (A Yogi's Autobiography)' by Sri M, in terms of spiritual depth.

A friend of mine suggested this book to me and i read a few pages from their home and decided to have a personal copy.The speciality of this book is that you wont be able to put it down. It gives us a realistic picture for the aspiring seekers and opens our eyes to the existing spiritual world.I loved the book so much that i purchased all other books by him.I could relate to it very well and helped me to have a better understanding of the path of spirituality.Thank you swamiji for this treasureVeena V Nair

Inspiring book. Om Swami writes in a down-to-earth manner. He does not come across as a pretentious monk who is full of bookish knowledge but lacks practical experience of God. On the contrary, he comes across as a modern man, a person of today's young generation, who had the courage and conviction to seek- and find- God. I personally found this book brilliant and would recommend it to any other sincere seeker after Truth. Om Swami boldly declares that religion has no value unless it makes people more compassionate. Compassion is the essence of religion. To be able to conquer anger and other lower emotions is religion. Without this, he states no amount of prayer, ritual or anything else will help attain the experience of God. His words ring absolutely true. God bless this noble soul for writing this wonderful book. May all of us dare to forge our own path to God even as he did. Hari Aum Tat Sat.

I wish when his commercial life was going he talked about what were his inner thoughts. The chapter just shifted very abruptly the ‘why’ the build up could have been expressed a bit more. Overall great

Very enjoyable book. Only criticism is that only a small portion of the book dealt with his period of intense meditation in the Himalayas. The rest of the book was about his life and the events leading up to that period.