Hi. Thanks. 'PUNYAM - Stories from Hindu Scriptures', brings together stories from some of India's most loved and most well-known scriptures, viz, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas and the Upanishads. The interesting thing is that the first three scriptures on this list declare God in His various personal aspect, as Rama, Krishna, Durga, Shiva. On the other hand, the Vedas and the Upanishads view God in His impersonal aspect, as 'Brahman' or Causeless Spirit without form and attributes. Thus, the stories in the book cover both these aspects of God.

Well, there's a sequel lined up. It will be called 'PUNYAM - II' and basically that will cover stories from non-Hindu scriptures such as the Bible, the Quran, as well as the Buddhist, Jain and Sikh scriptures. There will also be stories of saints, mystics and yogis of all religions.

I feel that for a book like ‘PUNYAM’, or its' sequels that are to follow, more important than a number would be the idea behind the book itself. The spiritual inspiration that these these writings attempt to express is something that should be of value to anyone on the path and that is more important than a staid rating number.

‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, (Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda), ‘The Most Graceful Presence: Sri Sri Ma Anandamayi’ (Bithika Mukerji) and ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ (Mahendranath Gupta) - these three books, dealing with the lives and teachings of three of the greatest Spiritual Masters that India has produced over the last two hundred years, have been the guiding beacon of my life, sort of a spiritual anchor in uncertain and difficult times. It is amazing that although these three Masters lived at different times but their teachings are uniform; they all exhort mankind to ‘live in the world but not be of the world’, that is, to fulfil our rightful duties towards our family, society and nation but not to forget our highest duty - to seek God!

My other favourite titles are, ‘Business Maharajas’ (Gita Piramal), which chronicles the lives and challenges of some of the best known industrialists of India and, ‘In Search of Excellence’, (Thomas Peters & Robert Waterman). Written by two former McKinsey Consultants, the book presents the best business practices and the persistent desire to excel of some of the best known American corporations.

Due to my deep interest in spiritual matters and also being a follower of the teachings of the great Sri Paramahansa Yoganandaji, i'm currently preparing myself to become a Kriyaban.

Basically a 'Kriyaban' is someone who has taken initiation in Kriya-yoga which is the ancient yogic science of soul-liberation. This is the same knowledge that Sri Krishna gave to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita but in the dark material ages that followed, this sacred science got lost. Then, in the nineteenth century, this ancient science was revived, for the benefit of mankind, by the immortal Guru, Sri Sri Mahavatar Babaji, who initiated his chosen disciple, Sri Lahiri Mahasayaji, into Kriya-yoga and also instructed him to pass on this knowledge to all sincere aspirants on the spiritual path. In modern times, this ancient soul-liberating technique is being imparted by Self-Realisation Fellowship (SRF), California / Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS), India, the two organisations that were started by that great world-teacher, Paramahansa Yogananda, for the worldwide dissemination of Kriya-yoga. It is to be noted that only SRF/YSS are authorised to administer Kriya-yoga initiation.

Revise, Revise, Revise. This I believe has to be the magic mantra for any published author. Yes, the work of revision itself is a tedious one but the reward for the author is the quality work that emerges from the process. I have successfully applied this mantra for all my books and the result has been a hugely satisfying one.