Trafford Publishing: A Flight of Delight: Ancient Vedic Wisdom for the Modern World

Here is the full reference card for this book...

If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

A Flight of Delight: Ancient Vedic Wisdom for the Modern World

by Jyotikar Pattni

408 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-0031; ISBN 1-4120-2107-3; US$29.48, C$33.90, EUR24.21, £16.95

Rare anthology elucidating the karmic issues we face benevolently; it summarises the vast Vedic wisdom in a concise and structured composition, comprising Vedic mantras, hymns, poetry, prayers, philosophy, and dialogues.

Read more!

about the book reviews about the author sample excerpts catalogue info

About the Book

A Flight of Delight is a work of experiential philosophical text that contemplates the nature of such subtle topics as Karmic evolution, Divine Cosmic Truth, and the relationship between Divinity and Humankind. Utilising an expressive narrative approach that places emphasis on description and aesthetics finely, the author has endeavoured to render a thought provoking analysis in a prose poetic style. The fine text touches the core concepts of theology that look at life as a freely flowing channel of energies in profound human experiences. One of the central ideas of the work is the difference between institutional religion and experiential philosophy, with the conceptual emphasis leaning toward the latter. Fear destroys true faith. Institutional religion is constrictive that remains fixated on rules, systems, and political bureaucracies. A profound human spiritualism on the other hand suggests a cyclical direction of energy that flows without fear, suppression, oppression, exploitation, manipulation, and falsity. Realising and understanding compassion and love is much more important and significant than following set of doctrines in conflict. This is attainable in spiritual evolution - a self-discovery in profound experiences without the confines of specific creed, cast, or race. The discourse includes detailed explorations of different types of Vedic yoga's, mantras, and consciousness. The emphasis placed on the pursuit of divine wisdom and divinity incorporates all of these elements to form a comprehensive insight of profound experience for the inner well-ness and peace. The reader of 'A Flight of Delight' may also benefit from the organised structure afforded to the text. The detailed explanation of the experiential theories familiarises the reader with carefully distilled notions of spiritualism and divinity. Here is an extra ordinary work of self-healing texts from a very special person who has journeyed through adversities himself. The lyrics of this book are particularly special because the author writes from the depth of his heart, to express in the profoundest sense, the relevance of the ancient Vedic Wisdom to the hectic modern world. The mind enriching lyrics bring to us a re-awakening of beautiful divinity filled with solace, hope, and compassionate love. Life oh life! Let it be 'a flight of delight'.

Reviews

"Any work that is done humbly and sincerely for humanity always has my blessings. May God bless your good works- The book "A Flight of Delight" and the website www.hanss.co.uk"
Swami Sadashiva Tirtha
"Beautifully inspiring, the contents of the book need to be savoured, pondered, and cherished. When studying the wisdom, teachings and prayers that have been passed down from their essential divine sources through the lineages of masters in time; it always becomes the responsibility of those inspired by insight to communicate and pass on their message such that they stay true to the spirit and yet convey their essence in a way that is relevant to the world in which we inhabit. In A Flight of Delight, author, healer, and astrologer Jyotikar Pattni remains true to this task in a masterful manner. With a style that blends flowing prose with a poetic flare, he allows the reader to hear the truths of the ages with a voice that is both personal and authoritative. He does not shy away from looking at the difficult struggles we face within and without in our precarious modernity. He puts this all in the context of the universal reality and yet, the reader can dip into his words as nectar for guidance, for healing here and now. I feel that A Flight of Delight will bring grace, beauty, peace, and understanding to all who would turn its pages. But, above all, may it return the readers to the love that is their essence and inspire the compassion that naturally flows forth from that returning."
Robert Sachs
Author of: TibetanAyurveda - Health Secrets from the roof of the world, and The Passionate Buddha: Wisdom on intimacy and enduring love
Diamond Way Ayurveda; www.DiamondWayAyurveda.com
"A Flight of Delight is a remarkable work of karmic philosophy. It takes us back to our spiritual roots. When all else fails what sustains us?'
Suzanne Colomba DiVirgilio
Editor of A Flight of Delight
"'A Flight of Delight' has a deep research into the matter of eternal truths and a modern lingual approach to the eternal truths that are ancient yet relevant to our modernity. The danger of approaching truth via the intellect is that one can get entangled in it thinking that one knows but in the end one is more confused than enlightened. In A FLIGHT OF DELIGHT, the clarity and effort of the writer go beyond the 'intellect' and reach to the simpler and subtler essence. We are all pilgrims and each one of us is contemplating an inner spiritual journey call it 'jivan-yatra' - towards deeper truths and higher ecstasies - the flight of delight."
Prem Joshua
International Multi-instrumentalist, Musician and Composer; www.premjoshua.com
"In A Flight of Delight, Jyotikar Pattni gives us a worthwhile insight into Vedic wisdom. A Flight of Delight is a work well done and deserves worthy appreciation."
Professor R. Panikkar
Spain
"A Flight of Delight would give its reader a wonderful insight to the Vedas and the Upanishads. Reflecting upon the human life as a process of learning the lessons of karma in the passage of time and space (eternity), it enlightens the reader with beautiful composition of Vedic mantras, hymns, philosophical dialogues, and poetry. The author has narrated the human karmic pilgrimage in time; from the glory of the dawn being the beautiful divine light of enlightenment towards the magnificent twilight of dusk - the twilight of delight that which is the highest blissful state of eternal happiness here and now. I found it absolutely riveting and a very good read."
Jeanne Monk MIQPS
JMA - Reviewer, Interviewer and freelance celebrity writer.

