Description
"To Death, I give you away!" These words, uttered by Nachiketa's father in a fit of anger, initiate the adventurous journey of twelve-year old Nachiketa to the celestial realm of Lord Yama, the god of Death. Using this storyline of the Katha Upanishad, and a creatively imagined dialogue between the student Nachiketa and his guru Yama, the author presents the essence of the Upanishadic wisdom in a lucid, easy-to-understand manner. The dialogue helps Nachiketa (and us) discover answers to his profound questions:
What is the real aim of our life? What happens after death?
What is Self-realisation? How does one get liberated?

"Very inspiring. I find it very useful. The immediate impact of the book on me is that I have become calmer, while continuing to be active, professionally and otherwise. I intend to read this book again and again." - V S Raju, former Director, IIT Delhi

"Having attended the courses of Prof. Devdas Menon on Self-Awareness and Integral Karmayoga at IIT Madras, I clearly hear his voice, blended with his deep understanding, flowing through this book, thankfully free of difficult Sanskrit terms. I feel grateful to be introduced to the process of awakening!" - Christian Thaulow, Professor (retd), NTNU, Norway

"It is not easy to translate the wisdom teachings of the Upanishads in simple language. The author attempts to do this and comes out with flying colours. The dialogue adopted is fascinating and keeps the reader hooked till the last page. " - Subir Chakraborty, MD & CEO, Exide Industries Ltd

About the Author
Dr Devdas Menon is an Institute Chair Professor at IIT Madras, engaged in teaching, research and consultancy in structural engineering. He adopts a holistic approach in education, placing an emphasis on inner development and transformation. He was initiated into Advaita Vedanta in his youth by Swami Krishnananda (of Hrishikesh) and other teachers. Ever since, his approach to spirituality has been to see the formless aware presence, the one Divine, in all manifestation - regardless of the seeming differences in myriad names and forms and beliefs.

In structural engineering, he has co-authored a popular textbook on Reinforced Concrete Design, and has authored textbooks titled Structural Analysis and Advanced Structural Analysis. In the realm of self-improvement and spirituality, he has authored books titled Stop sleepwalking through life! and Spirituality at work (on the Bhagavad Gita), which are texts used for his popular courses on 'Self-Awareness' and 'Integral Karmayoga' at IIT Madras.

This brief biography of the author is meant for pragmatic purposes: this website has a section on it, and potential readers may be interested in such details. But the deeper truth is that all notions of individual authorship and doer-ship are delusional, and it is important for the so-called author to recognise this truth - while playing the role of an author or a professor, or whatever, in this game of life.