If Truth Be Told: A Monk's Memoir

by Om Swami

There was a limit. So, my first visit to the library was scheduled. It was nearly 5 km away from our home and, on my way there, I felt like an astronaut on his first space trip. When I entered the library, the visual stimulation and intellectual arousal I experienced at the sight of so many books was beyond what my little mind could assimilate. I looked at the librarian and thought he was the luckiest man in the world, for he could read all these books. He had no smile on his face though. Almost daily, I read for a couple of hours at the library, took two books home, finished them and exchanged them the next day for two more. Two was the limit per person. ‘Do you actually finish the books you take home every day?’ The librarian asked me once. ‘Yes, I do.’ ‘What’s the rush? Why don’t you enjoy them and read them slowly?’