New book — available now

Three
Secrets

From Stress to Joy and Freedom

In 1989, a chance encounter in a quiet hotel in Kashmir set one man on a thirty-six year search. This book is the result — a guide to crafting a good life in a demanding world.

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THREE
SECRETS
From Stress to Joy and Freedom
Franky Dias

The Author

Franky Dias

Franky Dias

Franky Dias

Franky Dias grew up in a small village near Mangalore, India, and has spent his life crossing borders — geographical, cultural, and philosophical. He has lived and worked in India, the Middle East, Europe, North America, and southern Spain, building a career in international banking while pursuing a parallel life of research, writing, and contemplative practice.

Fluent in five languages — Konkani, Kannada, Tulu, Hindi, and English — he trained at the Yoga Institute in Santacruz, Bombay, under Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra, and has practised meditation and Buddhist study for nearly four decades.

"In the spring of 1989, in a quiet hotel in Gulmarg, Kashmir, I met an elderly man who told me a story that changed the direction of my life. This book is the result of the thirty-six years that followed."

Three Secrets: From Stress to Joy and Freedom is the book Franky has been working toward for thirty-six years. It draws on the full breadth of his life — his banking career and its burnout, his study of Eastern and Western philosophy, open-heart surgery, the deaths of loved ones, and the daily practice of crafting a good life alongside his wife Nimu in Canada and southern Spain.

Earlier Works

The Taste of Water by Franky Dias
The Taste of Water
Novel · Life Rattle Press, 2012
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Buddha in Rush Hour by Franky Dias
Buddha in Rush Hour
Mindfulness · Life Rattle Press, 2015
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History Is Not Herstory by Franky Dias
History Is Not Herstory
Cultural History · 2022
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THREE
SECRETS
From Stress to Joy and Freedom
Franky Dias
Buy on Amazon

The Book

Three Secrets
From Stress to Joy and Freedom

In the spring of 1989, recovering from burnout in a quiet hotel in Gulmarg, Kashmir, Franky Dias met an elderly man who told him a story. A dying king had sent his wazir to gather all the wisdom in the world. Fifteen years of searching produced five thousand volumes. Then five hundred. Then fifty. Then one. But by the time that final book was ready, the king was on his deathbed — and died before the wazir could speak.

That evening, the man suggested the author could be the wazir. Three Secrets is the result of the thirty-six years that followed.

"In the spring of 1989, in a quiet hotel in Gulmarg, Kashmir, I met an elderly man who told me a story about a dying king who never got to hear the three secrets of a good life. That encounter sent me on a thirty-six year search — through banking boardrooms and Buddhist monasteries, through a solo Atlantic crossing and open-heart surgery, through the Rig Veda and neuroscience and the deathbed of my sister — for what those three secrets actually are." — From the Prologue

Drawing on Buddhism, yoga philosophy, neuroscience, Sufi poetry, and lived experience across four continents, Three Secrets offers three profound insights for anyone navigating stress, seeking joy, or trying to live with greater freedom.

Structure

Book 1 — The Three Secrets: The Wave, the Two Birds, and the Cross — each ancient, each confirmed by modern neuroscience, each immediately practical.

Book 2 — Lives in Resonance: Real people in whom the three secrets have taken root — a photographer, a sailor, an actor, a teacher, a surgeon, Thai boat captains.

Book 3 — Nurturing and Remembering: Fourteen pillars of daily practice — eating, sleep, play, relationships, work, love, meaning, silence, gratitude, attention to breath, and meditation.

Book 4 — Integration: What it looks and feels like when the three secrets stop being ideas and become a way of moving through the world.

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What the book offers

The Three Secrets

Each secret is ancient in origin, confirmed by modern neuroscience, and immediately applicable to daily life. Together they offer a complete framework for moving from stress toward joy and freedom.

The First Secret

The Secret
of the Wave

The Buddha · Patanjali · Hokusai

Every storm of the mind arises and passes like a wave on the sea beneath it. To see this clearly — to recognise that nothing we experience is permanent — is the beginning of freedom from stress. The wave is not our enemy. It is simply weather.

The wave rises. The wave falls. The sea remains.

The Second Secret

The Secret
of the Two Birds

The Rig Veda · Upanishads

Within each of us live two birds on the same branch. The Eating Bird acts, desires, plans, and engages with the world — it is the self. The Watching Bird observes in quiet awareness — it is consciousness itself. Joy arises when both are honoured. This is the book's most original contribution: a practical, daily language for living.

One bird eats. One bird watches. Both are you.

The Third Secret

The Secret
of the Cross

Jesus · Stephen · Paul

The fears we most dread lose their power when we stop running from them. Freedom is not the absence of suffering but the discovery that we can carry what must be carried — and that in the carrying of it, something opens. The night before heart surgery, with his heart about to be stopped, the author felt no fear. Only calm.

The cross comes to all of us. So does the calm.

These three secrets are not abstract ideas. They are woven through the lives of real people and confirmed by thirty-six years of lived experience.

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Get in Touch

Contact

Whether you are a reader with a question, a book club looking for a discussion guide, a journalist or producer, or someone interested in a speaking engagement — I am glad to hear from you.

Speaking & Events

Franky is available to speak at literary festivals, corporate wellbeing programmes, yoga and meditation events, and book clubs. His background in international banking and decades of contemplative practice make him an unusual and engaging speaker.

Book Clubs

A discussion guide based on the three secrets is available on request. Franky is also happy to join book club conversations in person or online.

Media & Press

Review copies and interview requests welcome. Please use the form opposite and indicate your publication and deadline.

On Amazon

amazon.com/Franky-Dias

All messages are read personally. I aim to respond within five working days.