Bhubaneswar, Jan 9: Naresh Mohanty, a student from Bhubaneswar, is busy in scanning books on Swami Vivekananda at the ongoing Rajdhani book fair. At a young age, he wants to achieve his spiritual milestone by following the great Indian saint’s path.
“Vivekananda’s teachings talk about religion, education, faith, moral characters and social issues. One does not need to go meditate in solitude to gain peace of mind,” the youth said.
Suresh Chandra, another youth from city present at the book fair, is an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of life. Terming the need for everyone to have a spiritual existence, irrespective of any philosophy they believe in, he said, “One need to read as much as he can and gain knowledge about the subject. To know about a philosopher, a person needs to read books written by him and on him.”
At the book fair, spiritual and philosophical books are one of the most popular buys. The stalls with books on Swami Vivekananda, Osho and Ramakrishna among others see a large queue of bibliophiles scanning through their possible read.
Shamsad Khan from Osho School of Meditation is the manager of a stall with the philosopher’s books at the fair. “Books like these teach to control one’s own mind. Books on meditation have high demand among the buyers here. They educate a person to be successful in life,” he said.
Narayan Pradhan, the owner of a stall with books on Satya Sai, said that people flock to the booth as he provides books with great discounts, which is not available in the market. His is one of the stalls that encounters good footfall.
Swami Akhandaripa Nanda from the stall with Vivekananda’s books said that his did a “good” business of Rs20,000 during the last weekend alone. “The saint’s teaching on why to achieve fitness, not only physical but also mental, is one of the reasons that attracts the youth towards his philosophy.”
Similarly, the booth by Sri Jagannath Temple Administration also witnesses good footfall. “People come here in the evening to participate in the puja. Apart from buying books, people buy idols, audio CDs, portraits of the trinity, calendars and diaries,” said one of the attendants of the stall.
