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MOKSHA: Liberation
At a New Year's Eve party in Manhattan, an American woman listens closely to the story of the young boy Nachiketa and his conversation with Yama, the Lord of Death. That same night, she is involved in a tragic accident where she carelessly leaves a woman to die. In an act of contrition, she volunteers to work in refugee camps, the worst hellholes imaginable. Five years later, she meets Sidh, the man who told her the story of Nachiketa, on that fateful New Year's Eve. She insists that Sidh reveal the secret that the Lord of Death imparts to the boy. Mystics and visionaries throughout history, from Thomas Merton to Rumi to Emerson, have had intimations of that Absolute Reality that resides within us and all around us. But it is only Advaita Vedanta that provides a practical, logical, and eminently doable roadmap for the committed seeker to discover her true nature and attain moksha, freedom from suffering and rebirth, within this life.
244 pages, Paperback
Published December 2, 2022
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April 29, 2023
This well-written and gripping book describes the journey of an American woman, who comes from a privileged background, on a quest to understand the meaning of existence. With her goal of “doing good”, she embarks on a career working for nonprofit organizations (NGOs) in India. The author sensitively describes the steps she follows, guided by an enigmatic, presumably enlightened guru-like character whose pronouncements are completely relevant, but sometimes infuriating to her.
The text is interspersed with revelations from the Upanishads (elaborations of the Vedas) as she slowly, with the reader, begins to understand the elements of Vedanta philosophy created over 2000 years ago. Vedanta postulates the very opposite of Western thinking with respect to the chicken-and-egg argument: did Consciousness come from Evolution (the Western view) or is Consciousness (or Brahman) the reason for the existence of the evolutionary-based universe that we observe (Vedanta). It is only very recently that Western philosophers are beginning to propose the Vedanta viewpoint (with no acknowledgement given, of course!), such as, for example, Donald Hoffman who discusses the evolutionary argument against reality.
In Moksha, the narrative of our protagonist, in her trials and tribulations, is interrupted by her questioning of the meaning of the events and people she encounters. These are addressed with references to four Upanishads (out of a total of 108), the Aitareya, Mandukya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads whose themes form the four sections of the book. Along the way, we are surprised to learn that ideas such as the existence of parallel universes, the fact that the past, present and future exist at the same time, that human observation can change reality (the Uncertainty Principle), were all postulated several centuries ago! The book ends with a dialogue in which a series of questions are answered in the context of what we have just read. A brief list of online resources and texts is provided in an appendix.
This book is a very good read – a great introduction to Vedanta and the Upanishads, as you follow the protagonist in her struggles to understand the world. It will spur your curiosity to check into what the Upanishads are all about, without religious trappings of any kind for or against. Recommended for those of us searching for meaning particularly in the times we live in today. A work destined to become a best seller!
om tat sat
The text is interspersed with revelations from the Upanishads (elaborations of the Vedas) as she slowly, with the reader, begins to understand the elements of Vedanta philosophy created over 2000 years ago. Vedanta postulates the very opposite of Western thinking with respect to the chicken-and-egg argument: did Consciousness come from Evolution (the Western view) or is Consciousness (or Brahman) the reason for the existence of the evolutionary-based universe that we observe (Vedanta). It is only very recently that Western philosophers are beginning to propose the Vedanta viewpoint (with no acknowledgement given, of course!), such as, for example, Donald Hoffman who discusses the evolutionary argument against reality.
In Moksha, the narrative of our protagonist, in her trials and tribulations, is interrupted by her questioning of the meaning of the events and people she encounters. These are addressed with references to four Upanishads (out of a total of 108), the Aitareya, Mandukya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads whose themes form the four sections of the book. Along the way, we are surprised to learn that ideas such as the existence of parallel universes, the fact that the past, present and future exist at the same time, that human observation can change reality (the Uncertainty Principle), were all postulated several centuries ago! The book ends with a dialogue in which a series of questions are answered in the context of what we have just read. A brief list of online resources and texts is provided in an appendix.
This book is a very good read – a great introduction to Vedanta and the Upanishads, as you follow the protagonist in her struggles to understand the world. It will spur your curiosity to check into what the Upanishads are all about, without religious trappings of any kind for or against. Recommended for those of us searching for meaning particularly in the times we live in today. A work destined to become a best seller!
om tat sat
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