Author: Shashank Kasliwal
No. of Pages: 218
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Jaico Publishing House
Price: Rs. 299/-
Published in: 2018
How did I get it?
From the publisher.
THE BLURB SAYS:
Ultimate Path to a Free Mind and Real Success
A man is made of his thoughts. And the origin of most thoughts is from the ego, one’s sense of personal identity. The feelings of adequacy and inadequacy, importance and insignificance, love or hatred – all these first takes shape within the mind.
Corporate trainer and coach Shashank Kasliwal’s Freedom from the I talks about how one’s ego is responsible for all the suffering one goes through. Quoting his own life as an example, Kasliwal discusses how to develop the ability to stay unaffected despite the circumstances. The author provides profound insights into how to stay free of negative energy and achieve a calm state of mind because a quite mind boosts productivity, camaraderie and creativity. Learn to look beyond the societal norms and achieve your true potential!
“This book will help people live without psychological trauma.”
– SALIM KHAN, Actor & Script Writer
“…will be a guiding star to the readers...”
– DR. NARESH AGGARWAL, International President, Lions Club, USA
“Sensitive. Substantial. Sparkling.” – BHAWANA SOMAAYA, Journalist & Film Expert
“Profound and thoughtful.” – KABIR BEDI, Actor
A man is made of his thoughts. And the origin of most thoughts is from the ego, one’s sense of personal identity. The feelings of adequacy and inadequacy, importance and insignificance, love or hatred – all these first takes shape within the mind.
Corporate trainer and coach Shashank Kasliwal’s Freedom from the I talks about how one’s ego is responsible for all the suffering one goes through. Quoting his own life as an example, Kasliwal discusses how to develop the ability to stay unaffected despite the circumstances. The author provides profound insights into how to stay free of negative energy and achieve a calm state of mind because a quite mind boosts productivity, camaraderie and creativity. Learn to look beyond the societal norms and achieve your true potential!
“This book will help people live without psychological trauma.”
– SALIM KHAN, Actor & Script Writer
“…will be a guiding star to the readers...”
– DR. NARESH AGGARWAL, International President, Lions Club, USA
“Sensitive. Substantial. Sparkling.” – BHAWANA SOMAAYA, Journalist & Film Expert
“Profound and thoughtful.” – KABIR BEDI, Actor
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Shashank Kasliwal runs his own training company, Emotional Intelligence Inc., and helps people to look within and end self-created suffering. His father was the founder-director of the illustrious S Kumar’s Group. Kasliwal’s prestigious clientele include Honda Motors, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp Ltd., Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, Airtel, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Ernst & Young, etc.
For workshops and corporate training, write to kasliwalshashank@yahoo.com or visit www.forceswithin.com. Follow the author on Twitter @Shashank1973
MY THOUGHTS:
This is a book with which all of us should be able to connect. It elaborates how most of our psychological sufferings have roots in our ego, our sense of personal identity. It talks, with examples, how our thoughts and desires shape our mind, words and actions; how negative thoughts impact our well-being and manifest in our bodies in the form of ailments and diseases. It discusses how ego is created and how it can eradicated by liberating ourselves from its root causes first.
Some takeaways and points to ponder upon from the book are as follows:
- Ego is nothing but feeling more important, different and superior to others.
- The ego looks for what is in your mind, what you believe in. It binds us and makes us slaves.
- Consciousness is the real you. It is a person's awareness towards his ego's activities and the functioning of his own mind.
- Consciousness is the one who observes everything when it is not attached to the ego.
- If you get disturbed when your expectation is not fulfilled or your opinion is not taken seriously, you are attached to your expectation/opinion.
- Fear is a by-product of your attachment to a thing or even an idea.
- You are totally absent to what is there because the ego is only conscious of what it wants.
- Ego wants importance and instead of letting you be a part of other people's worlds, it keeps you stuck in your own world, disconnecting you from others completely.
- People who are searching for happiness through name and fame from the world outside are bound to suffer because they are look at material things, demanding favourable conditions matching the rules and list of wants that they have written in their minds.
- Past upsets affect the present.
- Everything that you are against weakens you. Everything you are for empowers you.
- Our naturalness is almost lost as people are more interested in showing us how happy they are by posting pictures in Facebook than in actually being happy.
The only example quoted by the author which seemed to be in somewhat poor taste to me was the example of killing animals for food (if I understood correctly) in the following passage.
The contents of book tend to repetitive at times, but it is not offending. Overall, it is a book that makes you look at your own thoughts and behaviour. It talks of things and facts we already know but are not aware of. I already have a mental list of people, whom I want to gift this book to.
I give "Freedom from the I" 
