Author: Shri Gaur Gopal Das

Genre: Self-Help

Main Theme:- How to find Balance & Purpose in Life. In this fantastic book, the author has described the right way to find the meaning, balance & purpose of life, Amidst the chaos of our busy day-to-day life, we are ignoring the true meaning of life. In this book, the author has mentioned that basically we have to balance our life at every aspect. He has described our life as a car and the four aspects of our life as its four wheels. The four wheels are: 1) Personal Life, 2.) Relationships, 3.) Work Life and 4.) Social Life or Contribution.

He has mentioned that if we want the car of our life to go very smoothly even on the rough roads of life, we have to balance all the four wheels properly. In addition to this, the steering wheel of this car is the spiritual practice that we should incorporate in our life.

Various beautiful quotes have been used at the beginning of each chapter. The quotes make it easy to understand the essence of the narrative. With day-to-day experiences of his life, the author has described each learning he wants to convey to the reader.

He has used some funny incidents of his life to explain beautiful messages. One of them that I like the most is his fight with a cumin seed stuck in his teeth. he explained the human tendency of always focusing of the negatives and ignoring the good things. He took a toothpick as his sword to fight that cumin seed stuck in his teeth until he won and banished it. The mind is like the tongue drifting towards the negative areas always. It neglects the other 31 teeth & just got troubled with one negative area where the seed got stuck. So, the crux is we should not be consumed with negativity, we should find the practical solutions.

Other beautiful lessons include ‘Growing through Gratitude’ , ‘Finding Our Ikigai’, ‘Making a balance on the spectrum of selflessness’ etc.

He explained to find a balance between the Ice-cream and the candle aspect of our life. Ice-cream is about being totally selfish and enjoying the life before it melts, while candle is about being extremely selfless and melting for others. On this spectrum, we need to be balanced between the Ice-cream & the candle.

All life lessons have been explained in very easy & understandable form. This book is quite gripping, easy, funny and a must read. While reading it doesn’t feel like a burden or a boring read besides being a self-help non-fiction book.

It contains some pictorial representations also that clears the narrative very well.

My favourite quote mentioned in this book is: ‘Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it any saps today of its joy.’ ~Leo Buscaglia