India Books

C.P.Shrivastava who was the Private Secretary to one of India's Prime Ministers, later becoming a distinguished diplomat at the UN, has seen first hand what happens with the struggle for power and wealth against doing what is right for society. Written in an easy to read style.

This book is very user friendly, being easy to read and easy to understand unlike most books written by politicians. I understood that the author had been secretary to one of India's most famous and honest Prime Ministers Bahadur Shastri. The author also had a very successful career in the Indian civil service and later became UN secretary general of the UN International Maritime Organisation in London which he served for 16 years. There is no shortage of life experience in the fast lane of politics. This experience has given him the right to speak out against the corruption within Indian politics spanning the life times of many of the well known Prime Ministers of the last century. His observations and insights are well thought out. He explains how the British rule laid down much of what is thought to be correct political strategies. He has a great insight into human nature and how once the people become corrupt it is very difficult for anyone to jump out of the vicious circle. I great read, highly recommend.

This book is great. The author had a very successful career in the Indian civil service and later became UN secretary general of the UN International Maritime Organisation in London for 16 years; as such he is in a unique position to comment on matters of corruption in Indian political life. His insights are fascinating and his writing style a delight. I would definitely recommend anyone interested in Indian politics to read this book.

A ray of light for the Indian political system, which is at the verge of a catastrophe! A book that not just stares the problem in the face but also offers practical solutions to overcome it.

'Corruption: India's Enemy Within' couldn't have been written better by anyone other than Mr. Srivastava, an honest civil servant, who has seen and experienced the turbulence caused by corruption, emanating from the political machinery of India.

Hailing from India, I have seen the pollution and corruption in the day to day functioning of the bureaucracy. Though, teeming with basically moral people, India is suffering from the infiltration of corruption, which has become the bane of Indian society and is now deeply rooted into the system, leaving the common people frustrated.

A must read for all, especially Indians, seeking a complete refurbishment of the corrupt political system of India!

One of the best books I have ever read. To connect with Sunyata's LOVE overflow is perhaps one of the most enriching and fulfilling experiences you can live as you realize who you are.

Remarkably pure, this man Sunyata, in his every expression. He's living the essence of what we're all looking for.

One afternoon 1998, I was walking along Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica and I saw a table set-up on the sidewalk outside a small bookstore. One title featured a color photograph of a man who I'd never seen before, but who I could at once see was a communicator of the nature of reality. That day I picked up a copy of Sunyata: The Life & Sayings of a Rare-born Mystic. The book introduced me to a person who -- how do I describe it? -- who was stress-free. Easy to be with. Quiet. Harbouring nothing. Separate from nothing. Strong in his knowing and presence and in his confessions about what is true; strong in his pointing out of "egojies," but always seeing/knowing/being or "awaring" the Self that is the reality of egojies.

Though I know Sunyata only through books and through brief discussions with Betty Camhi, who is the book's editor and who was a friend of Sunyata, I feel close to him, if that's possible. I can understand what editor Betty Camhi says in the Preface to Dancing with the Void: "After listening over a period of several years to ... questions and answers, I found myself becoming less interested in the verbal exchange and more interested in the silence and radiance that was emanating from this 'rare born mystic.' He had a healing presence."

But that's not the book I'm reviewing.

I'm reviewing Dancing with the Void, which is another book by Sunyata and co-edited by Betty Camhi, who co-edited the first book. This book is longer and better organized, but not necessarily a better or lesser introduction to the nature of Sunyata himself. In this book, as in the first one, you experience the silence of Sunyata. The silence comes through in the photographs (what first draw me to him) and his words. This book includes a biography by one of the editors, and several chapters telling of the people Sunyata personally knew: Tagore, Gandhi, Nehru, Ramana Maharshi, and others. Nearly half the book is biographical or autobiographical. The rest of the book consists of chapters on other people and topics: Albert Schweitzer, Milarepa, Kabir, Carl Jung, Gautama Buddha, Mysticism, Suffering, Awakening. The topics of sex, music, art, and death are covered within various chapters.

Throughout this book, on every page, there is the simple utterance of truth. The people and the various topics are very interesting, but secondary. In the spirituality racket it doesn't matter what we talk about because all topics are like the wide end of a funnel, expansive and open to all kinds of discussion, but very soon narrowing to the point at hand, which is the realization of "this." There is a series of such funnels in this book and the topics are certainly there to be enjoyed, studied, contemplated, experienced, savored.

