Dehradun, Sept. 21 -- The Books from My Shelves

My journey of inner self-understanding through the wisdom of books began in 1980, soon after I joined BITS Pilani. It began with curiosity: as a teenager of just over fifteen, I wanted to explore for myself the depth and meaning of spirituality. My first serious encounters were with the writings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, which opened a door that, nearly four decades later, I have never quite closed.

Discussions with friends, years of self-study, and live interactive sessions with Vedantic scholars at BITS Pilani, and later, a J Krishnamurti discourse at IIT Bombay in 1985, broadened that initial curiosity into a sustained exploration. Much of this formative learning unfolded during the Jupite...