Enlightenment is the Secret to Fly

Each one of us is confronted with the same question at sometime or the other, "Who am I"? There is no one person within struggling with a monkey on their shoulders. Either we tame this monkey and experience true happiness, joy and enlightenment or surrender which take us on the road to disillusionment, surrender to the meandering mind and a wasted life. Search for one's soul is a difficult road but there is light at the end. The path whether religious, humanistic, mystic or scholarly or work centered releases energy within and creates opportunity to break out of our shackles. Sincere effort is rewarded with direction, provoked by unfathomable forces. As one traverses the path of self discovery milestones have no meaning, but what matters is to find wings to fly. "Enlightenment is the Secret to Fly", wrestles with "Who am I"?

The novel a fictional story takes the reader on a tour of beliefs, thoughts, customs and sensibilities of Indian spiritual and religious thought and explores concepts of happiness, joy and enlightenment. The protagonist is a middle aged company executive who wants to opt out from the rat race and his efforts brings him to a sadhu who has achieved enlightenment at a young age and the novel follows the life of this sadhu from childhood, schooling, his tragedies, training in a hermitage and his eventual enlightenment, his leaving the hermitage and his travels. As he travels in the Himalayas he encounters people from many parts of the world seeking peace, happiness, tranquility and a meaning in their sufferings and life. Life outside his hermitage is very different and he is saddened with the injustice, insensitivity and the unhappy lives of people. He seeks a different enlightenment and believes that institutions including hermitages where he spent many years, temples, organized religion or governments unable to provide the means for peace and happiness in spite of the many organized entities intruding in people's lives individual unhappiness and disillusionment were increasing. Since what men seek lie within hence solutions to one's discontent is personal. He finds a simple solution at the end of his travels that will end man's misery and brings joy back in their lives.