Have you ever revisited the stories told by your grandparents?
Perhaps that question dates me. The younger generation still discovers these ancient fables, though mostly through YouTube essays, animated shorts, or audiobooks. In my childhood, those narratives did not come from an algorithm. They came directly from our elders, told in the quiet hours of the evening.
What if the fables we have repeated for centuries are not relics of a forgotten past? What if they are precise mirrors reflecting the dilemmas every generation must confront: yesterday, today, and deep into our collective future?
When you look past the folklore, our ancient scriptures and Puranic lore contain razor-sharp observations on ambition, power, duty, identity, and release. The human heart has not evolved nearly as fast as our technology.
The Genesis of an Author’s Journey
That realisation inspired my contemporary fiction series, Ancient Scriptures: Modern Thoughts. The goal is simple: bridge timeless Vedic philosophy with gritty, contemporary storytelling that feels authentic to anyone, whether you live in New Delhi, New York, or anywhere across the globe.
By training and long professional practice, I am a Water Resources Engineer. Like many of you, I listened intently to the mythological epics recited by my maternal grandmother, using them to make sense of life. Yet duty intervened. Building a career, raising a family, and chasing professional success demanded my complete focus. It was only after turning seventy that I found the quiet space to return to my true calling: weaving scriptural wisdom into modern novels.
Look around today. People burn out striving not merely for their own comfort, but to engineer the prosperity of their descendants. They toil endlessly for corporate status, generational assets, and a polished name.
Yet we rarely ask ourselves the foundational question: What is the true value of a legacy if, in the relentless pursuit of building it, we lose who we are?
Ancient Parables, Contemporary Mirrors
Take the ancient tale of King Yayati. Trapped by an insatiable craving for youth and sensual indulgence, he went so far as to ask his own sons to trade their prime years for his decrepitude. His youngest son, Puru, agreed, while his eldest, Yadu, refused. Yayati spent centuries enjoying that borrowed vigour, only to realize the bitter truth: desire is never quenched by indulgence; it only flares up like fire fed with ghee.
Or consider King Lavana from the Yoga Vasistha. A righteous ruler, he was plunged into a waking trance by a court magician, forced to live out years of abject suffering as a destitute outcaste simply to exhaust latent karmic impressions and shatter his royal ego.
These are not dusty myths. They represent the exact pressures driving our modern corporate warriors.
The Series: Ancient Scriptures, Modern Realities
In the first novel, The Fantasy of Legacy, the protagonist, Siddharth Manik Chand, embodies this modern condition. He is an apex corporate raider: wealthy, efficient, brilliant, yet fundamentally hollow. An intense, disorienting psychological vision forces him to inhabit the existence of a primitive tribesman. He endures the brutal hardships of clan warfare and grinding physical labour, while discovering the raw simplicity of life, the selfless devotion of a tribal woman, and a paternal bond so profound that he ultimately sacrifices his life to save his child when their world is engulfed by wildfire.
This shattering encounter strips away his vanity. When he returns to his executive suite, the hollow pursuit of raw profit is broken, forcing him to rebuild his identity around genuine ethics, family bonds, and responsible power. Many successful men and women believe they can draft an airtight blueprint for how their wealth and vision will carry forward. Across three generations, this story explores why those master plans inevitably fracture. Every generation must stumble through its own crucible, pay its own karmic dues, and create its own design. Ultimately, the idea of an engineered legacy remains a fantasy.
In the second novel, The Battle to Surrender, we explore the moral trials of a retired military veteran. A man steeped in personal honour and duty, he navigates the complex ethical labyrinths of his family’s aggressive material ambitions, drawing resolve and clarity from each chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
The third book, 2072: A Nonviolent Regent of Kalki, imagines a future where Lord Vishnu and the immortals of Hindu lore grow alarmed by the accelerating moral degradation of society, with centuries still remaining before Kalki descends to restore Dharma. The course correction begins through an unexpected vessel: Anant Pratap Singh, a corrupt, fallen politician. Forced into rigorous penance and inner purification under the ruthless guidance of Ashwathama, he masters the sacred Dhwani Astra under strict ethical restraints. The story follows the deep moral temptations confronting Anant, his family, and ruthless power brokers circling the state. Ultimately, true social transformation is initiated from a prison cell when Anant voluntarily surrenders to justice for his past deeds, using his abilities to reform hardened criminals and sparking a movement that ripples across the entire nation.
The fourth book, Chetan Sampat’s Tryst with Panchatantra, brings ancient political strategy into contemporary university life. The protagonist is the brilliant son of a taxi driver who aspires to clear the Civil Services. Alongside friends from diverse backgrounds, he navigates high-stakes campus rivalries and corporate greed by discovering the five Tantras of Acharya Vishnu Sharma, translating ancient statecraft into real-time tools for modern survival.
At its heart, this entire series is about confronting the raw realities of modern existence through the timeless, unfading light of our scriptures.
Join the Discussion
I would love to hear your perspective: How much of our drive to accumulate wealth and status is truly about security, and how much of it is an anxiety about being forgotten? How do the stories you grew up with shape your view of ambition today?
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