Sunyata, Emmanuel Sorensen, was born in Denmark in 1890. He lived most of his life in India, where he felt most at home, and in the 1970's was invited by the Alan Watts Society to live in the United States. The following exchange reveals and tells much about Sunyata. They are taken from a taped recording of his talk of June 2, 1982.

Question: Why are you here?
Sunyata: Because the Alan Watts Society financed me here.

Question: Why did you do that? What would you teach?
Sunyata: I told them I had nothing to teach and they said, "That's why we wanty you." Aha! How nice! So I am the Silence behind all this noise.

Question: Did you want to come to America?
S: I had no wish to go anywhere. The body wask 84 and perfectly fulfilled, content that I would go to heaven rather than America. Utter constrast. It had to happen. I accepted it. I knew it could be done because they had financed Lama Govinda several times here. Bob Shapiro wrote saying, "Reality wise, Sunyaji doesn't need to do anything." That's why I'm here -- to do nothing.

Q: How did you get on in India?
S: My utter simplicity was an asset there. And my adaptability. I could be at home anywhere.

Q: How did you come to choose India to live?
S: I didn't choose India. India chose me. Tagore invited me to "come to India to teach Silence." And now I come here to America to do nothing. Look at that. Poetic. Tagore felt that Silence. That Silence is a kind of reality to me. It was there in my childhood. It's not the Silence of sound but really the Silence of desire, willfulness, craving, fear.
...
Q: How did you come to this Silence?
S: I was born so. And that was what the great sage in South India [Ramana Maharshi] said of me -- "a rare-born mystic." I didn't know what "mystic" was. I mean, what Ramana Maharshi meant by it. I built my hut in the Himalayas and lived there in solitude. No language to express it. Then the language grew up in letters to friends.

Though the chapters in the book do not actually take the form of letters, one chapter is presented as a letter. The title of the chapter is Suffering. It consists of a long letter from Daniel, a patient in the mental ward of an army hospital. Daniel had been in communication with Sunyata, uses Sunyata's terminology, and understands Sunyata's statements of truth, but the suffering is great. Daniel writes to Sunyata:

"I am in a state of anxiety -- my anguish unbearable. It is not mental depression, but just anxiety, fearful and blinkered, perhaps. Breath is choked, a heavy weight lies on the heart, the pain is both physical and mental. What is the meaning of this overwhelming pain? Why? Wherefore? How to escape it? How to live through it?
...
"Surely, suffering is the characteristic of human life. But in a hospital, in a prison and in a mental home, this suffering is starkly uncovered and undisguised and strikes one right in the face."

These are long letters. In part, Sunyata replies: "Weep and cry -- Dan, accept and dissolve. Let the due suffering overwhelm ego and ego-ridden mind. You will emerge. You are invincible. Sin, Karma, Self, God, etc., are all words, words, words, concepts and abstractions, until they happen to us and often painfully. The sin is ignorance, unawareness, blinkers and ego blindness, so don't harbor, develop or nourish a sin-complex or guilt complex. Karma, prenatal, pre-ego and ego-made, must be accepted as a fact in living. It can be atoned -- and we need not accumulate any more prarabdha. By our attitude and integral awareness, it is accepted, atoned and transcended. So let's drop our cumbersome conceit of agency, says Wuji."

Dancing with the Void is a gift of healing, wholeness, reality, silence. There is a side story told in Betty Camhi's preface. This book would never have been born if it were not for a nearly impossible meeting between Betty and the man who was entrusted with writings that became this book. That meeting was apparently mediated or grace-given by Ammachi. Betty's preface ornaments this book with a light entirely its own, one which makes us laugh at the non-separateness simplicity of everything. Perhaps like Betty's meeting, a meeting with Sunyata is inevitable.

Jerry Katz
One: Essential Writings on Nonduality

Reading the book, "Dancing with the Void" was a rare experience! Although it is clearly written and not over-long, it took me rather a long time to get through the book because reading it allowed me to touch the mind of Sunyata, and I kept going into samadi. Sometimes several times per page. Sunyata, it seems, is truely a "rare-born mystic" and the clear and respectful editing by Camhi and Rai allows one to experience his presence in a most dynamic way.

I would encourage anyone interested in the inner life to experience this wonderful book -- and through it the mind of Sunyata.

