Advaitaholics Anonymous: Sobering Insights for Spiritual Addicts

Shiv Sengupta experienced a powerful awakening in his twenties after suffering from years of debilitating depression. He realized that awakening wasn’t a solution in itself, but a glimpse into the right way of approaching the problem of personal existence. A problem that he spent the next decade investigating without resorting to metaphysical rationalizations, spiritual belief systems or cut-and-dry scientific explanations.
Teachers, practices, rituals, communities... in short spiritual culture, is the very thing standing in our way, according to Shiv. This ‘culture of spirituality’ is a decoy. A distraction designed to keep our vision constantly looking away from what is most evident. As long as we continue to outsource our truth-seeking to middlemen and institutions (who are more than happy to oblige us) the only truth we can hope to find is an off-the-rack variety—grossly hyped, overpriced and lacking any real substance.
With raw honesty, charming profanity and a caustic wit, Shiv Sengupta, draws our attention to some of the most fundamental questions about reality and human existence while refusing to settle for any of the rote answers that have been provided to us by scriptures, teachers and philosophers. In fact, he provides no answers of his own. Instead, he insists that it is up to each individual to determine truth by themselves.
Shiv began sharing his reflections on a Facebook page called ‘Advaitaholics Anonymous’ which gained a large readership amongst veteran spiritual seekers. This book is a compilation of his selected essays and serves as testimony of a man who has found his own mind.
Shiv is married with two daughters. A Canadian citizen born and raised in India, he can be contacted via his website: advaitaholics.com.