Why 'The Vedas & Upanishads for Children' isn’t just for kids

Somewhere along the way, we were all sold the idea that happiness is the goal...

A permanent state we’re supposed to chase or perhaps optimize for, plan around, and check off!

But if life has taught me anything lately, it’s this, happiness is unpredictable...It comes and goes often uninvited, often unfinished... It's not a destination. It’s a passing guest. And that, I think, is the power of a good book...They don’t give you happiness they give you perspective. They don’t solve life...they sit with you in it!

This one... "The Vedas and Upanishads for Children" found its way to me on a regular Wednesday afternoon, handed to me by Vinit, someone whose thoughtfulness I’ve come to deeply admire. No elaborate introduction, just a soft, “I think you might like this.” And he was right. It landed at exactly the moment I needed something to hold on to and something to reflect with.

I’m deeply grateful not just for a great read, but for the thoughtfulness, the timing, and for being the kind of person who shares things that stay with you.

Coming to this book, despite the title, this book is far from “just for kids.” In fact, I’d say most of us grown-ups need it more. It revisits some of the oldest questions in the world:

• Who am I?

• Why am I here?

• Why does it all feel so loud sometimes?

  
  

And it doesn’t do it in a heavy-handed way. It creates space for pause, for perspective, for quiet reflection.

For the thoughts that show up while waiting for mum's chemo drips to be changed.

For the ache and admiration that rises when you watch your mother hold on silently, bravely.

For the kind of inner stillness we’ve forgotten how to sit with.

It draws from the Vedas, the foundational texts of Indian thought and the Upanishads, which lean away from rituals and more toward inquiry. And through that lens, the book reframes the goal not as happiness, but as something steadier:

• Freedom.

• Fearlessness.

• A deeper kind of self-knowing.

And no, not in the “everything is perfect now” kind of way. More like, “I understand myself a little better now.” And that’s enough! It nudges you to think softly! It brings ancient Indian philosophy to life without making it feel like homework. It reminds you that we, as a culture, have always been asking big questions long before the world turned introspection into a buzzword.

So if you’ve been craving stillness...

If you’ve felt a little lost or a little unanchored...

If the pursuit of happiness is starting to feel like another item on the to-do list...

Maybe start here...

Not for answers.

But for better questions.

From one heart to another

Roopa, you didn’t just write a book, you handed over a thread I didn’t know I was supposed to hold.

Thank you for making ancient wisdom feel like something I could carry in my pocket, and return to when the world got loud!

Cheers,

Bibliophile Parul