“Now, I think of my writing as having two foundations: entertainment and meaning. The meaning portion is really me trying to answer my questions. The entertainment aspect of it is how I make a story that can make people turn the pages.” PeopleThinkingWritingTryingTwoStoriesTurnsAnswersPagesAspectFoundationEntertainmentPortions Author:Karan Bajaj
“What helped me a lot was that I chose an American lead protagonist, because that liberated a lot from my own knowledge. If I had approached it from the perspective of an Indian main character, I think I would have assumed a lot of knowledge and I would have resented the presence of the author.” IfsThinkingCharacterMy OwnPerspectiveIndianLiberatedProtagonistsMain Characters Author:Karan Bajaj
“A lot of the book [The Yoga of Max's Discontent] is about karma and rebirth. Things like that are very attuned to my life as an Indian, but when I approach it from a perspective of a Westerner, then I have a skeptical, yet kind of novice view on it. I think that choice really liberated the story to be its own story. A lot of the conclusions that Max reaches on his own are not mine at all. So, I think that allowed the story to take on its own momentum, to have its own propulsive force.” ThinkingKindBookStoriesChoicesForceViewsMinesPerspectiveApproachYogaKarmaConclusionIndianRebirthSkepticalMomentumDiscontentMaxLiberatedWesternersNovices Author:Karan Bajaj
“Journeys become very good metaphors. They always have the character put into circumstances that reveal him. If I had based my characters in New York and had them just sitting and thinking about life, it would be like what contemporary U.S. fiction is about. That is very heavy, literally, for me. It doesn't become mainstream enough because the pages don't turn themselves.” IfsThinkingEnoughCharacterWould BeTurnsFictionJourneyNew YorkCircumstancesPagesSittingVery GoodMetaphorHeavyContemporaryMainstreamThinking About Life Author:Karan Bajaj
“I think his karma became to serve in nature and not to serve in the world, while I think my karma is to be in the world.” ThinkingWorldKarma Author:Karan Bajaj
“I think nothing, at an objective level, is either right or wrong.” ThinkingLevelsObjectives Author:Karan Bajaj
“I don't think of the ashram world as being any more spiritual than the corporate world.” ThinkingWorldSpiritualCorporateCorporate World Author:Karan Bajaj
“I don't know if there is really an objective truth about either. I liken this to what Buddhism says about the individual, that change starts with the individual. I think it is really about purifying your own actions, and I have seen that in my own life.” IfsThinkingKnowsActionIndividualMy OwnBuddhismObjectivesMy Own LifePurifyingObjective Truth Author:Karan Bajaj
“I think it is really a personal journey of purification, rather than whether something external is going to be good or bad. Anything external will always live in that polarity - a combination of good and bad.” ThinkingJourneyBe GoodCombinationGood And BadPurificationPolarityPersonal Journey Author:Karan Bajaj
“I have been meditating for many years now, but I think for quite a few years my relationship with meditation was very intellectual. I would do meditation for all the usual things that you would think about, to be more calm, be more productive, relieve stress.” ThinkingYearsHas BeensMeditationIntellectualStressCalmProductiveUsualMeditatingStress Relieving Author:Karan Bajaj
“I think meditation became truly a means to a deeper connection as I was searching for a deeper truth within myself. Meditation became almost more spiritual than material in nature over the last two or three years and it has deepened a lot as a result of that.” ThinkingYearsMeanTwoLastsSpiritualThreeResultsMeditationMaterialsConnectionsDeeperThree Years Author:Karan Bajaj
“My wife and I took a sabbatical and we went from Europe to India, where we lived in an ashram for six months and did meditation and yoga vigorously, like from 5:00 in the morning until 10:00 in the night in very austere circumstances. I think then my practice became less superficial, more like the traditional definition of what meditation was: to truly find oneness.” ThinkingNightPracticeMorningMeditationWifeMonthsCircumstancesSixYogaEuropeIndiaDefinitionsMy WifeTraditionalOnenessSuperficialSix MonthsMeditation And YogaSabbatical Author:Karan Bajaj
“Here are two dichotomies here. In the West it is a very physical practice, and even meditation is a practice to become productive and more at peace. In the East, you think of the deep spiritual practices as a journey of complete dissolution of the self, the ego.” ThinkingTwoSelfSpiritualPracticeMeditationJourneyEgoWestEastProductiveSpiritual PracticeDissolutionDichotomyDeep Spiritual Author:Karan Bajaj
“If I was a complete slacker who was just doing nothing but traveling, I don't know if I would have the discipline to be productive and create this job, and on the other hand, if I was always disciplined and productive, I don't think I would have that mystical connection that lead to great work.” IfsThinkingKnowsHandsJobsDisciplineConnectionsProductiveMysticalGreat WorkDoing NothingSlacker Author:Karan Bajaj
