Tag: atria books

The Four Sacred Secrets: For Love and Prosperity, A Guide to Living in a Beautiful State by Krishnaji, Preethaji

The Four Sacred Secrets: For Love and Prosperity, A Guide to Living in a Beautiful State by Krishnaji, Preethaji

In The Four Sacred Secrets, Krishanaji and Preethaji, a husband and wife team, help readers understand four principles for spiritual living. Each section of the book is divided into an explanation of the principle or secret and then details corresponding transformational journeys the readers can undertake to help them internalize and live each one.

“Our goal is to help you awaken to a power that is much greater than any technique you can master — a power that is available to each and every one of us. We need only unlock it. It is the power of a transformed consciousness.” pg 2

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The secrets aren’t really “secret” in that they’ve been discussed in spiritual texts throughout human history. But each speaks to how someone’s consciousness can move away from one’s primal state of beauty. The authors believe there are two states in life — this beautiful state of oneness or not being in this state.

The simplicity of this method of teaching is that it is easy to tell if you are in a beautiful state or not. You can feel it. You simply know. It is the state that children walk in. They are themselves, unconditioned by worldly expectations or concerns. It is a state that points to oneness with life itself.

“I want us to be free from the idea that we are separate from one another. Free from the war we feel within ourselves and the world around us. Free from the suffering that makes our lives feel small and meaningless. I knew a beautiful life lived in a beautiful state of being was everyone’s destiny.” pg 12

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The secrets include living your spiritual vision, discovering your inner truth, awakening universal intelligence and practicing right action. The journeys to these secrets are all different, but I think a similar thread runs throughout — observation of current conditions without judgment. If you can figure out where you are and then you can see clearly what’s holding you back.

“Our society places a premium on doing, with very little care to our inner state of being. Few of us truly make creating a beautiful inner experience a priority in our lives, choosing instead to live as though our career, performance, appearance, status, or financial security is all that matters.” pg 23

This book contains all of the tools one would need to completely transform their inner world, including meditation instructions and mythological allegories.

The authors also share the real-life stories of many of their students, some of whom didn’t even realize they were in a state of suffering until they stopped a minute and observed themselves. The type of freedom from suffering that seems to follow these students’ transformations is astonishing. If only we could all feel that way, what a different world this would be.

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“So many of us have been taught that we must solve our problems if we want to be free of suffering. But the truth is the inverse: If you want to become free of your problems, start by allowing your suffering to dissolve.” pg 62

Recommended for spiritual seekers who aren’t sure where to start. The Four Sacred Secrets is a good place to start looking.

Thank you to the publisher for a free advance reader’s copy of this book. The brief quotations I cited may change in the final version of the book. Expected publication date is August 2019.

Thanks for reading!

How The Secret Changed My Life: Real People. Real Stories. by Rhonda Byrne

How The Secret Changed My Life: Real People. Real Stories. by Rhonda Byrne
secretchangemylife

How the Secret Changed My Life adds nothing new to the Secret franchise, but it’s still fun to read if you enjoy hearing success stories about people who utilized the Law of Attraction.

The criticisms of it have been voiced elsewhere and more eloquently: that it is predominantly focused on material things and that it stresses being happy at any cost.

That being said, I liked the stories.

I liked hearing about how people hit rock bottom and then changed their lives for the better. I really liked hearing that you can do or have or be anything that you want. Who wouldn’t?

Here’s Rhonda in the introduction: “I want you to know how easily you can change your life, and it’s not by running around trying to force it into the shape you want. You change your life in the only way you can ever change it: change your mind, and then your life will change.” loc 47, ebook.

All true change comes from within, I do believe that. Until I typed this out, I didn’t realize just how many times she used the word “change” in those two sentences. Counting back I see… five times? That’s a lot of change, people.

I feel like this book warns the reader away from negative emotions, but they serve a purpose too. It gives you a starting point- if you know what you don’t want, then you know what you do.

I’m not suggesting that you wallow in negative emotion, but feeling it, acknowledging it, then moving on isn’t as bad as this book makes it out to be.

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In this passage, Rhonda is suggesting the use of “Secret Shifters” to control your mood: “The Secret Shifters… are things you can focus on whenever you find yourself feeling angry, frustrated, or any other negative emotion, in order to change those negative feelings in an instant. They might be beautiful memories, future events, funny moments, nature, a person you love, or your favorite music.” loc 409, ebook.

I say: feel whatever you’re feeling and trust that your emotions will eventually rise again like a cork in water. Helping yourself along with “Secret Shifters” or gratitude lists or whatever is fine, but for goodness sake, don’t force it. “What you resist, persists.”

I really agreed with this next passage: “Most of us have the wrong idea about happiness. We believe that if we get everything we want, and if life continually goes our way, we will be happy. And from that belief, we create all the excuses in the world for why we can’t be happy right now. … It’s those very excuses that are preventing you from being happy now.” loc 457, ebook.

I used to do that- looking forward to circumstances or events and ignoring where I was. The journey really is the point, so why not be happy now?

Recommended for readers who are looking for a quick, uplifting read about the Law of Attraction or for those who are interested in getting started but don’t necessarily believe or know how it works. The latter, in particular, may find a great deal of worth in these pages.

As I said, I liked it, but I’d also recommend reading Abraham Hick’s books too: to learn the value of negative emotion, not be afraid of feeling your full emotions, and to learn not to practice affirmations unless you’re feeling “in the zone” so to speak.

Additional reading: The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships and Co-creating at Its Best: A Conversation Between Master Teachers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books publishing for a free copy of this book!  And, thank you for reading.