Vincent Keny is a coach and mentor on Spiritual and Emotional Intelligence, and is a public speaker and author. He is based in New Delhi, and practises as a people development professional. He has recently come out with the book Swami: Union with Yourself.

I chat with him about his book Swami: Union with Yourself, how the book came to be, book recommendations, and much more.

Hello, Vincent! Tell us a bit about yourself!

My name is Vincent and I am based at New Delhi, India. I have been practising as people development professional. Developing a strong people connect, skill enhancement, and cultural transmission with people across geographies has been more of a passion than a job for me.

For more than 18 years, I’ve been designing mentoring, knowledge, and skill enhancement solutions to assist people to learn how to work together productively, live together in harmony, and resolve conflicts effectively. I’ve designed and conducted experiential interventions for global and national business corporate houses, public centre units, government agencies, social set-ups, and educational institutions.

I have also tried to gauge a comprehensive understanding on cross cultural context of cognition, adult learning transfers, and attitudinal and behavioural modification patterns that appear to answer work- life situations. Each mentoring session is like a mini laboratory of human behaviour. In this “laboratory”, one sees the way people compete within themselves, share resources, respond under pressure and most important, how they relate to one another in different walks of life.

I strongly believe that true choices come to those who have superseded the question of free will and fate. My attempt is to assist people to look inwards and realise the true potential they hold within themselves. Henceforth, they become the magnet to attract whatever they want in their life – money, honey, career, health, nurturing relationships, etc.

As a mentor, I assist people in merging of Spiritual Intelligence (SQ) with Emotional Intelligence (EQ), and the manifestation is visible in one’s day to day life-work doings. As SQ and EQ come closer to each other, one begins to feel without labels or evaluation. Instead of resisting any emotion, the best way to dispel it is to enter it fully, embrace it and see through your resistance. Emotional intelligence grows through perception. Look around at your present situation and observe it through the level of feeling. Your EI is involved in your capacity for resilience, motivation, empathy, reasoning, stress management, communication, and your ability to read and navigate sticky social situations.

If you could only describe your book Swami: Union with Yourself in one sentence, what would it be?

I would describe the book as – “The realization of Inner Union is the healing and growing of a self-loving relationship with oneself.”

Now tell us a little more about the book! What can readers expect?

Awakening is not for the faint of heart. It takes you to the very edge of your perceived capabilities, beyond the limits that you had taken for granted. It is a cruel, dark, liberating and uplifting adventure at the same time. You were born to experience Swami through this provisional human experience. Step by step and moment to moment, you develop what was tightly enveloped and well hidden in your deepest core. This little book is here to prompt you that you are neither alone nor crazy. In fact, you are leaving the craziness of life and discovering what it truly means to be natural and free. Swami might speak to you and resonate with where you are at, right now; maybe it reminds you of a version of you from the past, or maybe they awaken your curiosity of what is about to approach. I am grateful I get to share this with you.

What was the moment when the idea of the book first came to be? What made you pursue this “Union with Yourself”?

I got the idea of this book when I thought about all those who are creating an awakened world and increasing the vibration of the planet earth. We validate reality with our mind. If our mind is truly open and free of confusion, biases, and conflicts, then day to day reality will be perceived as a field of unlimited possibilities.

On what made me pursue this “Union with Myself” – Our innate willingness to open abundantly to love and life reflects our readiness to love ourselves. The word Inner Union pronounces the incredible sense of wholeness, balance and power that results from the unification of the two aspects of our being, the feminine and the masculine energies. The realization of Inner Union is the healing and growing of a self-loving relationship with oneself.

What is your writing process like?

Swami: Union with Yourself is based on my intuition and experiences. I do not claim what I share to be the ultimate truth, but to me Swami is a reflective universal inner wisdom. I inspire everyone to only take whatever vibrates to find their own truth and insight.

What is the message that you want readers to take away from this book?

Do not seek completion from outside. “You are complete, whole, and perfect in the present moment. Because life happens in present moment only. And You are Life. You are the Presence itself; not controlled by any situation, context or challenges that are taking shape in that present moment. You are a free Soul and no relationship has any right to access any control over it. You are the bridge between the unmanifested and the manifested.”

How have you been coping with the current pandemic and what will be the new normal for you post it?

To be honest there is nothing to cope; these are just momentary moments that one must experience in some form or the other. Life (existence) is not the opposite of Death. Birth and Death are opposite to each other. Life is the continuum between Birth and Death. Therefore, existence should never be taken for granted. If you take existence as granted instead of respecting it, then you need to cope with the situation. You are not in your life situations but you are the very Life itself.

What are you reading currently? Do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

I am reading the book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

The book ‘Swami: Union with Yourself’ is available online and at your nearest bookstore.