The Conscious Mirror

     My first attempt at self-publication!

Published by lulu.com in 2021. Paperback available on Amazon and most online book sellers. Search for ‘the conscious mirror sugata mitra’ and hopefully you will get to it.

I came to know about ‘Tripura Rahasya’ from an erstwhile Facebook friend, Angsuman Chakraborty, to whom I am extremely grateful. It is a free pdf download.

After reading it, I found that I would often recall lines, thoughts, or ideas from the book, while going about my normal life. This happens with many books and usually subsides with time and after reading other books. With ‘Tripura Rahasya’ this did not happen. So I read it again, somewhat more slowly than the first time.

After the second reading, ideas from the book began to crystallize in my mind. I started to experiment with the ideas, relating them to the actions of myself and others. I realized that the book was not quite about philosophy, it was about psychophysics, from another world in another time.  Not only that, but parts of it were also like a manual explaining how to do things with or to the mind. I decided to read it again.

After the third reading, I realized that this book was a textbook for a course of study on self-realization. I knew by now, from personal experience, that I was under the influence of a powerful instructional design. I decided to republish the original English translation as a synopsis, to make it more succinct and acceptable to a 21^st century audience.

The original author Haritayan, possibly a Professor at an ancient Indian university, wrote the ‘Tripura Rahasya’ around 250BCE, well over 2000 years ago. It was probably a ‘taster’ course for applicants.

Next, I had to research copyrights carefully, here is what I found:

Part1 of this book is authored by me, so no problem.

Part2 of this book is a reproduction of the original Sanskrit text of the book “Tripura Rahasya” authored by Haritayan of antiquity circa 250BCE and hence in the public domain.

Part2 also contains sections from an English translation of the Sanskrit text by the late Swami Sri Ramananda Saraswathi (born Munagala S. Venkataramaiah) and first published by the late V.S. Ramanan (President, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India) in 1959. I have identified parts of the translation that refer to corresponding parts of the original Sanskrit text and inserted them in the right places. According to the copyright laws applicable to books published in India, literal translations of works by unknown authors of antiquity, first published more than 60 years ago are free of copyright. 

It is now sold as a paperback on the internet and you need to search 'the conscious mirror sugata mitra' to get to it. I hope.