From the Bardo to Moksha: Anatomizing Spirituality and the Afterlife Across Cultures

Spirituality has been the core universal value of humanity since the beginning. Though each culture and religion tread its own path to achieve it but it is not constrained to any of them. It is a state of transcendence from the physical world, the journey of an individual toward Nirvana. The present paper explores the thematic intersections of spirituality and the afterlife in George Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo and Robin Sharma's The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. In Lincoln in the Bardo through the concept of a metaphysical liminal space called “bardo” drawn from Buddhist philosophy, Saunders underscores a poignant narrative of grief, the transient nature of life, attachment, and the journey of souls seeking liberation, offering a profound commentary on human connections and mortality. Conversely, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari draws from Indian spiritual traditions, presenting a transformative journey towards enlightenment, inner peace, and detachment through self-discipline and wisdom. This research is a comparative study between Buddhist philosophy and Indian philosophy in the context of Spirituality, afterlife, and its influence. It argues that both narratives offer complementary perspectives, fostering a deeper understanding of life, death, and the spiritual continuum across cultural boundaries.