As a fellow Adoptee who searched for and found my birth family as a teenager nearly 20 years ago, I found this story to be beautifully written, extremely eloquent and touching. It is a heartfelt account of one woman's search for her heritage, family and identity. A must read for anyone touched by adoption.

This is a book about trying to find out about oneself, and Asha Miro is the young woman who is trying to piece together her fragmented past, from her life in India until she was six until the day she returned to India from Spain, in the hope of finding out more about her adoption, her birth family and why they had given her up.

This book is actually two books in one, the first being Daughter of the Ganges, which tells of Asha's initial journey back to India to find trace back the steps to her life in a Catholic orphanage, to the second book, Two Faces of the Moon, where she finds a sister she never knew exisited and realises that she has a whole "other" life that needs to be explored in detail.

Both books are fascinating, in the first book Asha paints a dour if not too unhappy picture of her life in an Indian orphanage which was run by Catholic nuns, who did their best with little they had for the girls in their charge. The seocond book deals with possible inaccuracies of the first book, Asha has memories of living in a two tiered institution, part orphanage, part school in which rich girls slept on beds and the orphans slept on the floor. However this was denied by some of the nuns, but Asha has clear memories that she does not doubt so we never know who was right and who was wrong but she handles this situation really well and slowly we move toward the meeting of Asha and her sister, also called Asha and the truth about her life before Spain is delicately told, by nuns, friends, and family members.

A wonderful book that is far from being sentimental, Asha has no illusions about her life, she is European and cannot give up the trappings of her westernised life but she promises herself she will not forget where she has come from and I would like to think that she keeps that promise, not just for herself but for the faily who lost her and then found her again after so many years.

With the proliferation of books about adoption and adoptees on the market Asha Miro's story of retracing her roots in India will seem familiar.

However, what was truly wonderful about this book was Asha's gentle touch. Bitterness does not overtake this book.
There is so much love in this book. Usually, nuns in orphanages are portrayed as mean and cruel. Not so in this book. Instead, you find a group of women doing the best they can for Indian orphans with extremely limited resources. Usually, parents who give their children up in other countries are portrayed at best as pitiful and at worst as little more than savages. Definitely not so with this book.
Asha meets up with her biological family. It is a joyful reunion. By the time she finishes reconstructing why her family gave her up, and also her biological sister's life, her family feels about as exotic as people down the street.
And you understand why they did it. You're rather left with the feeling that you would have done the same in that situation.
I found Asha's portrait of her biological sister fascinating, and I kept thinking about it afterward.

This is lovely book about a woman now in her late 30's, adopted at the age of 6 by a Catalan couple, searching for her birth family in India. Very sensitively written, with great respect both for her adoptive parents (entries from her adoptive mother's journal form a part of the book) and her birth parents, about whom she discovers a great deal. A must for all adoptive families and recommended for anyone interested in Indian culture. This book was a huge bestseller in Spain and documentaries and a followup book have also been written by Ms. Miro. I have not read the English version; I hope it does the book justice.

I don't know what to say about "The Book of Shiva", other than I am renewing my love to Shiva. I mean, I love and adhere to all aspects of the Trinity, and I bow to the power of Vishnu to preserve the world. But Lord Shiva... I don't know. There's something within that Hermit of Kailash that amazes me. Perhaps His matted hair, from which Mother Gangga flows. Perhaps His hermit stage. Not His snake... not His snake...

But one thing for sure that makes me admire Shiva: His love to Lady Uma/Parvati. So beautiful, so sweet... A while ago, I wept the first time I learned that He too was broken hearted when Sati died. Now, after reading the story again here, I was crushed again. Shiva is the God who knows pain of separation. And the way Shiva expressed His feelings as He watched the All-Mother Uma turned into Kali: "It pained me to see my Uma like this. I wept when she howled like a wild beast... and turned on the blood-spawns."

Kudos to Saurav Mohapatra's script and Deepak Chopra's ideas. I really love the painting-like arts inside of the book - Tayade, Singh, and Subramanian did amazing works. My favourite part was when Shiva stopped the enraging Kali: "Uma, this cannot be. You must fight her." And then, the most beautiful painting, as He holds Uma's unconscious form and said: "The Sleeper slumbered again. For it was Uma who opened her eyes. Perhaps it was the fatigue of battle that quelled the primal will. Perhaps it was the power of the All-Mother. But sometimes I like to think...maybe... Just maybe... it was me."

