Soham Swami

Soham Gita Soham Swami

I am constantly saying - my and mine, but who am I? Am I the body or the mind? What is my consciousness - the awareness of my existence that creates the feeling that "I exist". From where did my consciousness arise? Is it a property of my body or my mind, or is it beyond my body and mind? What is my relation with this world? From where did I come and where will I depart after death? What is the need for religion, God, scripture, temples, idols, worship, and the different modes of spiritual pursuits? Can they unravel my reality? Why do I suffer? How can I find bliss? Soham Gita provides the answers to these questions and more in a simple language in the light of Advaita Vedanta, the universal wisdom of non-duality. It dispels superstitions and challenges religious orthodoxy and fanaticism. Soham Gita is the first written work of Soham Swami. It was written in the form of poetry in the writer's native tongue Bengali. This is an English prose translation of the book. About the Author: Paramhangsa Soham Swami (1858-1918) was an Advaitan monk. In his pre-monastic days he was known as Shyamakanta Bandopadhyay. He was famous across the Bengal Presidency in the last two decades of the 19th century for his unusual vocation - wrestling with tigers. His goal was to instil fearlessness in the minds of people of a subjugated nation and prepare them for the war of independence. At the age of 41, abandoning wealth, family, and fame, he became an ascetic and realized the Truth of Self in Samadhi. To eradicate superstition and social, religious, and gender-based discriminations that were obstacles to the development of India, in the last 10 years of his life he wrote copiously on Advaitavad or the philosophy of non-dualism.