“If Truth Be Told: A Monk’s Memoir” is a book by Om Swami, a yogi and monk, residing in an ashram in the Himalayas. Om Swami is known for writing popular books on spirituality, including bestsellers like “Mind Full to Mindful,” “A Fistful of Wisdom,” and “Kundalini: An Untold Story. He is renowned for his creative blogging activities.
In this book, Om Swami wrote about his personal experiences, what he learned, and the hurdles he faced during his spiritual journey. The book explores three distinct phases of his life. In his childhood, he experienced a divine vision of God in a dream, igniting his deep desire to meet God. Despite learning about astrology, meditation, and tantra vidya, he couldn’t find God, that led him to frustration. To overcome the inner restlessness, he engaged himself in a materialistic lifestyle. The second phase delves into his journey to Australia at the age of 18, where he faced numerous challenges in pursuing education and earning money. However, within a span of two years, he achieved remarkable success and became a wealthy millionaire by the age of 26. He attained immense wealth and success, but his yearning for the search for God persisted. Here begins the third phase, where he selflessly donated his wealth and went on a spiritual journey to the Himalayas.
During his journey to becoming a monk, he met numerous individuals who presented themselves as enlightened gurus and Naga Sadhus. However, he gradually realized that many of them were merely fraud sadhus, deceiving innocent people for money. In one of his experiences, he shared a story of a Naga saint, baba. After an extensive search of ashrams in Varanasi, he met this Baba, who agreed to initiate him into Sanyasa, the path of renunciation. But this process was not easy. Om Swami had to tolerate a prolonged wait and face several tests forced by the Baba. He faced countless problems, including a simple lifestyle of sleeping on the floor and having limited or no food for living. Additionally, he suffered many scorpion bites, which had ill effects on his health. He also lost all his savings. After realizing the uselessness of chasing fake individuals, he made the decision to travel to the Himalayas. Swami proceeded to the Himalayas, where he dedicated the next thirteen months to intense meditation, completely isolated and in solitude. During his rigorous practice, he devoted up to 22 hours each day to meditation, including long stretches of 10 hours. He went through extreme hardships during his meditation in the caves, facing freezing temperatures and disturbances from wild animals and insects. Through his dedicated spiritual practice, he ultimately arrived at the strong realization that “I am what I have been seeking. This realization formed the core foundation of all his teachings.
The book is very captivating, and it can be finished in one or two sittings. It consists of 15 chapters and spans across 246 pages. The language used is lucid and engaging. Readers will undoubtedly be impressed by the author’s journey. It wasn’t an easy path, especially considering he was a millionaire in his twenties before choosing this spiritual path. We can learn valuable lessons on determination, humility, and resilience from this book.