About the Author

Jyotikar Pattni earned a MBA from Henley, U.K. He has been studying the Vedas since an early age. Jyotikar is a special person who has journeyed through severe trauma and emotional adversities, which enforced him to redirect his life towards experiencing the subtle spiritualism of the ancient Vedic Wisdom. He has the profound encouragement from his Guru Mata who believes that the written words of A Flight of Delight render solace, awareness, and divine hope. In A Flight of Delight, Jyotikar shares some of the more useful self-healing wisdom from the Vedas, in a prose poetic manner. Expounding upon the traditional ancient Vedic Wisdom, in a clear and easy to comprehend manner, the organised text portray a combination of enchanting dialogues, poetry, and direct experiential philosophy that is thought provoking and spiritually awakening. Jyotikar is currently writing his second book on Vedic healing.
Through his web site www.hanss.co.uk Jyotikar shares the light of wisdom in the hope to inspire, to heal and to serve humanity.
A Note From The Author

The Enduring Love of Life - Life oh Life! - Let it be - A Flight of Delight

The reality of life is life itself,
whose beginning is not in the womb and whose ending is no in the death but in love.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would
it be possessed for love is sufficient unto love itself and love endures infinitely...
Love gives beauty to life, love is the offspring of spiritual eternity,
whose occurence is a
sheer coincidence of delight just as the dawn and the dusk are to the enduring earth.
The heart beats to the rhythm of eternal delight when love conquers,
the song of the unspoken voice is sweet pure and heavenly even.
It almost enables one to envision the grand beauty of the soul divine in fearless ecstacy of sheer delight - ''Satt-chidd-ananndam''. Life oh life! Let it be "A FLIGHT OF DELIGHT"

Sample Excerpts and Table of Contents

Back Cover:

