Autobiography of a Sadhu Excerpts
“I dreamed India into existence.”
“Not that it was my personal private dream, but a believable movie reasonably constructed from the group psyche.
It was comforting this dream, cushioned, as it were, with familiarity. It tamed the wild profusion of things, using the sights, sounds, and faces of India as its raw material. Everything might appear different from my ordinary world back home, but I knew that this was the way it was supposed to be. It was a good dream, it made me feel happy.
I recognized India immediately, like meeting a blood relative for the first time, because I carried with me, deep inside, images corresponding to what I saw on the outside.”
Read excerpts from Autobiography of a Sadhu —
EXCERPTS
Adi Shankara Debates Madana Mishra … chap 6
Adi Shankara faced one final test before his Victory of the Four Directions could be proclaimed to the three worlds. He had to win a debate with Madana Mishra, and it was said that the gods themselves would come to hear Madana Mishra and even they would learn a thing or two. He was revered as the most learned man in India.
Baba Ram Nath Aghori … from chapter 7
Baba Ram Nath Aghori also had invisible servants. One day he called all the local babas for a feast, a bhandara, he would prepare on Dashashwamedh Ghat.
“Take it, Take it All!” … from chapter 7
“Dis money, dis good. Dis no money, dis no good,” Sohan Giri said to me from behind, emptying his entire warehouse of English vocabulary in one shot.
“Alakh! Hey, You with No Eyes” … Chap 8
“Alakh” – a name of Shiva, “He with No Eyes.” Shiva is blind, his eyes unfocused and turned up in meditation on the Supreme Void.
Baba’s Ayurveda … chapter 14
Baba’s Ayurveda I asked Baba if he could give me something for my flatulence. Perhaps it was the unfiltered river water I was drinking. He showed me the boils on his legs. “I can’t cure my […]
Hari Puri Baba’s Mirror Game
Hari Puri Baba’s Mirror Game That night Hari Puri Baba appeared to me in a dream, the first time since he had left his body. As in many of my dreams about him, we were sitting […]
Initiation by the Five Gurus
Initiation by the Five Gurus A small troop of children followed me to a shaded area in the rocks where the barber would practice his art on my scalp as I considered my options. Should I […]
Children of the Revolution … chapter 1
We were on our way home, moving toward the Light or so we believed.
Spiritual Che Guevara … from chapter 1
“Ah, if only the whole world spoke English, no?” He could be very sarcastic.
I Dream India into Existence … from chapter 2
Shiva like(s) you…
The Stories of Gods, Yogis, & Shamans … chapter 2
The Goddess Amloda … from chapter 3
Naga Baba Hari Puri Ji Maharaj … chapter 3
An Old Madman Like Me … from chapter 3
“Or is it that you just came for the waters?”
Testing the Guru … from chapter 3
“I made them naked…” from chapter 3
Guru Shishya Parampara … from chapter 3
Hanuman … from chapter 6
The unthinkableness of Hari Puri Baba’s story tickled me.
The Signet Ring … from chapter 6
Time is merely an illusory stage on which the theater of repetition is performed.
The Names of the Gods … from chapter 6
The Crows …. from chapter 6
The Language of Crows
Adi Shankara’s Debate with Madana Mishra … chapter 6
Varanasi AKA Kashi Puri … from chapter 7
Baba Ram Nath Aghori … from chapter 7
The Churning of the Ocean … from chapter 7
“Take it, Take it All!” … from chapter 7
My First Kumbh Mela … from chapter 8
…and the party hadn’t yet begun.
The Sacrament of Knowledge … from chapter 8
Story that can’t be contained in a book or possessed by any one person.
“Alakh! Hey, You with No Eyes” …from Chapter 8
Funerary Fires …from Chapter 8
Foreigner … chapter 9
Pandit Ji would soon perform my last rites.Who was the I who was renouncing?
Planting a Healing Mantra … chapter 11
The Nectar of Immortality … chapter 13He taught me about the greatest yogis, and singled out Shiva, Dattatreya, Ravan, Patanjali, and Panini.
Sacred Geography … chapter 13
The practice of mantra is not so much a repetition of formulas, but yoga of the mouth…
Banished … chapter 13
“Shhh-sh! I am going to die, and I don’t want you to be here when it happens so you must go….
Gangotri Baba … chapter 14
And he was quite mad but I felt perfectly at home.
Waiting for Tim Leary … chapter 14
The Samadhi … chapter 15
“Should I have another statue made for your tomb?” I asked him.
Hidden Plays of the Universe … chapter 16
Hanuman Darshan … from chapter 18
Deconstruction … from chapter 18
“The sage reflects and envelops the world in which he finds himself.”
Pilgrimage … from chapter 19
Those locations to which one makes a pilgrimage are called tirthas, crossing-over places.
