The LivingWise Project

From Dior to Dharma

A novel by Shruti Bakshi

 
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Through Maya’s story, From Dior to Dharma contemplates the human condition in modern society in which we are egged on to chase the ‘next big thing’ only to find it doesn’t hold the everlasting happiness that was promised. Maya’s transition from Dior to Dharma describes in intimate rawness, the inner struggles and seeking of one who has outgrown a life fixated on attaining material goodies and is looking for answers about life and purpose.

From Dior to Dharma brings out many deep truths from the spiritual traditions in an authentic and immediately relatable way. Penetrating insights into life are refreshingly shared against the backdrop of Maya’s travels – from the Parisian metro or the Redwood forests to the busy streets of Delhi to ashrams in Kerala and the Himalayas.


REVIEWS

“A fresh new novel on the human condition, this is a story, told without pretense, that challenges cherished beliefs in the purpose of life. Shruti has an elegant style with many lyrical passages and the story flows like a poem.”

– Professor Subhash Kak, Regents Professor at Oklahoma State University and Vedic scholar

“Maya is the protagonist, the ‘I’, who travels, pausing, taking steps ahead, back, sprinting backwards in fleeting thoughts, at different destinations, cities, towns and self. Maya’s observations move rapidly and restlessly, between Nature, life, people, and herself, like the eyes of a child left in a room full of activity and stillness. Her observations are rich. There is a calming duality in these observations that come to her, naturally; the duality of solitude and the presence of otherness……Maya, the protagonist, demands patience. She compels you to hear (not read), her seamless conversation. She compels you to follow the traveler. She keeps knocking on your mind, softly; tap-tap-tap; knowing that her Maya is, or could be, you.”

– Creative India magazine


PEAK INSIDE:

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