Book Review : Perfect Love – 5.5 Ways To A Lasting Relationship by Shubha Vilas

Perfect Love – 5.5 Ways to A Lasting Relationship is a treasure trove of scriptural wisdom for the modern age. It contains six scintillating stories namely ‘The Wheel of Fortune’, ‘The Golden Letter’, ‘A Silent Voice’, ‘The Other Before Oneself’, ‘The Woman Who Chose’ and ‘A Condition About Conditions’ from the scriptures with deep philosophical truths for creating enduring relationships. The stories contains simple keys yet powerful for transforming relationships.

Forgiveness is key is the main theme of ‘The Wheel of Fortune’ which narrates the story of Nala and Damayanti. Tolerate first and forgive next is the first key to make a relationship last for a lifetime.

Rukmini expresses her love to Krishna in ‘The Golden Letter’ as she explores that expressing love is crucial in a relationship. Appreciative expressions of love are the second key to make a relationship last for a lifetime.

Trust is foundation of all relationships. In ‘A Silent Voice’, Shakuntala first starts learning to trust herself, her inner voice and then later on trusting Dushyanta, her lover and husband. Trust in others begins by trusting oneself first, inner voice second and life itself, third. Trust is the important key to make a relationship strong.

In ‘The Other Before Oneself’, the author narrates the love story of Udayana and Vasavadatta as well as Lohajanga and Rupinika who build their relationships based on quality time spent in each other’s company. Spending quality and quantity time is the fourth key to make a relationship last for a lifetime.

Savitri’s determination to stay with Satyavan is retold in the story ‘The Woman Who Chose’. The determination to stay together actually increases the overall levels of happiness and contentment in a human being. Savitri was resolute not to let go of the relationship even in the face of death itself.

As the name suggests ‘A Condition About Conditions’ is about the conditions that have positive or negative impact on the relationships. A positive condition is the last half-key to make a relationship last for a lifetime. The stories of Shantanu’s relationship with Ganga and Satyavati and Pururava’s love for Urvashi talk about how negative conditions complicate relationships from the beginning and strangulate them in the end. Whereas Draupadi’s marriage with the five Pandavas lasted a lifetime.

Quotations that I liked from this book are as follows:

1.      Just like birthmarks on your body reveal your identity, your values are birthmarks on the soul that reveal your character.

2.      Confusion and clarification are two sides of the same coin. When the side of confusion faces you, turn it around and seek clarification.

3.      Dependence is taking, independence is giving, and interdependence is an exchange programme.

4.      When you look down upon someone, they appear ugly. When you look up at someone, they appear beautiful. But when you look straight at someone, they appear the way they are.

5.      Exposure to a variety of people, thoughts and culture is like learning to appreciate all the colours in a set of paints.

6.      Words can paint images, which no brush can.

7.      Filthy roads are better than filthy minds; at least their filth is visible.

8.      Those who are troubling others are actually borrowing trouble for themselves.

Shubha Vilas is a TEDx speaker, lifestyle coach, storyteller and author. He has delivered more than 4000 lectures on application of scriptural wisdom in day-to-day life. Ramayana: The Game of Life is his bestselling series. He’s also the author of Open-Eyed Meditations and The Chronicles of Hanuman. Curious to know more about him, then visit his website – www.shubhavilas.com.

For all those who wish to improve their relationship with their partner it is must read book! :)