Is your mind really yours?

Authored by Ajay Sachdeva, PGP 1980, reviewed by Salil Agrawal, PGP 1983

I have known Ajay for a few years and in the course of our various conversations had inkling about the book he was writing. I had the privilege of receiving an advance copy and I found that the subject has been handled very simply and in a style that is non-intrusive. It is obvious that the book is an outcome of some serious thinking and reading of what other people have to say on the subject. I am also happy that an IIMA alumnus has chosen to apply his mind to the subject of understanding life and sharing this learning with others.

The book resonates with a lot of what I have learnt in my life, going through its ups and downs. Some of the key messages are:

• Be yourself – don’t wear a mask – be in the company of people with whom you do not need the mask
• Follow your heart – the mind is programmed based on years of relentless conditioning but the heart is clean and will always show you the correct path
• Clean your hard disk – choose to forget things that do not matter – specially the unpleasant experiences and the wrongs that people did to you – don’t carry this as a burden – learn to forgive
• Manage your ego – while the ego is important one must learn to feel good about oneself and respect others
• Express yourself authentically – don’t say what others expect you to say. Learn to say no when your heart does not want to say yes

The world is full of unhappy people and the path to happiness can only be discovered on one’s own.

The book is intended to stimulate the readers to dispassionately revisit their life’s journey. It invites them to carry out an honest exploration of who they really are and the relationship they have with themselves. It is only in the knowing of one’s true self that one can liberate oneself from the shackles of an illusory and caged existence, which becomes the cause of one’s misery. The relationship that one has with one’s self determines the relationship with one’s external world, comprising spouses, families, friends, workplace, and so on.

The book makes no pretensions about injecting its readers with doses of any new dogmas, sermons, laws or prescriptions about how they need to lead their lives. Instead it provokes them to re-examine and question various belief systems they may have closely guarded and held.

At the end I would like to compliment Ajay for presenting a complex subject in a way that is very readable and not condescending. He raises some fundamental questions and provides food for thought.

I would like to join Ajay to invite readers to explore their lives, realise the vast potential of their real self, awaken to their true nature and embrace their liberating journey of life.