Selections from the Preface

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” – Gospel of Thomas, 70

Motivation

I encountered the book Hard Sayings of Jesus by F. F. Bruce in the year 2000. Many of the sayings that I read in that book immediately made sense to me, but not the explanations by the author. The scientist in me—wanting to improve and share extant theories of life, the Universe, and everything—prodded me to write new explanations to these sayings from my own understanding. Of course, I also didn’t understand many other biblical extracts in the book at all. (Maybe I was missing context, I told myself.) But soon, I forgot all about it.

It was sometime in 2008 when I first became aware again of a conscious inner urge to write something compelling on the topic. But because I was a busy professional immersed in my own spiritual study when time permitted, I initially ignored this prodding from within, hoping it might subside and vanish by itself.

Every year after that, I’d get this inspiration to write, especially a few months before December, with the thought of having it ready to share during the festivities of the imminent Christmas season. However, that time of year also served as a period for introspection and reflection for me, so I repeatedly ignored the compulsion. I imagined that if I overlooked it long enough, it would dissipate.

Well, not only did the impulse not go away, it became increasingly intense every year. So, my initial idea of interpreting the sayings of Christ with the support of Vedantic perspective came to me first in 2000, became a significant compulsion in 2008, and persisted all through the years, never diminishing.

Fast forward to the fall of 2019. I finally made the headspace required for writing. All in all, this book finally evolved and functioned as a labor of love to my intellectual and spiritual curiosity and also as a gift to the world.

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