AUTHOR’S NOTE: Nearly two decades before, I had read a Kannada book on God, which had become very popular because of the thought provoking discussions within. But after finishing the reading of the book, I felt sad that the author did not try to explore the divine truth honestly, but instead had assumed a personification of God throughout. It seemed that the author apparently did not possess the knowledge of selfrealization, and had objected the divine concepts that are discussed in the sacred scriptures. Later on, I came to understand that there are many such writers who act as if they have understood the mysteries of life fully, and have written many such books negating the divine facts, and at times, ridiculing the spiritual beliefs. The ones who do not practice meditation, and the ones who do not understand the Holy Scriptures written by saints and sages, generally assume God as a person, and analyze life in a completely objective way. But life is basically subjective, as it is part of evolutionary play. Those who question the existence of God should question their very existence itself. If they are in need of any answer sincerely, the answer comes from within. It is as if the fishes are inside water, fishes are born in water and are dying in water, it is water everywhere inside and outside the fishes, it is the water that has given rise to fishes within itself through its own consciousness, the water has not separated itself from the fishes, and water is watching all the fishes always, and in spite of that, the fishes are not aware of the water that is the very cause for their existence. Some fishes, when they choose to switch off the external perceptions, and when they try to listen to the inner voice, realize the self that is within and without. That is when they connect to water. After thinking about this fact, an inspiration came to me from within that I should write an answer to all the objections that were present in the book that I read. And that is when I wrote an article called “Daiva” in Kannada. But there was no opportunity for me to get it published, and hence the manuscript remained with me for many years. Recently, my student cum disciple, Vijaykanth N. took an initiative to get it published, and I asked him to translate the same into English. This is the resulting book of his sincere and dedicated efforts. As the initial writing was basically for beginners, I thought of including additional written material in this particular book, so as to enhance the contents. I am indebted for the lifetime to my Guru Yogashree A. S. Narasimhamurthy, the founder Acharya of Adishankara Yoga Kendra, Bengaluru, without whose guidance, I would have been living quite an ordinary life. Due to the meditative practices that were taught by my Guru, due to the systematic study of the Holy Scriptures, and due to the absolute grace of the divine, spiritually inquisitive and intuitive thoughts used to occur to me very often, which I used to write down systematically. The same are included in this book, as God’s advices, Intuitive insights, and Spiritual puzzles. The Upanishads are the greatest gifts of ancient seers to the humankind. They are the resulting answers obtained for the spiritual penance of the ancient sages, finally leading to the systematic documentation. That is the reason the five great Acharyas had put efforts in writing commentaries on the important Upanishads. A few years back, a brief summary of the prime ten Upanishads was written through me, with the purpose of teaching them to the senior students of yoga. Now, the same is being reproduced here, for introducing the readers to the greatest wisdom on this earth. Except for the very first one, all the other articles mentioned above, were published earlier in “Yoga life”, the international monthly magazine of Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry, which was established by my Paramaguru Dr. Swami Geethananda Giri, and is now being managed by his wife Yogacharini Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani and their son Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, who is successfully carrying the spiritual wisdom of the sacred lineage of seers. I am also greatly indebted to him for honoring me with the title of Yogacharya. It is hoped that the readers go through the complete contents of this book, so as to obtain a clear understanding that, this life is the gift of the divine. If this book helps the readers in living a physically and mentally as well as spiritually healthy life, then our purpose is fulfilled.