Ancient India - where Vishvaamitra through Vedic austerities and Yaajnavalkya through Vedantic insight, explored the soaring levels of human consciousness; where Valmiki and Kalidasa created sublime poetry; where Rama and Yudhishthira ruled with an exquisite composite of wisdom, welfare and justice as the stuff of their royal sceptres; and where Lord Krishna spoke the wondrously universal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita - theses gems from the treasures of India's spiritual and literary heritage, form the themes that link this volume of modern essays. While these stories have been told and retold, interpreted and re-interpreted through millennia, this fluent and enjoyable narrative, presents a journey of exploration and analysis to find new meanings in the ancient words - looking at them through the prism of a modern, liberal and humanistic world-view.