The Guru Who Came Down from the Mountain

The Guru Who Came Down from the Mountain
Author: Roshen Dalal
Publisher:
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2018-01-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9789386702777

Dev--charismatic and powerful, a guru with thousands of followers around the world, and a string of ashrams fuelled by a flourishing business in drugs and gun-running. Ashrams that bring him the power and wealth he craves and fulfil his desire for women. But of all the women he knows--and at times, loves--there are three who play a pivotal role in his life: his wife, Gita, whose death is shrouded in mystery, and Cynthia and Madge, who unwittingly launch him into his career as a guru. Nitya is Dev's complete antithesis--pure of heart and deeply spiritual. He comes to Dev as a disciple, and for years his devotion to his guru makes him blind to his failings. But when the truth can no longer be ignored, he is disillusioned. Though he escapes charges of rape and murder, Dev does finally receive a death sentence--he is fatally afflicted with AIDS. As he lies on his deathbed in Rishikesh, Nitya comes to see him, unable to turn away from him completely. Dev tells him his story, and what compelled him to make the choices he did. Nitya also uncovers the truth about Gita's death. When the end finally comes, Nitya has a deeper understanding of the man he once loved so blindly, and realizes how, ultimately, the quest for perfection can be marred by human frailty.

Halfway Up The Mountain

Halfway Up The Mountain
Author: Mariana Caplan
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Total Pages: 583
Release: 2014-03-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1935387510

Caplan (TO TOUCH IS TO LIVE) asserts that "the reality of the present condition of contemporary spirituality in the West is one of grave distortion, confusion, fraud, and a fundamental lack of education." She claims that, as positive as the tremendous rise in spirituality is, there is not any context for determining whether any particular teaching, or teacher, is truly enlightening. Caplan compiles interviews with such noted spiritual masters as Joan Halifax, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi on the nature of enlightenment. In the first section, Caplan examines the motivations people have for seeking enlightenment and contends that very often they seek this state as a means of gratifying the ego. This "presumption of enlightenment," she says, often afflicts teachers masquerading as spiritual leaders. These teachers sometimes look down on their students and gloat over how far they have come and how far the students have to go. A second section focuses on "The Dangers of Mystical Experience," in which Caplan claims that many seekers mistake the mystical experience itself for enlightenment; she and the teachers she interviews all assert that enlightenment always involves gaining some knowledge about self and others. The third section, "Corruption and Consequence," focuses on the nature of power and corruption; the fourth section, "Navigating the Mine Field: Preventing Dangers on the Path," provides a survey of the ways in which practitioners can avoid the "pitfalls of false enlightenment." A final section, "Disillusionment, Humility and the Beginning of Spiritual Life," concludes that "the Real spiritual life [is] the life of total annihilation and the return to just what is." Caplan's illuminating book calls into question the motives of the spiritual snake handlers of the modern age and urges seekers to pay the price of traveling the hard road to true enlightenment.

Non-Duality Questions, Non-Duality Answers

Non-Duality Questions, Non-Duality Answers
Author: Richard Sylvester
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2016-09-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1626258201

Non-Duality Questions, Non-Duality Answers is an organic, interactive exploration of non-duality—the understanding that in life there is no separation, only seamless Oneness. Structured around reader questions, this book invites you to participate in the argument for non-separation, inquire about the nature of the self and the experience of liberation, and understand how non-dual awareness can impact your life. With this work, spiritual seekers will gain clarity on what non-duality is—and what it isn’t. Since time immemorial, key questions about the nature of existence have nagged at our consciousness: What am I? Why am I here? Is this really all there is? And for years, non-duality author and humanistic psychologist Richard Sylvester received questions like these, along with deeply personal inquiries on non-duality and intimate spiritual experiences, from people seeking honest answers. Now those questions and responses are available to you. You may have sought answers to these fundamental inquiries in religion, solitude, the company of family and friends, or conversations with gurus, priests, and philosophers. Even so, you may be living with lingering doubts about what you’ve been conditioned to believe, feeling “lost on the path” or otherwise frustrated with organized religion or the indirectness and prescriptiveness of spiritual teachings. With Non-Duality Questions, Non-Duality Answers, you’ll find that self-inquiry can help you end the cycle of inadequacy and searching—that liberation through non-dual awareness is possible—and that no query is too strange or too grand for the discussion of life, non-separation, and enlightenment at hand. Designed to answer questions as they arise, this book sheds spirituality and non-duality of its complex prescriptions. With a unique blend of patience, compassion, respect, provocation, and humor, Sylvester shows that we are all united in our worrying and striving, and gives you a glimpse of the Oneness that is so hard to describe but is so easily felt.

Dayananda Saraswathi

Dayananda Saraswathi
Author: PRAHLADA V. KULAGERI
Publisher: Litent
Total Pages: 23
Release: 2014-01-01
Genre:
ISBN:

Spiritual and Inspirational Biography.

