The Business of Spiritualism

I picked up this book at a bookstore, something I did not go there in search of, and probably would not have bought it had it not been for its compact size and a throwaway price. The title intrigued me completely and I wondered what the little book could teach me about Soul, Karma, and Reincarnation.

I tossed the book around; the large readable print encouraged me to take it on with the earnestness of a curious 
reader within me. With the flip of the first page, I received an image of what looked like a woman, but was indeed a
man, with a female tint- a rather offensive amalgamation of the two genders.

The striking poses of the Spiritual Guru, adorning the start of each new chapter, unfailingly discredited the 
spiritual message the book was expected to discourse. The little book appeared to be more poised at indirect 
marketing and promotional appeal for the Spiritual Guru, than for the mystical quest of an eager mind.

The book purported an uncomplicated rule that all human suffering and pleasure was banded together with the good 
or bad Karma. The message was kept simple- “People with good Karma are born into good families and those with
bad Karma are born with the misfortune to endure suffering.” The words ‘good’ and ‘bad’ were excessively used 
like vowels, pushing to claim the senses of a reader that spiritualism could only be understood within the narrow 
confines of those two words, that seemed to define life at large.

So much for the ‘business of spiritualism’- I patiently tucked the book in a shrouded corner of the bookshelf, 
a nook I usually wouldn’t lay sight on. And that was the shortest journey of a splurge laid to rest