Sweet, romantic Shiva...

My only nitpick is that Shiva was shown smiling only in 1-2 panels, particularly when Uma was around. I mean, yes - Shiva has the dark Rudra side, the destructive side. But He also has His sweet, beautiful side. The Dance of Life, as the Nataraj dances it, is danced with love. His love: sweet, tender, beautiful love. Such spirit is not really shown here, hence might mislead new readers or those who are not familiar with the Vedic tradition, that Shiva is the all-angry God who destroys everything.

Personally, I would rather have the cover depicting the benevolent Shiva, He who smiles peacefully as He watches the world from the top of Kailash. But I understand why from the sale point of view, the artists and creator preferred the scarier form of Shiva. Here's the hope for the second volume, where Shiva is depicted with gentler smile, as sweet and gentle as He gazes lovingly at Lady Parvati.

I heard about this comic series produced by deepak's son on tv and ordered the comic within minutes.Well written and awesome artwork,which complement each other perfectly.They should make a whole series and then
creat a coffee table artbook just perrrrfect!

I didn't know about this graphic novel series until Deepak Chopra mentioned his colaboration with his son during his Iconoclast interview with Mike Meyers.
Easy to follow storyline makes it easy to understand the basics about some of the Hindu Gods. If you have any interest in learning about Shiva, Ganesh, Shiva, Kali, Uma and many more this is a great start. Also, the illustrations and colors look outstanding on the glossy paper.

This comic book is great. I love mythology and this book proved to be good at teaching some legends. The story of the Gods is well written, and the illustrations are great. In fact, I have ordered the following one, and pre-ordered the third one!!!

Many Americans and Britons have eaten Indian foods in the United States and Britain, where Indian restaurants are increasingly a large part of the culinary scene. Despite the popularity of Indian restaurants in the West, travelers to India often retreat to the "comfort" of their hotel restaurants rather than venturing out to eat at the small, family-run restaurants and street stalls where some of the best Indian food is to be had. Lack of knowledge about Indian foods deters many people from experiencing the remarkably interesting cuisines of this country.

Joan Peterson's "Eat Smart in India" (in her series of "Eat Smart" books) solves this problem. Her book is chock full of information about India's varied and colorful cuisines. "Eat Smart in India" provides an overview of India's history, an in-depth look at the country's regional foods, and a selection of Indian recipes from appetizers to desserts, with color photographs of many of the dishes. But "Eat Smart in India" is much more than an introduction to the culinary cultures of this fascinating country. It's also a practical guidebook that you'll want to take along on your next trip there.

One chapter gives helpful phrases (with their pronunciation) for use in restaurants and food markets. An extensive Menu Guide lists menu items alphabetically, with a description of each dish, followed by a Foods & Flavors Guide with a comprehensive list (and explanation) of Indian ingredients, spices, kitchen utensils, and cooking terminology. And the bibliography is useful to readers who want to delve even further into this subject. As the author states in the Preface, "What better way to get to know a culture than through its cuisine?"

"Eat Smart in India" is a culinary guidebook that should be packed in the luggage of every traveler to India. I've also found it to be a very useful guide to dishes offered at Indian restaurants in the United States. Highly recommended! ----- Sharon Hudgins, author of "The Other Side of Russia: A Slice of Life in Siberia and the Russian Far East"

This latest in Joan Peterson's brainy food travel series is, like her previous guides, small enough to slip into a carry-on and dense with wisdom about how to eat and drink like a local. Peterson and her Indian-born co-author, Indu Menon, neatly handle the history and development of a very complicated cuisine, provide useful food and phrase glossaries, and walk readers through the culinary regions of India dish by dish.
--Terese Allen, The Isthmus, Madison WI

There is no more satisfying way to become immersed in a new culture than to mingle with the local people in the places where they enjoy good food and conversation-in their favorite neighborhood cafes, restaurants, picnic spots or outdoor markets. ~Joan Peterson

Joan Peterson has written Eat Smart guides for Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland and Morocco. She loves to travel and this led her to the creation of the Eat Smart series. Co-author Indu Menon is also a world traveler and was born in India. Together, Joan and Indu delve into a rich culinary history and have created a useful guide for real-life travelers or home chefs who want to explore Indian cuisine.