A Death on Diamond Mountain

A Death on Diamond Mountain
Author: Scott Carney
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2015-03-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 069818629X

An investigative reporter explores an infamous case where an obsessive and unorthodox search for enlightenment went terribly wrong. When thirty-eight-year-old Ian Thorson died from dehydration and dysentery on a remote Arizona mountaintop in 2012, The New York Times reported the story under the headline: "Mysterious Buddhist Retreat in the Desert Ends in a Grisly Death." Scott Carney, a journalist and anthropologist who lived in India for six years, was struck by how Thorson’s death echoed other incidents that reflected the little-talked-about connection between intensive meditation and mental instability. Using these tragedies as a springboard, Carney explores how those who go to extremes to achieve divine revelations—and undertake it in illusory ways—can tangle with madness. He also delves into the unorthodox interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism that attracted Thorson and the bizarre teachings of its chief evangelists: Thorson’s wife, Lama Christie McNally, and her previous husband, Geshe Michael Roach, the supreme spiritual leader of Diamond Mountain University, where Thorson died. Carney unravels how the cultlike practices of McNally and Roach and the questionable circumstances surrounding Thorson’s death illuminate a uniquely American tendency to mix and match eastern religious traditions like LEGO pieces in a quest to reach an enlightened, perfected state, no matter the cost. Aided by Thorson’s private papers, along with cutting-edge neurological research that reveals the profound impact of intensive meditation on the brain and stories of miracles and black magic, sexualized rituals, and tantric rites from former Diamond Mountain acolytes, A Death on Diamond Mountain is a gripping work of investigative journalism that reveals how the path to enlightenment can be riddled with danger.

The Metamorphosis of the Stupid Child

The Metamorphosis of the Stupid Child
Author: Enda Kiebo
Publisher: Hendra Surya
Total Pages: 442
Release:
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

This story starts from the inspiration of the journey of the figures in the struggle for education. At that time, getting an education was not easy. Moreover, we are mostly descendants of ordinary people, laborers, and coolies. The fact to get the quality of an established life is determined by intelligence, education, skills to get and take advantage of golden opportunities. To change one's life line can not rely solely on the strength of manual labor alone. Therefore, we are not willing to be said to be mental of coolies and only become manual laborers. We also have the same right to be successful people. Here, Enda Kiebo wants to break the family life line, But, the problem from the beginning was that he had faced Benhart the son of a Plantation Administrator who didn't want Enda Kiebo to go to school with him. Moreover, Benhart has a vicious bouncer like Ronggur who has the nickname the "Conqueror" who continues to terrorize Enda Kiebo. Fortunately, Enda Kiebo has an extraordinary teacher, who is able to burn the soul and open a super-genius science that is second to none in the world to achieve dreams. Through his teachers, Enda Kiebo tried hard to unmask the dream hunter's secret. On his way, Enda Kiebo and Yan Utama tried hard to save Sundari, almost becoming victims of Ronggur's lust. They tried to find a way for Sundari to rise from adversity. How did Enda Kiebo succeed in overcoming the obstacles of Benhart et al? Did Enda Kiebo and Yan Utama succeed in helping Sundari? How do these extraordinary teachers galvanize Dream Hunters to master the super genius science? To know the answer, let's read this novel completely! Guaranteed this novel gives a lot of inspiration that is second to none in the world !!!

Last Ranger: The Damn Disciples - Book #9

Last Ranger: The Damn Disciples - Book #9
Author: Craig Sargent
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Total Pages: 122
Release: 2009-09-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780446566438

A mad priest is spreading a gospel of Hell across America, and Martin Stone--America's last hope for justice and freedom in a lawless and battered land--has come to shut him down. His reason: the priest has kidnapped Stone's sister, and Stone will do anything to bring her to safety.

Sri Chaitanya & His Associates

Sri Chaitanya & His Associates
Author: Swami B. B. Tirtha Maharaja
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2023-03-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

"In this jewel-like volume, the venerable Tirtha Maharaja recounts the nectarean activities of the associates of Lord Gauranga and the acharyas of the Gaudiya Vaishnava religion." ––Swami B.P. Puri, Founder Acharya, Gopinath Gaudiya Math Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Goswami Maharaja has gathered a great deal of information about the lives of the devotees from numerous sources, and has made this information more relishable by virtue of his own insight. These biographies of Mahaprabhu's devotees should be read on their appearance and disappearance days, for this will bring great joy to both those who hear and those who read them. In this English translation, it will be possible for devotees around the world to enjoy them. Herein, the author delights in the life stories of Jagannath Mishra, Madhavendra Puri, Ishvara Puri, Advaita Acharya, Srivas Pandit, Chandrasekhar Acharya, Pundarika Vidyanidhi, Gadadhar Pandit, Vakresvara Pandit, Gadadhar Das, Shivananda Sen, Paramananda Puri, Murari Gupta, and many others. Every letter of these accounts is drenched with the nectar of devotion. The sincere seeker will never be able to enter the transcendental kingdom nor to advance in the devotional life unless they also discover this delight.