Ashish Goyal on Ecology, Ethics, and Echoes of Ancient Wisdom

An Exclusive Interview with Ashish Goyal, a Mumbai-based Chartered Accountant with over two decades of senior leadership experience across multinational corporations and startups

Ashish Goyal, Mumbai’s seasoned CA with two decades in corporate leadership, blends Sanatan Dharma insights from family talks into his Guardians of Dharma series.

From boarding school mysteries in The Hidden Resonance to Simlipal’s ecological echoes in The Flame of Silence, he reimagines ethics for today.

You’ve spent over two decades in corporate leadership. What prompted the shift from  boardrooms to writing fiction rooted in mythology and ethics?

Ashish Goyal: It wasn’t a sudden shift. It evolved gradually. Two decades of corporate taught me structure, strategy, and long-term thinking.

But at home, when I  began telling my children short stories rooted in our scriptures, placed in modern contexts, I saw how  naturally they connected with them. That made me reflect: we are building infrastructure for the future, but are we also building character?

Writing fiction rooted in our scriptures became my way of addressing that gap. Corporate life trains  systems. Storytelling shapes values. For me, both are forms of nation-building.

How did conversations with your children influence the themes and tone of Guardians of  Dharma?

Ashish Goyal: It shaped everything i.e. the tone, the pace, even the structure. Today’s children don’t respond to preaching. They challenge logic. They want relevance. So instead of  retelling scriptures as it is, I began placing those ideas inside modern situations like friendships,  exams, technology, peer pressure.

They also influenced the rhythm of the book. Attention spans are different today. The storytelling had  to be fast, layered, and emotionally real, not heavy or lecture driven.

In many ways, Guardians of Dharma grew out of dinner-table debates, late-night questions, and their  honest reactions. 

As a Chartered Accountant, structure and logic are central to your work. How do these qualities  shape your storytelling?

Ashish Goyal: My profession trained me to think in systems. In finance, every number must connect. Every structure must hold under stress.

That discipline  naturally flows into my storytelling. Even though Guardians of Dharma deals with scriptures & fiction,  it is structured. The arcs are planned. The mysteries are layered with intent.

I don’t write randomly. I map timelines, character motivations, cause-and-effect, much like designing  a financial model. Logic doesn’t restrict imagination. It strengthens it. Structure allows the magic to feel believable.

Guardians of Dharma treats dharma as a lived responsibility rather than a moral rulebook. Why  was this distinction important to you?

Ashish Goyal: Because I don’t see dharma as a list of instructions. I see it as responsibility in action. If we present dharma as a rulebook, especially to young readers, it feels restrictive.

But when you show  it as choices made in difficult situations, standing up for a friend, controlling anger, taking  accountability, it becomes relatable.

Here dharma isn’t preached. It is tested. The characters make mistakes, struggle, doubt themselves,  and then choose again. Values become powerful only when they are lived, not memorised.

The Hidden Resonance uses silence as a narrative device. What does silence represent in your  storytelling?

Ashish Goyal: In my storytelling, silence represents awareness. We live in a very noisy world – constant opinions, notifications, reactions.

But real clarity often comes  in pauses. In The Hidden Resonance, silence is where characters confront themselves. It’s where fear  surfaces, intuition sharpens, and truth becomes visible.

Silence is not emptiness in the book. It’s preparation. It’s the space before action. Sometimes what a  character does not say reveals more than dialogue ever could. For me, silence is where dharma is heard, not announced.

In The Flame of Silence, mythology intersects with ecology and science. What drew you to this  blend?

Ashish Goyal: I would first say that I don’t see our tradition as “mythology” in the fictional sense. For me, it is  civilisational wisdom.

The blend with ecology and science felt natural because our texts have always engaged with nature,  energy, rhythm, and balance. They observed systems, whether human or environmental, in a deeply  integrated way.

In The Flame of Silence, I simply allow that continuity to surface in a contemporary setting. Science  explains mechanisms. Our knowledge traditions explore meaning and responsibility. Bringing them  together felt organic, not forced.

The books reference the Shrimad Bhagavatam without retelling it directly. How did you decide  what to preserve and what to reinterpret?

Ashish Goyal: My intention was never to retell the Shrimad Bhagavatam. It stands complete on its own. I preserved the philosophical essence i.e. the inner conflicts, the moral dilemmas, the spiritual depth.  But I placed those ideas in contemporary settings.