This guide also includes:

Recipes for the weekend gourmet
Food and Flavors Guide - bilingual translations for virtually everything on an Indian menu
Featured dishes that are considered to be a "national favorite"

"Eat Smart" guides are unique, portable and very readable. Eat Smart in India is the seventh and newest title in the series.

The contents include:

The Cuisine of India - A historical survey of the development of India's cuisine
Regional Indian Food - A quick tour through the Indian kitchen and around the country
Tastes of India - A selection of easy-to-prepare recipes
Shopping in India's Food Markets - Discover foods in exciting outdoor food markets
Resources - A listing of stores, culinary tours and organizations
Helpful Phrases - Phrases for use in restaurants and other useful phrases
Menu Guide - Menu entries in transliterated Hindi
Food and Flavors Guide - Comprehensive glossary of ingredients, kitchen utensils and cooking methods

If you are dreaming of sumptuous boat cruises on the tranquil waterways of Kerala or are dreaming of visiting spice plantations retreats in the hills of Tamil Nadu, this book will inspire you.

I loved reading about the artful blending of spices and the intoxicating descriptions of food preparation. If you have yet to discover nigella seeds, they are delicious on naan bread. Once you read the recipe for "Kachhe Gosht ki Biryani" you might be running to the store for cilantro, saffron and cardamom pods. Basmati rice has the scent of buttered popcorn and I can't think of any rice I love more.

If you are interested in taking a culinary tour, there is information for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the culture and cuisine. The pictures of the "water apple" had me intrigued. I must warn you; this book will make you quite hungry. I might take this book with me the next time I go out to eat at a local Indian restaurant. I keep ordering Tandoori chicken and Biryani, but now I realize there are so many dishes I want to try.

Some of the recipes include: Ghee, Paneer, Masala Chai, Sheer Khurma and Murgh Tikka Buter Masala (marinated grilled chicken pieces are grilled and then cooked in a buttery tomato and cream sauce).

~The Rebecca Review

The impressive collaboration of Joan Peterson and Indu Menon (and enhanced with b/w illustrations by Susan Chwae), Eat Smart In India: How To Decipher The Menu, Know The Market Foods & Embark On A Tasting Adventure is a very special culinary travel guide for anyone wanting to go abroad and experiencing the greatest tastes that East India cuisines and restaurants have to offer. From knowing the menu; to selecting market foods; to gathering sample recipes; to the culture behind the regional and ethnic cuisine, and so much more, Eat Smart In India is a superbly organized and presented supplementary resource for vacationers, business travelers, and dedicated gourmets seeking truly memorable dining experiences while visiting India -- and who wish to recreate ethnic and regional dishes when they are back home again! Eat Smart In India is but the latest addition to a unique series of culinary travel books from Ginkgo Press.

This is one of the best city guides ever. Unfortunately, it's not easy to find, but you should probably find one on the used market. Check www addall dot com. You may find a cheap copy from some Indian retailer. They are usually reliable, and if you are not in a hurry the shipping cost won't be too high.
But now back to the guide! I used a LOT this guide when I spent a summer in Delhi. It's a bit like an "eyewitness" guide, but even better. Lots of wonderful color pictures, many many detailed maps of monuments and parks, and a lot of information on the city and its surroundings. For restaurants and hotels Lonely Planet may be better, but this one is just amazingly good for everything else. One impressive feature is the SUPERDETAILED street map of the WHOLE TOWN (not only the central part), with amazingly detailed on-the-map information on restaurants, hotels, hostels, monuments, shops, post office, public buildings, embassies, etc etc. Virtually EVERYTHING you may be interested in is on the maps, even what is NOT even mentinoned in the guide itself.
If you are travelling to Delhi, you *should* really make sure you have a copy of this book. It is unsurpassed, and you will be happy to have it with you. I would suggest this one + lonely planet, which is not as impressive, overall, but it is still good, and above all more up to date.

This sells in Delhi for 345 Rs (less than $10 US), but it's well worth whatever price Amazon is charging for it, and you would definitely want this book before going to Delhi, as well as to use while you're there. I wish there books this good on other cities, like Bombay.

I wish I found this book when I first arrived in New Delhi two years ago. It is an excellent resource for tourists, providing good, specific information on dining, shopping, and sights. I would also recommend it highly for diplomats or businessmen coming to live in Delhi for a time. It gives an outstanding overview of the city, and all that it offers.

