Millions visit Sabarimala every year, wearing black, carrying the irumudi, chanting and climbing through thick forests to reach the topmost shrine of Ayyappa. And most of them come back home, remove the mala, and go right back to living the same old life. There is nothing wrong with it. Their devotion is genuine. For many, their experience is life-changing. But this book poses a question we rarely consider. What if the pilgrimage was supposed to be just that, a pilgrimage, and not an experience to be left behind after the climb up the 18 golden steps to meet Lord Ayyappa?

What if the 18 steps themselves were a roadmap for transforming your entire life?

This is precisely what Vinod Nair does in his book 18 Golden Steps to Transform Your Life.

Vinod Nair is neither a swami nor a religious philosopher. He is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore and Carnegie Mellon University, a Fulbright Scholar and a serial entrepreneur with close to three decades of experience creating companies around the world. He visited Sabarimala not out of curiosity, but out of devotion, and questioned himself on how to practice it. The solution that he arrived at was this book.

The eighteen steps in Sabarimala have a meaning attached to each of them. The first five steps stand for the five senses. Then come eight steps, which stand for the eight passions of humans, like anger, greed, ego, and jealousy. The last few steps are all about going beyond ignorance and attaining knowledge. All these form a perfect inner journey, which Nair then explains step by step, so we can implement it on a Tuesday morning when our inbox is overflowing.

Let’s start with renunciation, the first stage. To most of us, renunciation means renouncing something, either becoming a monk or moving to the mountains. But Nair says renunciation does not mean renouncing your life. It means that your life should not be determined by your desires. If you can’t put away your cell phone, you are not free. If you can’t resist one more round of drinks, you are not free. The 41 days before the Sabarimala pilgrimage can be seen as nothing but a course in such freedom.

Or consider humility, which is the sixth step on the journey. In this pilgrimage, everyone is addressed as Swamy. The businessman and the labourer walk, eat and rest together. This is not just for show; it is real. You must view the people around you differently here. As per Nair, the story of a prosperous businessman who was part of a pilgrimage group and found himself carrying a heavy water pot for a farmer he had just met felt like doing God’s work. He returned from this pilgrimage as a new man because he was not part of any dramatic event; he was put in a situation where he could not feel better than anyone else. Unlike other spiritual self-help books, this book does not get lost in abstraction. Each chapter ends with some practices that you can follow. Not complex ritual practices, but simple things like setting an intention for your day, observing silence for an hour each day, and doing an act of kindness once a week that only you will know about. Simple things that make a difference when done regularly. 

There’s also a 41-day city vrata for those who wish to apply the essence of the pilgrimage into their urban lives. There is a decision-making model based on dharma, along with a guide for applying it in the workplace and colleges. All this shows that Nair has taken the effort to bridge the chasm between ancient wisdom and contemporary living.

India has never been deficient in spiritual practices or holy scriptures. What we sometimes lack is the link between this spirituality and the lives of its people today. This book aims to be this link. You don’t have to put away your aspirations or abandon the lifestyle that you lead at present. It simply asks you to become a bit more mindful and disciplined in the life that you are leading.

The path of the mountain is still accessible to you. You do not need to visit Kerala to follow it.

Read more by ordering your copy here.