SHUNYA — A Book That Does Not Ask You to Follow It

SHUNYA — A Book That Does Not Ask You to Follow It

We spend much of our lives searching for answers.

How should I live? What is success? How much money is enough? Why am I stressed? Why do I compare myself with others? Why does one unpleasant incident sometimes make me say, “My whole day was bad”? Why does achieving one target so quickly create another?

My book SHUNYA began with such questions.

But while writing it, I realised something important: perhaps life does not need another book telling people what they should do.

So SHUNYA does not offer commandments, rituals or a fixed formula for living. It is an invitation to observe, question and decide for yourself.

What Does SHUNYA Mean?

The word Shunya literally points towards zero, but in this book it does not mean emptiness, failure, withdrawal from life or giving up ambition.

For me, Shunya represents a state of inner balance and peace.

We can work. We can earn. We can build businesses, pursue careers, love people, enjoy possessions and try to achieve our goals.

The question is different:

Must our peace depend entirely upon getting what we want?

If I get what I worked for, good.

If I don't get it, can I understand what happened, learn from it and continue without allowing that result to destroy my inner peace?

That is the direction in which SHUNYA explores life.

The Moving Target Called “Enough”

Human life has an interesting pattern.

We think:

Once I get this job, I'll be happy.

Then comes the next promotion.

Once I earn this much, I'll be satisfied.

Then the number changes.

A bigger house. A better car. More recognition. More followers. More security.

There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting any of these things.

But SHUNYA asks:

If “enough” keeps moving every time we reach it, when exactly do we arrive?

The book does not provide the answer.

Because perhaps my answer cannot be your answer.

Become the Observer — The “Drashta”

One of the central ideas in SHUNYA is simple: observe yourself before automatically reacting.

Someone says something unpleasant and anger appears.

Something doesn't happen according to our expectation and disappointment appears.

Someone has more than us and comparison begins.

Instead of immediately becoming the anger, fear, jealousy or disappointment, what happens if for a moment we simply observe what is happening inside us?

This is what I call being the Drashta — the observer.

Not suppressing emotion.

Not pretending everything is fine.

Simply seeing it before allowing it to control the next action.

Examine. Don't Blindly Obey.

Many of our ideas were already waiting for us when we were born.

Family, society, education, culture and experience gradually gave us definitions of success, failure, happiness, respect and even what a “good life” should look like.

Some of those ideas may be extremely useful.

Some may not be.

SHUNYA therefore proposes something very simple:

Examine them.

Ask questions.

Look for evidence where evidence is possible.

Understand different perspectives.

And then decide for yourself.

Even the ideas in SHUNYA itself should not be accepted merely because they are written in a book.

Question them too.

One Bad Moment — Or One Bad Day?

Consider something very ordinary.

One unpleasant thing happens in the morning.

An argument. A business problem. A disappointing message. Something doesn't go according to plan.

At night we say:

“Aaj poora din kharab tha.”

But was the whole day actually bad?

Maybe we also had breakfast with our family.

Maybe somebody made us laugh.

Maybe the weather was beautiful.

Maybe our body worked perfectly throughout the day.

Maybe hundreds of ordinary things went right—and one thing went wrong.

Then an interesting question appears:

Did the entire day become bad, or did one event become the story we told ourselves about the entire day?

Again, SHUNYA doesn't tell you the answer.

It simply asks you to look.

SHUNYA Is Not a New Belief System

This distinction matters deeply to me.

I do not want SHUNYA to become another ideology, sect, movement or group of people saying:

“We know the correct way to live.”

That would contradict the very idea behind the book.

SHUNYA does not ask you to replace one set of unquestioned beliefs with another.

Its direction is almost the opposite:

Think. Question. Observe. Understand. Decide.

And when sufficient evidence is unavailable, there is nothing wrong with saying:

“I don't know.”

Sometimes I don't know may be a more truthful answer than a confident explanation unsupported by evidence.

There Is No Formula at the End

Your circumstances are different from mine.

Your ambitions are different.

Your responsibilities are different.

Your relationships, opportunities, difficulties and time are different.

So how could one person write a universal formula for everybody else's life?

SHUNYA is therefore better understood as a collection of observations from one human life.

Take from it whatever remains useful to you.

Question what doesn't.

Change your view when better knowledge becomes available.

And perhaps occasionally ask yourself:

What am I chasing? Why am I chasing it?

What am I afraid of? Why?

What actually deserves my attention?

How much is enough for me?

And ultimately:

Am I living my life—or merely following a definition of life that I never stopped to examine?

I don't know what your answers will be.

And that is precisely the point.

SHUNYA — Sawaal Se Shuruaat.

— Rakesh Kumar

My book SHUNYA
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0HF743XC8