The photography is excellent. I found this guide one month before I was due to depart Delhi, and I bought it anyway, for the photographs of the many places in Delhi I had visited while living there.

This is the best travel guide I have read on any city in the world. It helped me lot, and its comprehensive listings and beautiful pictures and drawings were awesome. Great history section that is good reading even if you aren't going to DEelhi. It's a must-buy!

Susan Shumsky's book goes one step further than claiming to be great for beginners -- it truly delivers. Offering meditation for the meditatively challenged, yoga exercises for couch potatoes, karma for skeptics, prayer for the faithless and enlightenment for the ignorant -- EXPLORING MEDITATION blazes new trails into eastern philosophy that almost anyone can easily master. Written in a clear, descriptive, straightforward style, this book opens the doors to understanding non-duality, chakras, ESP (extra-sensory perception), karma, yoga, meditation, intuition, healing, vedas, gunas, and spirit.

I personally most enjoy reading the sections on how to trouble-shoot one's meditation problems. Have you ever intended to meditate, but kept finding the same tedious thoughts racing through your mind? How about the problem of listening carefully, but not getting any clear messages? Susan Shumsky answers all these questions and more with grace and aplomb.

Have you longed for a "Do-Nothing" method of meditation? Would you like to learn the art of yogic breathing, and discover how grace overcomes karma? Are you ready to become spiritually street-smart? Are you interested in learning what we are made of and how we fit into the cosmos? Do you want to discover the personal aspects of your divine, higher self? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you'll definitely get a lot out of this book.

Great book on meditation. It's great for beginners as well as for those who are more advanced. It provides in-depth information on various meditation techniques. Even if you have never entered a state of meditation before, you can do so using the book as a reference. The instructions in the book are step-by-step and very easy to comprehend. Besides meditation techniques it teaches you almost everything you need to know about the subject and related issues

This book has so much information in an easy to read & follow manner. I read it in the library and felt I had to have this book. I decided to buy it. Now come on most people just read a book and then that's it. This book has information that every one should know.

Buy this book. It touches on a little of everything with easy to read directions. Anyone can follow this.

Exploring Mediation by Susan G Shumsky - I almost finished with this book - and I began reading it 2 days ago and I simply couldn't abandoned it. I bought this book only because I wanted to order some more books on Amazon which wasn't planned at all. I though it was full of different meditation techniques - but how wrong my predicaments where. It's truly an amazing spiritual book full of inspiring material, one brilliant meditation technique, learning how to talk to your higher self, spirits and more. She also writes about Karma in a way which is different from what I have seen before- making it easy to understand this very complex matter in a new way. She has been working with spirituality for 36 years, and shows you how to avoid pitfalls and much much more. I highly recommend it!

This book has made me realize that it IS possible to live a life of selfless service to God - even TODAY! Mother Teresa has proved it. The photographs themselves tell the story beautifully but the narrative is good in it's own right. If you are searching for a book to help you find your reason for being, the way to have a closer relationship with God, or the way to true happiness, I believe you won't be disappointed. May God bless

This emotionally moving tribute combines beautiful photography with intriging facts about a modern-day saint in our time.

Faith & Compassion: The Life & Work of Mother Teresa by Raghu Rai & Navin Chawla is a MUST for for the soul seeking! Truly this is the most captivating book I have experienced amongst all of the numerous books on Mother Teresa. The author's articulate biography, along with powerful black & white photography, seizing the endless moments of compassion and love that go on daily at the Missionaries of Charity, are literally God send. The book truly reminds ourselves how much love we are so much capable of giving to one another and to count our blessings, not our worries. I highly recommend anyone to buy this book because it is what any soul needs: a reminder to come back to where home is: love in God.

Mother Teresa was one of the most remarkable people to have lived, and the only source of hope and happiness for those she and the Sisters of her order cared for. She lived in the 20th Century so her work is known, her actions are fact. She is not subject to the passing of centuries and the romanticizing, and embellishing, that time and lack of knowledge allows.

She was an internationally powerful woman who lived among the poorest and powerless of people. She could summon help from heads of state with a phone call, lecture them on policies she believed were morally wrong when she was their guest, and then return to those no one else would help, touch, or even notice.

While most talk about what should be done she did what she believed was her responsibility every moment of her life. She cared for those who needed care unconditionally, and it is this that causes me to place her above the others. There was no we and they, no us and their, for her there were only people who needed care.

