Page 11 - WIS - Eng

Foreword

The purpose of human life is not to amass money, to become
famous or popular, or even to have a long and healthy life. All
these achievements are temporary and thus of no intrinsic worth.
Considering this, a truly intelligent person does not concentrate
on such ephemeral goals but asks really important questions—
Who am I? What is the purpose of life? Why do we have to struggle
and suffer? Is there life after death—as well as the ultimate queries:
Is there God? What is our relationship with God? Who is God,
and how can we understand Him? Since time immemorial, these
questions and the attempts to answer them have been the primary
focus of enlightened people throughout the world.
Particularly, the culture of India was characterized by an
extraordinarily elevated ethos of philosophical and theological
discussion and a commitment for fulfilling the spiritual aim of
life. Although modern materialism has much weakened India’s
traditions, Hinduism (the present-day remnant of Vedic culture)
remains vibrant and has become an influential cultural trajectory
throughout the contemporary world. Yet, due to its richness and
complexity, and to a lack of qualified guides in the modern age,
Hinduism is often misunderstood even by its own practitioners.
Especially the question “Who, if any, among the plethora of gods
and goddesses in the ‘Hindu pantheon’ is supreme?” might seem to
be an irresolvable conundrum.
Who Is Supreme? tackles this riddle—not with the pablum and
word jugglery characteristic of many of today’s popular gurus, but
with a straightforward and lucid analysis of the seminal sources
of Vedic knowledge, including the Puräëas and other corollary
texts.

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