For example, instead of recreating Dhruva’s tapasya literally, I explore what determination and inner  stillness look like for a modern child facing rejection or doubt. The core remains. The context evolves.

I was careful not to alter sacred narratives. I draw parallels rather than rewrite them so that readers  may feel the spirit of the original without distorting it.

Your protagonists are teenagers, but the books resonate with adult readers as well. Was this  crossover appeal intentional?

Ashish Goyal: Yes, it was intentional.

While the protagonists are teenagers, the themes i.e. identity, responsibility, ethical conflict, silence,  power are not age-bound. Adults wrestle with the same questions, just at different scales.

I didn’t simplify the ideas for children, nor did I overcomplicate them for adults. I wrote with emotional  honesty. When a story respects its reader, regardless of age, it naturally creates crossover appeal.

How do you see ancient Indian wisdom speaking to modern concerns like environmental  responsibility and technological advancement?

Ashish Goyal: Ancient Indian wisdom was never anti-progress rather it was about balance. Take the Prithvi Sukta from the Atharva Veda. It speaks of the Earth not as a resource to exploit. In  many ways, it reads like one of the earliest ESG charters in human history, long before we invented  the term.

The idea was clear: prosperity without responsibility is destructive.

Technology today gives us unprecedented power. But our texts repeatedly emphasised restraint,  interdependence, and accountability. That thinking is deeply relevant in conversations around  climate, sustainability, and AI.

For me, it’s not about choosing between ancient wisdom and modern science. It’s about ensuring that  progress is anchored in consciousness.

The idea of “living memory” recurs in the second book. What does that concept mean to you  personally?

Ashish Goyal: For me, “living memory” is not about remembering the past. It’s about the past remembering you.

It’s the instinct to stand up for something without being told. The pull towards a story, a chant, or a  value that feels strangely familiar.

I’ve always felt that culture doesn’t survive through preservation alone. It survives because it embeds  itself into behaviour, into reflex, into identity. You may not consciously recall it, but in a decisive  moment, it surfaces.

In the second book, living memory represents that inner inheritance, the part of us that carries  continuity quietly, until the moment it is needed.

You’ve described your writing as inquiry rather than instruction. Why is leaving questions  unanswered important to you? 

Ashish Goyal: I believe stories become powerful when they provoke thought, not when they conclude it.

If I turn the book into instruction, I reduce the reader’s participation. But when I leave certain questions  open, the reader has to engage, to reflect, to disagree, to interpret.

For example, in moments where a character faces a moral conflict, I don’t always announce which  choice is “correct.”

I show the consequences, the hesitation, the inner struggle that allow readers to  decide what dharma meant in that situation. Inquiry keeps the story alive even after the last page. Instruction ends it.

How do you hope young readers engage with mythology after reading your books?

Ashish Goyal: I hope young readers don’t walk away feeling they’ve “studied” something rather I hope they feel  curious.

If the books spark even a simple question “Where did this story come from?” or “Is there more behind  this idea?” that’s enough. Instead of replacing the original texts, I want to create a bridge towards  them.

At the same time, these stories resonates across age groups. Adults often rediscover through fiction  what they once heard but never explored deeply.

Importantly, I didn’t want the tone to feel heavy. There’s humour throughout, especially through  characters like Raghav because for me wisdom without lightness becomes intimidating.  If readers finish the book smiling, thinking, and slightly curious, I’ve done my job.

What’s next for the Guardians of Dharma series and do you see this universe expanding further?

Ashish Goyal: The series was always conceived as a larger literary arc, not a single story. As it progresses, the world expands geographically, philosophically, and emotionally.

The characters  mature, the ethical dilemmas become more complex, and the exploration of dharma moves from  personal choices to larger societal questions.

I’m interested in building a layered universe, where different strands of Indian knowledge traditions  can be explored through narrative. Each book will deepen the inquiry rather than just extend the plot.

So yes, the universe will expand but through ideas, character evolution, and layered storytelling.

Ashish Goyal’s journey from balance sheets to layered fiction inspires, proving dharma thrives in modern narratives of conscience, ecology, and science. His Guardians series bridges youth and adults, urging ethical reflection amid ambiguity— a resonant call for our idea-driven world.

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