SELECTED FOREWORD
The problem with the 'life gene' pool is that there is no lifeguard as such. We live and survive with our own risk. We thrive and survive, regardless of the magnitude of our swimming proficiency. We depend on "mind". We rely on "thoughts". We live and survive on memories and the shadows of the memories created in the subconscious mind from our experiences.
Experience is a wisdom that we do not get, until just after we need it, or just after it has happened. Experience is profound in silence. It requires great patience. 'Experience' is paternally associated with the spirit of life. Experience is not academic, nor is it institutional; rather it is the essence of evolution in life. Whether we seek 'experience' or encounter 'experience', we travel through it in the passage of time.
In time, we encounter life's moments. In time, we wonder in our thoughts thinking and convincing ourselves of the most convenient form of survival. Experience is an absolute lifetime process of learning and in this process, we mould in spirit. We face life, we accept it, we grit it, we grin at it, we shrug it off, and we evolve in our essential nature.
'Change' is the very characteristic of transformation from one form into another form. 'Form' is dynamic. Soul is static. Soul is sacred and soul is compassionate. Essentially, we are compassionate human fellows in nature and we have the innate talent to love and to be together in compassionate union. In love, the whole person cherishes the subtleties of the soul.
'Togetherness' is a divine human strength and in togetherness, universal peace transcends from eternity onto Earth. 'Togetherness' is a meeting of earth and heaven in time and space. 'Togetherness' is a moment of prayer. When we pledge allegiance to our inner most spirit of life, and believe in one universal faith - the fathomless faith, we leap into the spiritual planes of the eternal para-existence. We transform progressively from the mundane gross physical earthly survival into the physical existence, when we accept life whole-heartedly and take responsibility of our karma.
When we gracefully study and evaluate our life process retrospectively beyond the wholesome life into an absolute life experience, we evolve onto the meta-physical existence onwards onto the spiritual existence.
Because of karmic evolution, we realise that the present lifetime is a result of the past lifetime and a potential for the future lifetime. The 'lifetime' may be a moment, a phase, an experience, or a daunting survival of impermanence. Compassionate love and integrity of altruism are god given talents to human kind for bringing 'togetherness' in humanity.
'Oneness' is a representative of the divine blissful ocean of eternity, wherein all the rivers merge and loose their names, form, and ego identity. Each of us is a uniquely different river with different form, name, and energy. We are bound to the physical plane of the earth and the green pastures of materiality by 'karma'. There is no 'physical lifeguard', as such, fully responsible in merging us to the divine ocean of eternity. No grand maestro except the everlasting unconditional love and inspiration of the eternal supreme para existing soul infinite, that which is verily the cosmic soul.
The micro cosmic essential individual human soul and the macro cosmic eternal infinite soul, merge in 'oneness', in the ocean of eternity or the fathomless sky in delight of twilight of the dawn and the dusk. This 'oneness' is a pathless eternity whereat truth reposes.
Truth is a formless eternity that transcends onto this earth in time and space to take a form. 'Aum' emanates as the primordial divine word, symbol, form, vibration, prayer-dialogue, devotion, music, hymn, poetry, philosophy, and science of intricate nature. It is a meeting of the light of the Sun and the light of the human sacrifice in the twilight of prayer, devotion, humanity, and profound silence. The purpose of human life is to sacrifice its whole towards realising its true divine higher self, that which is verily the soul. The Vedic delight implies inner fathomless peace, and inner fathomless happiness. Human sacrifice, in sacred prayer, sacred devotion, sacred compassionate love, and sacred profound silence, is a light of fire, which beholds the flame of the spirit of life. It is essentially the fire of human life.
A flight of delight is an unfolding pilgrimage of the soul in the passage of human lifetime. The imperfect personality faces the two faces of life (the known 'impermanence' and the mystical 'unknown'). The personality then accepts life as it is, in its fullest. The personality wants to become a spirit of life, but grits with fear. In the passage of time, the spirit of life survives gross physical world wherein all that is 'certain' and 'known', bring about, fear, insecurity, inhibitions, habits, hypocrisy, power warfare, hatred, anguish, death, and impermanence, to all that is 'life spirit'. In this impermanence, the spirit of life thrives on to grow more powerful in status, name, prestige, and form. Peace and happiness fails to prevail in the impermanence of all that is 'known' material world.
Some things we will only know in part, some things we will only understand in parts, some things we will only realise in parts. Some things we will never ever know or understand. Those things that we may never fully know or understand are best handed up to time and a higher order (call it what you may), towards which all our destiny converge in togetherness without questions, doubts, and differences. Watching the sunset, and the swans making their way home, there is serenity in the golden leaf that flew away herewith a prayer, a sincere wish, and an unconditional love. Time flies, suns rise and suns set. The soft pebbles on the shores touch our feet; the music of the night consoles without any instruments, the stars in the nightingale brings us a solace without words.
Life oh life! Let it be what it may be, let it be. Let it be, come what may. Face it, accept it, grit it, but grin and shrug it away. The spirit of life becomes an artist of infinite beauty, and a scientist of the soul. It begins to understand with compassion. It evolves and transforms. It awakens to the light of the Sun. It becomes energised. Like a river, the spirit of life capers to the sound of music. The spirit of life experiences life in the passage of time. Guided by the rain, the rustling trees, the masterful sun, the dissolving earth, and the teeming vast sky it takes a flight of delight to merge in the grand ocean of compassion, loosing its name, form, and intellectual ego. Compassion is the essential nature of the soul. 'Maithuna' (coming together) is the merging marriage of twilight, the meeting together of the light of the soul and the light of the Cosmic Sun, at the dawn and the dusk.
The Sunrise and the Sunset are extra special moments of magnificent beauty unparalleled and perennial. The grand maestro manifests without words in profoundest silence.
We meet to share our experiences, in somewhat profound mystical sense. In time, we experience what we have shared in the briefest encounter. In time, we begin to see things as they are, rather than, as they should be.
Sorrow, grief, and loss come to us all. If we become divinely fully aware of this fact before adversities batter us, we are able to be alone in our own company without the necessity of 'all this, that and the other'.
Whatever act or deed, we may think, feel, and do; we eventually accredit or discredit none other than our own true soul divine. War is nothing more than a collation of fear from insecurity, anger, hatred, envy, betrayal, distrust, greed, lust, lure, desire, and political manipulation. Fear is the root cause of all diseases. Fear is the root cause of all unhappiness. Fear is the root of all evil.
Whatsoever we sow, thus we shall reap. In whatsoever we invest our time, our energy, our thoughts, our efforts, our whole that we shall eventually reap. All said and done, what really matters in all this, that and the other is what really sustains us when all else (this, that and the other) fails us. What really matters is whether you can be alone in your own company and be at peace with your spirit of life in the quiet moments.
When all else fails, when we are out on a limb, it is our duty, our human obligation to safeguard and nurture our spiritual integrity. All this, that, and the other does not truly matter. Life oh life! Let it be. Let it be what it may be. Face it, accept it, grit it, but grin and shrug it away. Life oh life! Let it be 'A flight of delight'.
Mr. Jyotikar Pattni and Mrs. Hasmita Jyotikar Pattni November 2003