She was Catholic, I say so what. To categorize her with any confining label is to insult her and her life's work. She did not offer her care based upon religion, or a person's view of their God. She was criticized by The Roman Catholic Church for not converting those she helped, for not seeing that more of those that no one else cared about were baptized.

The dandified occupants of The Vatican whose custom tailored frocks would feed hundreds of people were concerned with what was and is of no value, they still pompously howl at the moon that their religion is the only true way. While they were offering a jeweled ring to be kissed, The Mother was caring for a Leper, or for one who was dying, for she believed no one should die alone.

One of my favorite stories...

One of her buildings was near a shrine, and the Monks wanted her and her inconvenient destitute patients evicted. They wanted nothing to do with leprosy, death, and reality. They brought the appropriate Magistrate to tell The Mother she would have to move. They entered the building and located The Mother tending to a patient. There was a pause, and the Magistrate announced that when the Monks were prepared to do her work, he would ask her to leave. At the time of the visit The Mother was using tweezers to remove live maggots from the face of a person brought in off the street. The fact that no Monk stepped forward is no surprise; the fact that eventually more than one of those same Monks died in her care is the most perfect of ironies, and a great tribute to this woman. Health and well-being bring arrogance. When death approached they sought The Mother's care. There was no doubt she would provide it, she was free from hypocrisy.

Mr. Navin Chawla has written eloquently about this wonder of a person before, and this time his words are complimented by the exceptional photography of Mr. Raghu Rai. There are many books about Mother Teresa, and even more that she wrote herself. If you buy only one, this volume gives you her words, the words of her biographer, and the pictures of a very talented photographer.

This woman was more important than a given named faith, she did not give her life to the helping of Catholics, she helped anyone who needed her WITHOUT DISTINCTION. She did not qualify her love, classify those deserving of her time, or impose her beliefs on those that needed her.

She represented and represents all that a human can be, and how absurd it is to label a given faith, or hold it above that of another. She transcended all religious boundaries, did so without distinction, and her actions were beyond any reproach.

She was a woman of faith who offered the world a reason to still believe that hope actually meant something, and unconditional love exists. If History is any indication we will learn little from her, from this gift that was given to all. We will continue to divide into groups, argue about theological minutiae to which there are no absolute truths. And we will continue to slaughter using religion as justification, whether we are the killers or the victims.

I hope I am wrong, I fear I am not.

I never would have thought of the theme of this book, but once immersed in it, found it totally engrossing. India has been the great seed bed for many Western thinkers. This is an exciting way of seeing the relationship between India and the U.S...and a well-documented account of it with fascinating stories.

Jeffrey Paine has written an amazing book, which is both sophisticated in its analysis and insightful in its perspective. Yet, the narrative is racy and easy to read - possibly because of his background in journalism.

Paine traces the careers and Indian adventure of eight well-known persons who were either Westerners or were Indians influenced by the West to begin with, but later became deeply influenced by India. Yet in the process, they also influenced India itself. The list includes Lord Curzon, Mahatma Gandhi, E. M. Forster, Shri Aurobindo, Mira Behn (Madeleine Slade), Mother (Mirra Richard), Carl Jung, V. S. Naipaul and Annie Besant, all well-known figures in India and outside.

In the process he weaves a magical yet sophisticated tapestry showing why India exercised a near-fatal charm for these people and how it changed them. He also adds a lot of tid-bits about their personal lives, and idiosyncracies, their struggles, their failures and their successes. Surprisingly, and without noticing it, by the time you finish the book, you would have developed a pretty good perspective on how India has affected and deeply influenced Western world through these people. A remarkable intellectual feat indeed.

His handling of each character in the drama is confident and skillful. He has a definite format to follow, and this adds rigour to a book, which could have become a maudling, sentimental journey otherwise. The connections he makes with other contemporary characters and happenings are simply astounding and marvellous.

However, he becomes less sure of himself as he comes closer to the present, possibly because the processes are still going on, and the advantage of hindsight is not available. As a result, his handling of the chapter on Shri Aurobindo and his spiritual companion, the Mother, is less deft. He also fumbles with the conclusion, possibly because India is an incredibly complex phenomenon and Paine is after all a mere mortal.

Notwithstanding this slight blemish, an excellent book, worth the time and money, for anyone interested in understanding India and the West.

A paperback edition is also available in Penguin India under the plain title 'Father India'.

