In a world filled with deadlines, EMIs, expectations, and constant noise, it’s easy to lose touch with ourselves. Aam to Anant explores this very journey—from the ordinary struggles of modern life to the possibility of deeper awareness, abundance, and inner freedom.
Today, we have the opportunity to hear directly from the author, Deepak Sharma, about the ideas, experiences, and insights that shaped this book. Let’s begin.”
You spent nearly 25 years in the corporate world before writing this book. What personal or professional moment made you feel, “This story needs to be written now”?
I do not think the book came from one dramatic moment. It was built slowly through years of observation, experiences, and inner questioning. After spending nearly 25 years in the corporate world, I realised that many people, despite having stable careers and comfortable lives, were silently struggling within.
I saw stress, comparison, financial pressure, emotional exhaustion, and a constant feeling of incompleteness in day-to-day interactions with many people.
At one point, I was myself seeking inner alignment, or I would say moving towards spirituality, which eventually led me to Hermetic wisdom. The more I understood these teachings, the more I realised this was not just my story. It was the story of millions of people trying to balance success with inner peace. That is when I felt this story needed to be written.
The protagonist, Aam Singh, is intentionally ordinary—a middle-class man burdened by EMIs, family responsibilities, and quiet anxiety. Why did you choose such an everyday hero instead of a more exceptional protagonist?
I have read many books on spirituality and financial wisdom, but often they become too preachy or difficult to implement in real life. The concepts may sound powerful, yet many readers struggle to connect them to their everyday situations.
I wanted to communicate these deeper ideas through a simple human story instead of only through theory. That is where the idea of Aam Singh came to me. He is an ordinary middle-class man dealing with responsibilities, EMIs, confusion, expectations, and the silent pressures that most people experience today.
I felt readers would connect more deeply with someone who resembles their own life rather than an extraordinary character. And interestingly, that is exactly the feedback I am hearing from readers today. Many people say they see parts of themselves in Aam Singh.
This book blends financial stress, self-development, and spirituality—three subjects not often woven together in fiction. What made you confident these worlds belonged in the same story?
Because real life does not separate them.
I felt modern life has created a false divide between ambition, material life, and spirituality, as if a person must choose one over the other. But in reality, most people are trying to manage all three simultaneously. They are building careers, handling responsibilities, seeking financial stability, and at the same time searching for peace and meaning.
A person cannot ignore material realities, but material success alone also cannot fulfil the deeper questions within.
Through Aam to Anant, I wanted to show that spirituality is not about escaping life. It is about bringing greater awareness into the way we live, work, earn, think, and grow.
A recurring idea in the book is that many people don’t lack talent, but lack the right mindset around money and self-worth. Was this insight drawn from observing colleagues, clients, or your own life?
Very much so.
Over the years, I observed that many capable and intelligent people remain stuck not because they lack talent, but because they carry unconscious limitations about money, worthiness, fear, and identity.
Some of these observations came from corporate life, some from conversations with people, and many from my own internal journey. I realised that abundance is not only about income or material success. It is also about how a person sees himself and the beliefs he carries within.
The Hermetic principles form the philosophical backbone of the novel. When did you first encounter Hermetic wisdom, and what about it felt universally relevant to contemporary readers?
I came across Hermetic philosophy during a phase of deeper spiritual seeking. What attracted me most was its universality. The principles are ancient, yet they explain modern human struggles with surprising clarity.
Whether it is the law of polarity, rhythm, or mentality, these ideas are not limited to religion or culture. They reflect patterns of life itself.
I felt that if these principles could be explained through ordinary life experiences, they could genuinely help contemporary readers navigate modern chaos with greater awareness and clarity.
There is a strong undercurrent in the book that success, as society defines it, can become a trap. How has your own definition of success changed over the years?
Earlier, success meant achievement, stability, recognition, financial progress, and constantly moving toward bigger milestones. But over time, I realised that external success without inner balance can create another form of emptiness.
Today, my definition of success is much more holistic. It includes clarity of mind, emotional stability, meaningful relationships, health, inner peace, freedom, and sustainable growth. Growth that does not come at the cost of one’s well-being, values, or relationships.
I no longer see success as mere accumulation or comparison. For me, true success is creating harmony between material progress and inner fulfillment.
Your preface suggests spirituality and material life are not opposites. In your own life, how do you personally balance ambition with detachment ?
I do not believe detachment means becoming passive or emotionless. For me, detachment means not losing yourself while pursuing something.
I still believe in growth, discipline, ambition, and creating impact. But at the same time, I try to ensure that my peace is not completely dependent on outcomes or external validation.
The effort should be sincere, but the attachment to results should become lighter. That balance is still a daily practice for me, not a final destination.
The book includes reflective exercises and workbook-style practices. At what point did you decide this should be more than just a novel ?
During the writing process, I think around the 7th chapter, I realised that I did not want readers to simply finish the book. I wanted them to become participants in the journey.
I felt awareness cannot come only through reading concepts intellectually. It deepens when a person pauses, reflects, and observes their own life experiences. That is why the reflective exercises and workbook-style sections became an important part of the book.
My intention was to make the reader engage with the ideas personally, rather than just consume them as another story. In many ways, I wanted Aam to Anant to feel less like a book being read and more like a journey being experienced.
If readers walk away remembering only one lesson from this book, what do you hope it is?
Most people keep waiting for a major transformation or postpone their happiness until they reach a certain goalpost in life. But true transformation often begins in everyday moments, in how we think, react, observe, and understand ourselves.
Through Aam to Anant, I hope readers realise that awareness is not something distant or mystical. It begins in ordinary life itself. Small shifts in perception, thought, and response can gradually change the entire direction of one’s life.
The journey from Aam to Anant does not begin outside us. It begins within.
After writing a book about moving from scarcity to abundance, what feels like your own next journey—from this point onward?
I think this book is just the beginning of my journey as a writer. Through Aam to Anant, my intention was to make Hermetic wisdom simple, relatable, and accessible to ordinary people.
Going forward, I want these teachings to reach a much wider audience in a practical way, helping individuals gain greater clarity in their lives, relationships, money, emotions, and inner growth. I believe many timeless spiritual principles are deeply relevant even today, but they are often presented in ways that feel distant or difficult to apply.
My path ahead is to continue exploring and teaching these wisdoms through day-to-day life experiences, so that people can not only understand them intellectually, but also live a more fulfilling, aware, and abundant life.
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