51: Karan Bajaj on living a Yogic life in the heart of the material world

For Life on Purpose Episode #51, my guest is
bestselling novelist and "striving yogi" Karan
Bajaj. Born and raised in the Indian Himalayas,
Karan now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Via his
website and thriving online community, he shares his attempts to
live a Yogic life in the heart of the material world.

Karan joined me for a great conversation about
his new book The Yoga of Max's Discontent, which was
published by Random House on May 3rd 2016. The book, called "The
greatest adventure of our Generation" by The Daily Telegraph was
inspired by his one year sabbatical traveling from Europe to India
by road and learning yoga and meditation in the Himalayas.

"Growing up in the Indian Himalayas, I saw a steady stream
of professionals — doctors, engineers, lawyers — leave their
careers and live in ashrams and caves near my village. I never
fully understood their motives. But 20 years later, I had the same
strong urge to spend an extended time in silence and find a deep
center of stillness within me after my mother’s untimely death from
cancer."

About: Karan Bajaj is a bestselling novelist
and striving yogi. Born and raised in India, he has trained as a
Hatha Yoga teacher in the Sivananda ashram in South India and
learned meditation in the Himalayas. He is the author of the novels
Johnny Gone Down and Keep off the Grass, both of which were No. 1
bestsellers in India.

His first worldwide novel, The Yoga of Max's
Discontent, was published by Random House on May 3rd 2016. The
book, called "The greatest adventure of our Generation" by The
Daily Telegraph was inspired by his one year sabbatical traveling
from Europe to India by road and learning yoga and meditation in
the Himalayas.

He's has also worked in senior executive roles at companies like
Procter & Gamble and the Boston Consulting Group and was named
among Ad Age's "Top 40 Under 40 executives" in the US.

About The Yoga of Max's Discontent: A violent
encounter on the streets of Manhattan forces Wall Street banker
Maximus Pzoras to confront questions about suffering and mortality
that have dogged him since his mother’s death. His search for a
mentor takes him to the farthest reaches of India, where he
encounters a mysterious night market, almost freezes to death on a
hike up the Himalayas and finally, finds himself in an ashram in a
small drought stricken village in South India where strange things
begin to happen to him.

But are Yogis who walk on water, do impossible poses, and live
agelessly for 200 years the stuff of fiction or fact? Can a flesh
and blood man ever truly achieve nirvana? Max struggles to overcome
his rational skepticism and the pull of family tugging him back
home. In a final bid for answers, he embarks on dangerous solitary
meditation in a freezing Himalayan cave. Will Max penetrate the
truth of human suffering, or is enlightenment just a new age
illusion?

To learn more about Karan and his work, visit:
http://www.karanbajaj.com/.