Path to the Soul

In the wake of the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 I read, once again, a little gem of a book - "Path to the Soul" by my friend and colleague, Dr. Ashok Bedi.Like almost every other American that day, I sat stunned, watching the horrifying images unfold on my TV screen. I experienced the entire gamut of emotions from anger and fear, to shocked helplessness and frustration.As it has in the past, the book helped. I found myself wondering, however, how and why it helped and came to an obvious answer. Dr. Bedi's book is ultimately about restoring balance - the physical, psychological, and spiritual balance that is so important to help us actualize what Dr. Bedi refers to as our "Dharmic potential".A psychopharmacologist by expertise, I often see challenging, seriously ill patients in whom I employ medications to correct imbalances of the neurochemical transmitters in their brains. At the same time, these patients rarely improve without an understanding of why they have developed these symptoms in the first place, and how imprudent or inappropriate choices have disconnected them from their ability to understand their emotions. Dr. Bedi explains in a way that is readily understandable and comprehensive, the ancient and ageless concepts of Maya, Karma, and Dharma. He explains how physical and psychological symptoms can be seen not only as symbols, but as "whispers from our souls" that actually point the way to a deeper understanding of ourselves, and ultimately, to Moksha or liberation.What Dr. Bedi has done is unique. He has combined Jungian psychoanalytic insight with his own finely-honed clinical intuition. He has then added his own blend of Christian and Hindu spiritual wisdom to provide a truly integrated approach to treatment. He has described the seven Chakras of Kundalini Yoga and illustrated, with actual clinical vignettes, how Karmic complexes can obscure our pathway to the soul, and can be reconfigured towards Dharma.The ultimate test of any meaningful art or science is whether it truly helps us to experience the world in a different way than we did before. In this endeavor, Dr. Bedi has succeeded admirably.Every time I peruse those pages I look at my patients with a new insight and understanding. I also have increased understanding of my own fears, doubts, dreams and life events.This book invites and facilitates the kind of simple but profound clarity of thought that helps us cope. It is the path to an island of peace in the turbulent, chaotic ocean of life, as we know it today.

I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist or a psychoanalyst. I am a theoretical physicist. I have read Ashok Bedi's book Path to Soul carefully and critically. First, let us be clear as to what this book in not: Path to Soul is not preachy, it is not New Age-ish, it is not a sermon of enlightened guru to his/her obedient disciples, it is not a chicken soup for ... book. Path to Soul is a labor of love. It is thoroughly rooted in experience of a long and highly successful practice of a working physician-psychiatrist. The writer is classically trained in Western medical, psychiatric and Jungian psychoanalytic sciences in USA, England and India. The book clearly betrays the writer's deep insight and vast experience in expertly applying these Western approaches to problems of mental and psychological health. By the time I had read the third chapter, I realized that the author has unknowingly stumbled upon a fundamental truth - the complementarity principle of the being and becoming of human psyche. This is the exact psychological parallel of Neil Bohr's famous principle of complementarity in physics that wave and particle are two mutually exclusive manifestations of the one and same entity. However, in the realm of human psyche, this principle works with one crucial difference that the two aspects of our being and becoming are not only never mutually exclusive, but on the exact contrary they are inseparable just as clouds are inseparable from rain and sun is inseparable from light. The author, it appears from his book, in his years and years of long practice felt that "he was walking on one foot" and wondering "where is the other foot", and in his heart-felt search found the lost twin - the missing spiritual aspect of our souls, and hence the book. The book is thoroughly grounded in solid, practical experience in treating patients. The author clearly shows how the intuitive, innate and spiritual inseparably, intrinsically and integrally complements the intellectual, analytic and dialectical. The book respects the readers, it talks with them, not at them. The ideas, feelings and approaches are genuine, authentic and honest. The book is definitely a labor of love, and distillation of critical, hard-headed research, experience, insight and inner struggle. The deftness and clarity with which the author elucidates Yoga, Chakra, Mandala and other delicate Hindu concepts and their application to problems of our mental and psychological health and peace are truly remarkable. Though in all this the physician is never lost. The author - again unknowingly - shows that the classical Hegelian pattern of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis is not always valid. The author has genuinely synthesized the western and eastern in a seamless whole. For those who want to fully self-actualize, and are looking for a genuine, authentic, unpretentious canonical path, Path to Soul is it.

