Does He Know a Mother's Heart- Book Review

This is a book by Arun Shourie. Known as an investigative journalist once, here he investigates religion as we know it, and he uses a suffering child- his own as the benchmark for all that he discusses. Hence the title, that is inspired by the encounter that he and his wife had with J. Krishnamurty the teacher-philosopher.

His investigations lead him to some very useful territory, by way of defining what the various religions say, why they may be saying it, and what we might conclude from it. The territory covered is vast, from Christianity, Islam to Hinduism and Buddhism, and some science, particularly neuroscience. Makes for good reading and pondering. I may continue to ponder.

The best sections are a summary of his conclusions at the end of a chapter, sharing his own interpretations of what the sages have said- in particular, Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Ramana Maharshi. The soul, the maya or otherwise of the world around us, the Self, the mind and its games, the roles played by thoughts, and efforts to rid ourselves of all these, are dealt with nicely.

His son suffered from cerebral palsy, but gave new meaning to his and his wife's lives, in many ways. It is an upbeat book, not drowning in self pity. I would recommend it. There may be a lot of takeaways.