I've seen too many talented people kill their passions for the sake of practicality. Writers who became accountants. Musicians who became engineers. Teachers who became managers. All because they believed the lie that passion is something you indulge in after "real work" is done, if time permits.

Murli ji's life destroys this lie. He chose engineering not to abandon writing, but to lay the foundation for his passion to flourish. That's not compromise—that's wisdom. That's not giving up—that's strategic thinking. He understood what most never grasp: passion without financial stability is anxiety, but economic stability without passion is a slow death.

Reading this book felt personal because I've lived a similar paradox. Multiple careers, multiple identities, refusing to be just one thing. Murli ji and I have learned that the richest lives aren't linear—they're layered. We're not meant to be single notes but entire symphonies.

What moves me most is his honesty about failure. The promotion was denied. The recognition came late. The moments of doubt. This isn't a fairy tale where hard work guarantees immediate success. This is real life, where sometimes you do everything right and still face disappointment, where the world takes years to see what you always knew about yourself.

But here's Murli ji's secret: external validation is nice, but it's not the point. The real reward is waking up and doing work that makes your soul sing, work you'd do even if no one noticed, work that keeps you young at sixty-two because it connects you to something timeless.

His dedication to his son, Kshitij, reveals so much. That a successful corporate professional would tell his father, "You need to share this with the world," shows the kind of family Murli ji built—one where wisdom is valued, where each person's journey is respected, where achievement doesn't mean forgetting what matters.

The great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib wrote:

"Hazaaron khwahishen aisi ki har khwahish pe dam nikle
Bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle"

(Thousands of desires, each worth dying for... many I've fulfilled, yet still I yearn for more)

This is the beautiful paradox of passionate living. The more you create, the more you realise remains to be made. Murli ji embodies this divine restlessness that keeps the spirit young.

And I cannot write about Allahabad and passion without mentioning another son of our city—Harivansh Rai Bachchan, who walked the same streets Murli ji and I have walked. In his magnificent Madhushala, he wrote:

"Main adhela phenkta hoon usi ore jaate hain sab,
Saamne hoti madira jalti deepak, khilti kali,
Par mujhe to ab yehi vishwaas hota ja raha,
Mere karm aur irada ke bich baithi hai Madhushala."

Between our intentions and our actions, between our dreams and reality, lies the challenge of actually doing—not just wishing but working, not just hoping but creating. Murli ji has spent a lifetime bridging that gap. This book shows how he did it.

As you read, don't just look for answers. Could you let his questions work on you? What is your ikigai? What work makes time disappear? What would you do even if you were never paid? What truth about yourself have you been ignoring because it doesn't fit the expected script?

These aren't comfortable questions. But they're necessary. And in answering them honestly, in finding the courage to reorganise your life around your most profound truths, you might discover what Murli ji has—that real wealth isn't in bank balances, but in mornings you wake up excited, in work that energises rather than drains, in a life you can look back on without regret.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches us:

"कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥"

(You have the right to perform your duty, but not to the fruits of your actions. Please don't consider yourself the cause of results, and never be attached to not doing your duty.)

Murli ji lives this teaching. He writes not for fame but because writing is his duty to himself. He works not for rewards but because work aligned with passion is its own reward. He shares not for recognition but because sharing wisdom is the highest form of service.

I'm honoured to introduce this book, not as some distant critic but as a fellow traveller on the path of passion, someone who has also lived multiple lives in one lifetime, someone who understands what Murli ji is saying because I'm living it too.

May this book find you when you need it most. May it permit you to honour your passion. May it show you that it's never too late or too early to build a life around what you love. And may you, like Murli ji, discover the joy of working so hard at what you love that it never feels like work at all.

With deep respect and warm regards,

Dr. Ajay Kummar Pandey
Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Founder & Managing Partner, 4C Supreme Law International
National General Secretary & Spokesperson, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)