Manuel crisscrosses his deep exposition with references to his own Time Therapy and to other major philosophical systems. In Manuel’s discussion of the sutras, the age old issues of fear, desire, feelings, and stillness are grappled with skillfully. In reading these words it becomes apparent that both Manuel and Ashtavakra are masters in dealing with the mind. Like Ashtavakra’s, Manuel’s insights are direct and penetrating, leaving little leeway for misinterpretation. Manuel’s reflections put us at the crossroads between psychology and spirituality – that point of combustion that can deliver us to another dimension of higher spiritual integration, beyond the ego. Here, Manuel Schoch is amplifying Ashtavakra’s sutras, and helping the reader get into the very consciousness of Ashtavakra. Ancient teachers would repeat a sutra by heart and then go on to amplify it for the benefit of their pupils. These sutras are meant to reflect a dialogue between Ashtavakra and King Janaka on the nature of the soul, reality, and bondage and the means to liberation. Ashtavakra went on to become a great sage himself, and had the honor of having the king as one of his students. Hence he was called Ashta (eight) Vakra (bends). The unborn child, who already had mastered the Vedas, kept twisting and turning within the womb, unable to bear his father’s mistakes in recitation, and was therefore born with eight deformations. It is said that Ashtavakra was the son of a lesser disciple of the great sage Uddalaka, married to Uddalaka’s daughter. Little is known about the author of these sutras, which are thought to originate from the 4th or 5th century BC. Although Ashtavkra predates Jesus Christ, Mohammed, and perhaps Buddha, his wisdom chimes with that of contemporary masters. This book is unique in that it relates Ashtavakra’s sutras to a modern context. Sutras Are Bare Threads of exposition unadorned by excesses, because of course they were delivered at a time before books existed and so had to be tersely expressed.