THE CITY OF NINE GATES BY PANKAJ RAJPUT

TITLE- THE CITY OF NINE GATES
AUTHOR- PANKAJ RAJPUT
GENRE- NON FICTION, SPIRITUAL
PUBLISHERS- NOTION PRESS
NO:OF PAGES- 288
FORMAT- PAPERBACK

About the book-

An atheistic millionaire is forced to find and help his long lost friend achieve self realization in a mystical City of nine gates known only to the Gods and the wisest of sages of the Advait and Sankhya. Assisted by other friends in the City, he leads the City on an inward enlightening journey, only to realize at the end who his friend is, what actually the City of Nine Gates is and who is that beyond all regions which one never comes back.

My rating- ★★★.5☆☆

My review-

"Human life in kalyuga is like a dense jungle of delusion, a mad crazy world. No one knows what to do or what to be done after coming to life so they indulge in material pleasures."

Gyan, an atheist comes across a secret whereby he is the chosen one to liberate his friend Parth from the city of Nine Gates.

With this starts his quest for the liberation of his friend. He comes across various other friends,with whom he discovers the complexities of the city and ultimately falls upon the absolute truth.

This book is more of a spiritual guide where the author has personified human body, mind and several other material and non-material aspects of the physical and spiritual world. Gyan himself is knowledge personified who leads the path.This book takes the readers on a journey towards enlightment or moksha, all the obstacles that a person can come across in the path are very vividly mentioned along with the solutions to overcome them.

The author has done a commendable job whereby he has not only talked about the path to attain moksha but has done so in a fresh approach. The story at every aspect is a revealtion- things from the Vedas,age-old folk lores and epics, Gods, religion and human beings as a whole. 

The book as a whole feels more of a sermon though, throughout the book the author seemed trying to impose the idea that the only way to be at peace with oneself- is to follow the path of Dharma- not necessarily any religion. Only in the end does he clarify the position of Karma in the cycle of life. The writing is difficult to read at first but later it becomes quite easy. Also all the lessons that are to be learned are summarized and reinforced at a lot of places.

This is indeed a quite informative read, a guide towards the basic path of life to be followed,in the form of such an engaging story, this makes this an appealing book. Yes , the story due to the repetitive nature and religion involvement can turn out to be taxing at certain points too.

Characters-

The Characters in the book are the various non-material characteristics personified

They include Gyan- knowledge personified and his most important counterpart Buddhi-intelligence personified. 

Other personifications include that of mind, ego, the sense organs, the energy coursing through the body, desire, thought and even God himself.

All the characters interact to reveal various levels humans have to pass through before attaining enlightment.

Writing style-

The writing style is fresh- personification of every non material aspect converting them into characters to carry the story forward.

The narration includes a lot of aspects of life, religion and spirituality. It is quite difficult to follow initially but once all the characters are introduced things become easy and relatable. Also personally the repetitive manner and the imposition of the idea about the correct path to follow was annoying to some extent. 

However overall, a quite informative and engaging read, with a different perspective to the non material aspects of life and beyond- especially suitable for those who are interested in spirituality.

Absolutely not recommended for the religious chauvinists.

This book review is a part of “The Readers Cosmos Book Review Program and Blog Tours, for details log on to thereaderscosmos.blogspot.in

About the author-

Pankaj Rajput, the author of the book City of Nine Gates works as a financial risk manager for an investment bank in Mumbai. His interests across time have ranged from Physics to metaphysics to spirituality. His belief that truth is Absolute yet the ubiquitous diversity in nature ranging from atoms to people to philosophies to even the Gods we worship,motivated him to write the Vedic fiction City of Nine Gates. He is currently working on it's sequel.