I admit I may have been mildly intoxicated before I read this book - intoxicated on Western Buddhism and New Age philosophies that legitimize themselves by associating themselves with Indian religions. This book sobered me up. Paine indicates that much of what many of us have mistaken for pure distilled India is really a hybrid mutation of India and its European interpreters and visitors. I honestly feel I came away with a much better understanding of characters like Madame Blavatsky, Krishnamurti, and Ghandi. There is also a great deal of material addressing individuals who adopted a homosexual lifestyle including E.M. Forster and Christopher Isherwood. I might wonder if Jeffery Paine is himself practicing homosexuality given the amount of time spent on the topic. (In fact, if he isn't, it would be a bit annoying.) The representation of this group seems a bit disproportionate but it may indeed be the case that a disproportionate amount of the Europeans experimenting with India in the early 1900s were of this group - well at least the ones that got famous. (In which case I shouldn't be so annoyed).

Certainly India has played a part in our present culture albeit in a roundabout and almost covert way. Paine's book suggests that it was more as a catalyst than a direct effect. A place to which people embarked on holy quests and often did not find what they expected. If you have read a few new age books that swear allegiance to Indian philosophy and religion and are feeling a bit tipsy, or if you have an interest in the psychological history of the waning British empire and India as the British empire waned, I highly recommend this book.

The book delves into the feelings, emotions and travails as felt by some of the administrators, writers,social activists and reformers who have ';experienced ' India at close quarters.Curzon, Annie Besant,EM Forster, Chris Isherwood and finally Gandhi's experiences are chronicled in detail.The book tries to provide the reader with an understanding of India that is gleaned from the spiritual and pyschological processes of these visitors and tries to enunciate a depth of feeling. These 'outsiders'twist and turn at every corner in India and the reasons for their doing si might infuse an Indian to think more deeply , and accord the foreigner with a more intimate view of the seething cauldron that answers to the name of India.

First Buddhist Women: Poems And Stories Of Awakening tells the true story of the wives, mothers, teachers, courtesans, prostitutes, and travelers who became the first female followers of the Buddha. Professor Susan Murcott offers a translation and extensive commentary upon the Therigatha, the earliest know collection of women's religious poetry, and contemplates issues of spiritual enlightenment and societal demands that are as important today as they were thousands of years ago. First Buddhist Women is written with a decidedly objective eye, observing equally both the positive aspects that Buddhism brought to the lives of women, particularly those women who pursued enlightenment or joined the sangha, and the negative aspects, especially those who were in effect widowed when their husbands renounced the earthly world following Buddha's example. Highly recommended for women's and Buddhist studies shelves.

First Buddhist Women: Poems And Stories Of Awakening tells the true story of the wives, mothers, teachers, courtesans, prostitutes, and travelers who became the first female followers of the Buddha. Professor Susan Murcott offers a translation and extensive commentary upon the Therigatha, the earliest know collection of women's religious poetry, and contemplates issues of spiritual enlightenment and societal demands that are as important today as they were thousands of years ago. First Buddhist Women is written with a decidedly objective eye, observing equally both the positive aspects that Buddhism brought to the lives of women, particularly those women who pursued enlightenment or joined the sangha, and the negative aspects, especially those who were in effect widowed when their husbands renounced the earthly world following Buddha's example. Highly recommended for women's and Buddhist studies shelves.

In the past half year I have been studying Buddhism, and of all the books I have read, this is my favorite. I love how it combines primary source poetry, lovingly translated to preserve its measure and tone, with historical background that covers each Buddhist woman studied, as well as placing her in her original historical context. A well-reseached work, the author has extensive footnotes allowing the reader to follow up on particular items of interest. I highly recommend this book.

First Buddhist Women: Poems And Stories Of Awakening tells the true story of the wives, mothers, teachers, courtesans, prostitutes, and travelers who became the first female followers of the Buddha. Professor Susan Murcott offers a translation and extensive commentary upon the Therigatha, the earliest know collection of women's religious poetry, and contemplates issues of spiritual enlightenment and societal demands that are as important today as they were thousands of years ago. First Buddhist Women is written with a decidedly objective eye, observing equally both the positive aspects that Buddhism brought to the lives of women, particularly those women who pursued enlightenment or joined the sangha, and the negative aspects, especially those who were in effect widowed when their husbands renounced the earthly world following Buddha's example. Highly recommended for women's and Buddhist studies shelves.