Book Reviews - From seeker to finder

by T. A. Basubramanian

It was time to begin another long day in my miserable life,” says Kumar in the early part of this slim, yet intense narration of self-discovery. “Everything around me, including myself, was a complete mess.”

The mess includes his own state of roiling depression and fear, and as he goes through the motions of work, experiences failed love and reaches the utter abyss of hopelessness, he decides to call it quits and goes off to Kashi to end his life – perhaps with the promise of a better one in the next cycle of birth.

Fortunately, Kumar gets salvation on the brink of time – when he is serendipitously picked up by a kindly yogi who decides to lift the young man’s spirits with insights gleaned from ancient wisdom. So, much to his relief, Kumar discovers that the road to recovery has always been within his reach.

Guided by his saviour, the yogi – he begins a progressive journey of self-discovery – starting off by learning to take responsibility for his own situation, to understanding the law of karma, and eventually to transcending the physical and mental planes to become pure awareness.

As he continues his daily activities in parallel with his spiritual practices, he draws from the insights of Advaita and learns to hold all his experiences impersonally – from the vantage point of a witness to his own life.

What makes Kumar’s story of self-discovery so rivetting is its simplicity and directness. The authentic feelings and frank insights into the most intimate moments of his life are accessible to anybody who has ever gone through similar disenchantments – and come out stronger for the experience.