Priya Kumar - Man Hunt

First Published: 2020

Published by:

Books That Inspire
www.priya-kumar.com
mail@priya-kumar.com
This ePUB edition by Vibhatsu, 2023
Cover Design: Aakash Patil

All rights reserved. NO part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publishers, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews.

ISBN: 978-81-933912-9-7

This ePUB is
compiled & gifted to book-lovers by
Vibhatsu

To Tarun Katial, who inspired the book.

Sometimes, a simple conversation, a random idea sprung from another random idea, touches a chord within. Man Hunt was created in one such conversation with Tarun. Every conversation with Tarun does that, it inspires great ideas and motivates you to bring them to life.

Thank you, Tarun, for planting the idea for Man Hunt. While the story addresses real-time issues of deforestation, poaching, genetic modification, and the greed-driven planetary unrest, it has inspired me to take up the cause beyond the book. I am grateful to you for nudging me to work for a purpose beyond myselfto take responsibility for the state of the world, one small step at a time. Paws and Claws, the initiative for co-existence, harmony, and respect for life, is an extension of the idea that came from your heart.

Your purpose Tarun is as inspirational as your presence. To Mom and Dad,

You brought us up to become independent and self-reliant. Thank you for pushing us to be hustlers and learners. Thank you for teaching us to be uncompromising and yet accommodating. You never let us settle for average and always demanded excellence. You pushed us toward hard work guided by knowledge, talent and values.

Look what you created

P.S. We, is my brother and I. To Sonu Nigam

When you launched my first book in 2009, I dont think either of us knew my journey as an author would bring me so far. Your undying support for my work has instilled in me greater responsibility to do better. I keep your dedication, talent, and beingness as a yardstick for my success. As you grow, so do my milestones. You are an inspiration. Thank you for being a great example of a wonderful human being and a legendary artist.

If you truly want to feel freedom, you need to step into the wild where the law of the universe is at its glorious best. If you really want to feel alive, get out of the four walls of the little point in space you call home and embrace the infinite, immortal truth of who you really are. You cannot know life living in the box of your daily existence. Step out into the planet, step into the wild, and you will come alive.

Life is for the sake of living, no other agenda intended. The ruling emotion is peace, happiness, and a willingness to experience anything, in that moment.

Man has evolved from a microscopic single-celled organism that was perfectly at peace with its unmovable existence, in its natural state of awareness. It was content being at the center of the show the universe put up in its passing moments, with no need to alter its state beyond the point in space it occupied, as a witness of life on planet Earth. What is your purpose, if one asked that uni-celled microorganism, it would say, to be in a state of awareness, to be as I please. In this moment, this is my choice, and I am perfectly content with it.

And then came the urge for evolution, bringing with it a cycle of consumption that disturbed the state of stillness and peace of the planet. The soul still remained centered, unchanged, uncontainable, but the cell needed to grow, and that growth needed to be fed for it to evolve. From a state of awareness, the purpose changed to predation and then; as a result, survival. Evolution broke the spiritual center. From a state of awareness, the organism grew into the stress of survival. The more the organism was determined toward evolution, the more games it had to play, the more power it needed to destroy, thus to survive. The evolution of man tells the story of that spiritual deterioration.

So, what is the purpose of life, what is your purpose?

The answer lies at the center of that single-celled organism, to be in a state of awareness, to be as you please, independent of what has happened, is happening and will happen in your universe. That is the only purpose that will truly resonate with your soul and set you free. Any other search for a complex, meaningful, or fashionable answer will only lead you further into despair.

Ask not yet, who am I. Ask, who have I become; A beast with insatiable hunger, not just for food but for power, to have more of anything that can be had, with no present or current use of that acquisition. The nature of man has become that of a predator, always scheming, luring, and lying. If that is not who you have become yet, evaluate your journey so far and your goals, and you will find streaks of that insanity guiding a destructive purpose. Know it. Awareness brings resolve.

Who am I? That is best answered with who you are not. If this is not who you are, then double-check every choice you make to stray in that direction.

Neil raised his head and sighed out loud. His heart was pounding hard. Restlessness was evident in his shallow breathing. Every time he met Bhikku, he came back and wrote in his diary, trying to see if he could decode the wise monks message. Each time he did, he had a gazillion more questions for his next meeting.