I am not writing about Hinduism from an academic perspective which, however interesting, is a second hand view. The academic view is not the view of the artist but the art critic. It is not the view of the practitioner at work in the field but the scholar peering in the distance. Hinduism affords endless ground for academic investigation, which has its own value, but such an approach will not provide a first hand understanding of the teaching. It is at best introductory or peripheral for those who want to get to the core of the teaching and its living relevance.

I am writing about Hinduism as an individual born in the West who has not only immersed himself in the Hindu tradition, but has discovered that tradition within himself, not as a novel identity but as part of a discovery of the true Self that transcends birth and death. I am not writing about Hinduism merely as a particular religion but about the universal culture behind it which is relevant to everyone. I am not writing about something that concerns only people of a specific faith only but about the spiritual issues we all must come to examine if we want to know the Truth.

Many Hindus, both in the United States and in India, have requested for me to write such a book expressing their tradition to the modern mind. They have told me that the inner truth of Hinduism spoken by a Westerner is much more likely to be believed in, even by Hindus, than the same truth expressed by a Hindu. If a Hindu gives value to his or her own tradition, it is regarded as mere traditionalism. But if a Westerner expresses its importance, it is taken seriously. 

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