SELECTED PREFACE
Salutations and reverence to eternity and eternal inspirations. I bow to the great almighty supreme God, who resides in your soul, in my soul, in the magnificent nature, and who manifests beyond the wholesome galaxies of the stars, the moon, the sun, the orbit, the planets, and the spiritual planes. Obeisance to every single individual spirit of life, and, every single scripture of divinity, that generates a word of wisdom. Time and eternity has afforded me this human life. I treasure it and cherish it as a precious gift, as if it were a blessing from eternal God.
Truth is a pathless eternity upon which God reposes. This truth manifests in our Soul - the very seat of God. The Soul is the purest nectar of compassion and beauty. The Soul is the crown of "all-pervading truth".
When words collect together to form lyrics, with utmost compassion, they begin to sound meaningful, profound, and energetic. The written word, albeit composed through a sacred process, is still a mere consolation of, compassion, expression, interpretation, translation, reconstruction and "that which is this", all incomplete in absolute sense. Life is never complete in absolute sense because there is an unexpected end to it too. Therefore, nothing in life is absolute, except the essence of life itself, which is soul divine bliss. Our life is a journey of the soul, in absolute sense (beyond the five multi-sensory realities) alias the sixth sense, which is the intuition and the insight.
Self-discovery is an unfolding pilgrimage of light - A flight of delight. Many persons claim to be holy and render words of wisdom to form their followers or to form followers of their organisation. Many teachers claim to possess the knowledge of life. Many preachers preach the doctrines and philosophies of religions. Modern religion is fragmented. There is huge scale segmentation, division, and segregation, of 'faith', because of 'reason' and 'cause', in the human mind. 'Faith' has become a convenience rather than a morale sacrifice to discover the soul, in an unfolding universe of uncertain time and uncertain environment.
The gap between the rich and the poor gets wider. The modern humankind is moving away from the 'roots' of 'altruism'. We are living in the world full of noise and haste. Many intellectuals have created powerful technologies, social infrastructures, economic warfare, political referendums, and institutional bureaucracies. This modern world of intellectual and ego power is full of heroism. Personality is never perfect. Personality is never absolute. However, few truly great saints, god incarnate savants, and sages have emerged in our centuries. These include Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Mohammed, Confucius, Socrates, and others who have left significant wisdom. Their profound words of wisdom have been, reconstructed, and revived, perpetually with the elapsing time by profound discourses and sacred spiritual dialogues. These words of wisdom have been subsequently, reconstructed, compiled, and composed. Consequently, the original word has not remained a direct communication from the spoken word of the mouth to the listening word of the ears. Hence, we pledge our allegiance to faith with inferential reference and profound reliance on the written word of wisdom within an imperfect frame of circumstances.
On the one hand, we are struggling to survive reality and on the other hand, there is the innate quest for eternity. One is the survival of the fittest and the other is the free spirit of life that has justified its existence with true essential existence. Every single saint or sage or pious person striving to attain moksha (total spiritual liberation) repose on the pathless eternal truth that manifests in the soul. This eternal truth is the same for every single human person. The eternal truth manifests in profound silence of reverence in oneness with the soul. Great scientists and original thinkers like, Einstein, Darwin, Pluto, Archimedes, Marie Curie, Pythagoras, Trio, Isaac Newton, William James, Benjamin Whorf, Niels Bohr, Carl Jung, Krishnamurti, and others likewise have co-related the reality to the twofold aspects of truth. One is virtue of the fact and the other is substance of the existence. All great scientists of our centuries have considered the Vedas scientific in knowing and understanding (albeit not absolutely), the essence of existence. Fear creates a grey chaos between the divine eternal spirit of life and the ego. The 'ego' is constantly in conflict with the spirit of life and this conflict manifests in ailments, distress, and pain. We never cease to learn. When we cease to learn, we cease to evolve and hence we cease to nurture the substance and the essence of the very existence.

Catalogue Information