Yoga of Max's Discontent

By: Karan Bajaj

Narrated by: Neil Shah

Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Max Pzoras is the poster child for the American dream. The child of Greek immigrants who grew up in a dangerous New York housing project, he triumphed over his upbringing and became a successful Wall Street analyst. Yet on the frigid December night that his mother dies of cancer and he's involved in a violent street scuffle, Max begins to confront the nagging questions he has about life. He begins his search for answers by impulsively traveling to India, first to the foothills of the Himalayas and then to an ashram in the drought-stricken south.

With his Westerner's skepticism, Max wants to see for himself whether a flesh-and-blood man can truly achieve nirvana. He endures extraordinary physical hardships, eventually embarking on a dangerous solitary meditation in a Himalayan cave in an attempt to penetrate the truth about human suffering.

Both a pause-resisting adventure story and a journey of tremendous inner transformation, The Yoga of Max's Discontent is a compelling novel of spiritual transformation.

©2016 Karan Bajaj (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Emo Max

The narroration is just awful. Max sounds like a moody teen throughout the novel. UGH.

Wow!

What a great book! I enjoyed every minute of this. Very uplifting. I recommend to anyone trying to be one fully seat of the now.

Then the seer dwells in His own true splendor.

"Suffering alone exists, none who suffer;
The deed there is, but no doer thereof;
Nirvana is, but no one seeking it;
The Path there is, but none who travel it."
- Visuddhimagga

I was a bit skeptical of this book at first. I've read a lot of really good novels/books surrounding the Western urge for Nirvana, the allure of the East. This genre of literature isn't quite a Bildungsroman, but close. My search for the word has taken me from master (Google) to master (Yahoo). Certainly, there MUST exist already a perfect word for 'fictions of enlightenment'. There does exist a German word for what drives these novels (or transcendental travel lit): "Lebenskrankheit" or "sickness with life". Certainly there must exist in the Universe a word that covers such diverse works as:

1. Hesse's - Siddartha
2. Matthiessen's - The Snow Leopard
3. Maugham's The Razor's Edge
4. Harrer's Sieben Jahre in Tibet

These types of novels/travel books don't just exist in the West, obviously. There are such famous works as:

1. Wu Cheng'en's - Monkey: The Journey to the West
2. Tung Yüeh's - The Tower of Myriad Mirrors

If there isn't a word, I will make it. I will call these novels -- vanaprasromans. These novels aren't quite tracts for Yoga or Buddhism or even enlightenment, but artistic and often fictionalized stories about the journey away from pain and toward knowledge.

Karan Bajaj's book is a nice addition to the vanaprasroman cannon. Did I enjoy it as much as Maugham, Mathieson, or Hesse? No. As far as "literature" goes, I don't think it climbed to the same heights. However, I think the 'Yoga of Max's Discontent' worked well as bridge. Bajaj is able to span the gulf between East and West fairly well. And this gulf is hard to travel across without falling into kitsch or cliché. So, while my first impulse was to give this 3-stars, I don't think that adequately covers the challenge of writing fiction about enlightenment. It seems to me that writing without restriction about a spiritual journey is about as difficult and perilous as writing about sex. Writing a spiritual narrative is definitely one of the most difficult poses to hold.]

just peace

Reding this brought me home in the now experience just peace and a beautiful remembering of my inner prace

Okay at beginning, but interesting at ending

Didn't like the first half of the story, but it did become interesting in the second half.

Awesome

I was blown away by how good this book is. I have already listened to it twice and will listen to it again

Contemporary take on classic subject

Bajaj is a talented writer skilled in nuanced dialogue. He also possesses command of the subject matter. Kudos! This is an interesting and inspiring spiritual tale.

Disappointing

What disappointed you about Yoga of Max's Discontent?

Predictable, unbelievable and poorly developed. The writing was fragmented, the characters were highly stereotyped, and the narration was choppy and overly-affected. Listened to the end hoping for redemption that never came. Cannot recommend.