PunyaPrakop

I don't remember the exact year but it was sometime in the 90's that my father brought home two books that he picked from a Railway station during his rare sojourn outside Jaipur. One was, 'Autobiography of a Yogi' and other was, 'Teachings of Swami Vivekananda'. I was a teenager at that time, may be 15 or 16 years and there was literally no non-academic book at our home though I used to read books borrowed from the school library. I vaguely remember my cheery surprise at spotting the books because in those tumultuous years of exodus from Kashmir, we were trained to be thrifty and spending on anything more than basic needs was a luxury. 'Autobiography of a Yogi' introduced me to the extraordinary Beings called Yogis and my young mind marveled at the events in the life of Paramhansa Yogananda. But it was teachings of Swami Vivekanada that I read over and over again, over many years. It was my first introduction to the Hindu thought and the Paramatm