Audiobooks narrated by Chirag Patel

Dao De Jing: The Classic Victorian-Era Translation

James Legge (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Arthashastra, or, The Playbook of Material Gain: Pragmatic and amoral tips on how to gain, defend, a

Truly radical 'Machiavellianism', in the popular sense of that word, is classically expressed in Indian literature in the Arthashastra of Kautilya (written long before the birth of Christ, ostensibly in the time of Chandragupta): compared to it, Machiavelli's The Prince is harmless. — Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation (1919) Chanakya's treatise, written while turning a farmhand into the emperor of the largest empire India had ever seen, focuses on how to manage an empire, covering everything from domestic policy and personal rights to assassination and the dirtier arts of politics. This is not, as with Plato’s Republic, a work of theory. Chanakya’s guidance is entirely practical, and is based on both his education and his experience building an empire. It lacks the philosophical ponderings and moralizing of its equivalent Western works (such as The Prince, The Republic or Leviathan) and instead focuses on how one deals with the messiness of the world in practice. People will occasionally refer to Chanakya as an Indian Machiavelli, but this does some discredit to Chanakya. The Prince is a satire, and focused around exposing the tactics and inhumanity of Cesare Borgia. Arthashastra is a manual for every aspect of statecraft, and while it deals in the unethical it does so only because that is, after all is said and done, one of the options available to a ruler. If you're after a totally pragmatic analysis of leadership, stripped of moralising and focused on what works and how to deal with real-world issues, this is the book for you.

Chanakya (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Classic of Filial Piety: The classic book of Confucian wisdom for children

For over two thousand years, this books has been the foundation of Chinese family life. Based on a series of conversations with Confucius, and supplemented by a series of story examples by an Emperor in the 11th Century, it is essential to understanding the nature and order of Chinese society. It speaks of how one should behave towards a senior such as one’s parents, elder brother or ruler, and the obligations that follow in the opposite direction. Written in 400BC, the Xiaojang is legendarily a dialogue between Confucius and Zeng Zi, a disciple who was well known for his filial piety. Since that time, it has been an essential tool of Chinese civilisation, often being the first book that Chinese children are given when they are able to read it. For Confucius and his disciples, family life is the foundation and cornerstone of society, and recognising the value and impact of family harmony on both the local and greater environments is crucial to stability and prosperity. SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS The Athenaeum.--'We wish that there were more of them; they are dreamy, lifelike, and fascinating.' Pall Mall Gazette.--'No translation of this important work has been made since the beginning of the eighteenth century.' Manchester Courier.--'Worthy of close study by all who would penetrate to the depth of Eastern thought and feeling.' The Scotsman.--' should not fail to please readers of the more studious sort.' Southport Guardian.--'will find considerable favour with all Students of Eastern Literature and Eastern Philosophy.' Bristol Mercury.--'We commend these little books to all who imagine that there is no knowledge worth having outside Europe and America.' Field.--'Such books are valuable aids to the understanding of a far-off age and people, and have a great interest for the student of literature.'

Ivan Chen (translator) (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Cloud Of Unknowing: The classic of Christian mystical wisdom, rendered in modern English

In the middle ages, Christianity shared much with Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies. Read on to learn how Christian mystics came to the same conclusions as those from very different faiths. This edition has been adapted from the 1923 version into modern English to make the ideas more accessible to today's reader, the Cloud of Unknowing distills a complex mystical epistemology and discipline into engagingly readable prose. The Cloud of Unknowing is a work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. It is a spiritual guide, which focuses on using contemplative prayer to know God by abandoning consideration of God's particular activities and attributes, and having the courage to surrender your mind and ego to the realm of 'unknowing', at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God. The book counsels the young student to seek God, not through knowledge and intellect, but through intense contemplation, motivated by love, and stripped of all thought. This is brought about by putting all thoughts and desires under a 'cloud of forgetting,' and thereby piercing God's cloud of unknowing with a 'dart of longing love' from the heart.

Chirag Patel (editor), Evelyn Underhill (editor) (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Sayings of Lao-Tzu: An accessible narrative prose translation of the Dao De Jing

A prose translation of the Tao that focuses on bringing out the subtlety and depth of the classic Way. Translations of the famous Way and Virtue (Dao De Jing/Tao Te Ching) focus on the poetics and depth of the original. In contrast, Giles’ translation focuses on telling stories with the text, drawing out the nuances in a way that is more familiar to Western audiences from philosophical and religious texts. “Few can help being struck by the similarity of tone between the sayings of Lao Tzu and the Gospel enunciated six centuries later by the Prince of Peace. There are two famous utterances in particular which secure to Lao Tzu the glory of having anticipated the lofty morality of the Sermon on the Mount. The cavilers who would rank the Golden Rule of Confucius below that of Christ will find it hard to get over the fact that Lao Tzu said, 'Requite injury with kindness,' and 'To the not-good I would be good in order to make them good.' It was a hundred and fifty years later that Plato reached the same conclusion in the first book of the Republic. It is interesting to observe certain points of contact between Lao Tzu and the early Greek philosophers. He may be compared both with Parmenides, who disparaged sense-knowledge and taught the existence of the One as opposed to the Many, and with Heraclitus, whose theory of the identity of contraries recalls some of our Sage's paradoxes. But it is when we come to Plato that the most striking parallels occur. It has not escaped notice that something like the Platonic doctrine of ideas is discoverable in the 'forms' which Lao Tzu conceives as residing in Tao. But, so far as I know, no one has yet pointed out what a close likeness Tao itself bears to that curious abstraction which Plato calls the Idea of the Good.”