I'm reading this book for the second time at present, and am enjoying it just as much and getting even more from it this time around. The blend of Eastern spiritual wisdom and Western psychology results in a thoughtful and meaningful paradigm for individual use in exploring personal psychological troubles or for those helping others to explore such issues. I appreciate the authentic, "non-Westernized" view of Kundalini Yoga. The terms were a bit difficult to familiarize myself with but the author does a great job of reminding the reader throughout the book, and a glossary is included. Noticeable is the respectfulness with which the reader is engaged and informed. Personally, "Path to the Soul" offered me this single, overriding message: Within each of us burns a spark of the divine; our individual soul. Our mission, as caretakers of ourselves and each individual we encounter, is to use the sacred breath of our life to gently blow on those embers in order to attend to and further ignite that flame. In this way we add to our own soul's purity and in our own individual way we honor the sacred in others. As Dr. Bedi closes his book, "Namaste"; meaning, I honor the sacred in you. Clearly he does and this is expressed in the content and attitude of his book.

While there are many books that attempt to bring Eastern thought into a Western framework, there are very few that are able to clearly bring the message through without becoming "New Age-ish" and rather esoteric. "Path to the Soul" avoids both.Dr. Bedi appears to have created this book with the full knowledge that he is simply the messenger of a very timeless message. Much of this book is drawn from Hindu spiritual traditions, but is very easy to follow even if you have no knowledge at all of non-western beliefs. In all actuality, the topic of connecting with your soul and its intended path transcends any sort of organized religion.Dr. Bedi offers a very well-written and practical source for anyone looking for a roadmap to their soul. I recommend it to anyone who is at the point in their lives where they wish to connect (or re-connect) with their soul and spiritual path.

It is unfortunate that psychology and spirituality have followed separate paths for most of the last century. In fact, spirituality and psychology/psychotherapy are two sides of the same phenomenon, viewed from different angles. For all-clinicians as well as serious non-clinicians-who lament the view that compartmentalizes our concerns as medical, psychiatric, psychological, and spiritual, Ashok Bedi's Path to the Soul is a timely, rich, and nourishing fare. In Path to the Soul, Bedi integrates contemporary psychiatry, aspects of psychosomatic medicine, depth analysis, and fundamental spiritual concepts that enable him and his patients to better understand their physical, emotional, and spiritual complexity, and connect more fully with their souls, the well-spring of meaning and fulfillment. Bedi persuasively argues that failing to recognize and honor the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual archetypal patterns that govern our lives and are shared by the great spiritual traditions can eventuate in psychological, psychiatric, and medical problems. For example, psychological problems interfere with our realizing our spiritual gifts, and can manifest as medical and/or psychiatric conditions. The common denominator underlying Bedi's integrated viewpoint is the Hindu concept of dharma. Dharma's four main divisions are the archetypal "laws of being" at work on the personal, social, typically human, and universal levels of existence. Throughout the book Bedi expounds on three key concepts intimately related to the fulfillment or failure to fulfill dharma: karma (actions and their necessary consequences); our complexes (i.e., our "hang-ups"); and the significance and function of the seven primary Kundalini chakras. The chakras are essentially energy fields that govern various physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of life. Our experiences in the various areas of life create complexes of memory, behavior, expectation, and emotion that localize in the relevant chakra. When we need to act from a certain chakra, the complexes in that chakra condition the actions we are able to take. The actions we take lead to expectable consequences (actions + consequences = karma), hence the interrelationship of the chakras, dharma (in its four aspects), and complexes. To traverse the path to the soul, we have to take all these elements into account. Work at this level is prerequisite to the does not involve To take one example, we all know the experience of "fire in the belly" (a positive complex of expectation, enthusiasm, and the experience of past successes and failures) that propels us toward realization of some goal. "Fire in the belly" corresponds to the third chakra, located near the solar plexus. The life pattern of the third chakra is that of the spiritual warrior, but when unbalanced it manifests as the tyrant or the drudge. Physical dysfunctions of the third chakra include stomach