Lao Tzu, Lionel Giles (translator) (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Forerunner & The Madman

Most famously known for his book The Prophet, the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran, who has been called 'the single most important influence on Arabic poetry and literature during the first half of [the twentieth] century.' Contained herein are two lesser known works. The Madman was the first book Kahlil published in English, and it's success was enough for The Forerunner to be released by the same publisher less than two years later.

Khalil Gibran (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Unusual Topics & Interesting Reviews: Opinions & ideas that'll make you sound like a deep and learne

If you're struggling with how to demystify the world, check out this guide. With answers about everything from AI and mental health, to living through hard times and discussions of philosophy, theology and spirituality, it contains a wealth of interesting facts, ideas and opinions. Also includes a section on marijuana-related questions, and properly reflective reviews of great sci fi, fantasy, non fiction and comedy books. You'll be guaranteed to find a classic work that you'll love in there.

Chirag Patel (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Xhosa Folk-Lore: South African Folk Tales Vol II

George McCall Theal (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Mishkât Al-Anwar (The Niche For Lights): The classic work of Sufi mystical thinking

The classic work of Sufi mystical thinking from 1100CE, available in audiobook for the first time. It is also known as A Niche of Lamps. In the middle ages, Sufi scholars reconciled rationality and faith, both of which were ascendant in the empires of the time. This is one of the great philosophical and theological works from that period, and shows another side to Islam than the doctrinaire version that is more commonly spoken of. Al-Ghazali is often called 'the proof of Islam' (hujjat al-islam), because he tried to bridge inquiry, legislation and mystical practice. One could call al-Ghazali the prototype Muslim intellectual. This translation was done in 1823 by WHT Gairdner, who also includes a commentary upon the ideas that Al-Ghazzali presents. The Niche of Lights, written near the end of his life, is about the need for balance between the authority of the divine and reason, seeing both as essential to real spiritual development.

Al- Ghazzali, WHT Gairdner (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Zhuangzi | Chuang Tzu

The Chuang Tsu is one of the most important books in Chinese literature and philosophy. It is one of the two foundational texts of Daoism. Also titled Zhuangzi, it is a commentary and extension of the Dao de Jing/Tao Te Ching, in the same way that Mencius' Analects are an exploration of Confucius' thought. Written in around 300BCE during the Warring States period, it is a collection of anecdotes, fables, and stories that are as silly and funny as they are profound and thought provoking. Where the Dao De Jing is a distilled and poetic exploration of the Way, Zhuangi takes a much more human and real-world path through the mysteries of the Dao. Using often humorous anecdotes, allegories, parables and fables mixed with conversations about particular aspects of the Way. James Legge’s translation is perhaps the most sophisticated and exacting one in existence. It carries as much as possible of the subtlety and detail in the original masterwork. It is regarded as one of the greatest literary works in all of Chinese history, and has been called 'the most important pre-Qin text for the study of Chinese literature.' Its main themes are of spontaneity in action and of freedom from the human world and its conventions. The fables and anecdotes in the text illustrate the illusion of distinctions between good and bad, large and small, life and death, and human and nature. While other ancient Chinese philosophers focused on moral and personal duty, Zhuangzi promoted carefree wandering and becoming one with 'the Way' (Dào 道) by following nature. It has influenced great Chinese and Western writers for more than 2000 years, including Oscar Wilde, Yeats, Nietzsche, Sima Xiangru, Li Bai, Su Shi and Lu You.

Chuang Tsu, Zhuang Zi (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

What Did Jesus Really Say?: A Study Of The Inner Knowledge

In the first century AD a religion was born: Christianity, with Jesus Christ head of the Church. Little evidence survives regarding the critical formative years, all from second-hand sources and mostly one man, Paul of Tarsus, who never physically walked with Jesus. The living narrative of Jesus’ life is in question. More in question is the message he gave. Historians are divided as to what Jesus said and did, and today many doubt the accuracy of the New Testament canon that Christians take as scripture. A wide divergence grows with coming of the modern age. Historians and scholars grotesquely disagree, a few believing Jesus never existed and to the other extreme of every word of the Bible being God’s inerrant word. “What Did Jesus Really Say?”, authoritatively answers these formerly unanswerable questions. Jesus taught of an inner world, and this very inner world can be tapped today for answering what the written record cannot reveal. Trusted inner sources are the key and were tapped for this book. It is a short read packed with informative material that will forever change present-day understanding of life and death and the beyond in all disciplines of modern thought, and bring clear resolution to the Jesus story.

Arthur Telling, Cleopatra de los Dolores (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Seekers & Speakers: Learning To Walk Your Own Path

This is not a self-help book, or a book of specific guidance. In fact, it was written because too many works that claim to help you find your way either disappear into meaningless abstraction or are so petty and particular they fall at the first hurdle, teaching control instead of acceptance. There are a lot of spiritual self help books out there, but most of them either pretend to be enlightened or provide such specific direction that you’ll never truly open your mind. This books is an attempt to address that problem. Come with Arthur and Chirag as they discuss the ways they have sought understanding and progress over time, both within and without. The intent of this book is to give something back, and perhaps help others seeking greater truths about the world and themselves to find their path, and not feel so alone. Perhaps in their tales of the search, you can find a further step on your own path.

Arthur Telling, Chirag Patel (Author), Arthur Telling, Chirag Patel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Chirag Patel