My Father S Guru

As a child growing up in the Hollywood Hills during the 1950s, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson thought it was perfectly normal that a guru named Paul Brunton lived with his family and dictated everything about their daily rituals, from their diet to their travel plans to his parents' sex life. But in this extraordinary memoir, Masson reflects on just how bizarre everything about his childhood was-especially the relationship between his father and the elusive, eminent mystic he revered (and supported) for years. Writing with candor and charm, Masson describes how his father became convinced that Paul Brunton-P.B. to his familiars-was a living God who would fill his life with enlightenment and wonder. As the Masson family's personal guru, Brunton freely discussed his life on other planets, laid down strict rules on fasting and meditation, and warned them all of the imminence of World War III. For years, young Jeffrey was as ardent a disciple as his father-but with the onset of adolescence, he staged a dramatic revolt against this domestic deity and everything he stood for. Filled with absurdist humor and intimate confessions, My Father's Guru is the spellbinding coming-of-age story of one of our most brilliant writers. REVIEWS "An uncompromising yet compassionate book . . . A coming-of-age memoir unlike any other." -The Toronto Star "AN EXTRAORDINARY CAUTIONARY TALE .... about the enduring human impulse to imbue charismatic individuals with superhuman attributes." -San Francisco Chronicle "Told with a mixture of humor and compassion. . . . Throughout this confessional book a grown man tells of an unusual, even weird childhood and the blind submission that consumed his family's life." -ROBERT COLES The New York Times Book Review "My Father's Guru is an interesting account of a warped upbringing made fascinating by the insight it provides into Masson's adult life. He makes no excuses: in initially revering Freud and other authority figures, Masson realizes he was seeking new and better gurus that Brunton-and was fated to reject them pitilessly when they showed themselves, like Brunton, to be merely human." -Los Angeles Times Book Review "Beneath the guru-bashing, the book is Masson's poignant and loving indictment of his parents, worth reading for his psychological portrait of coming-of-age disillusionment." -Seattle Weekly

A Spiritual Bloomsbury is an exploration of how three English writers—Edward Carpenter, E.M. Forster, and Christopher Isherwood—sought to come to terms with their homosexuality by engagement with Hinduism. Copley reveals how these writers came to terms with their inner conflicts and were led in the direction of Hinduism by friendship or the influence of gurus. Tackling the themes of the guru-disciple relationship, their quarrel with Christianity, relationships with their mothers and the problematic feminine, the tensions between sexuality and society, and the attraction of Hindu mysticism; this fascinating work seeks to reveal whether Hinduism offered the answers and fulfillment these writers ultimately sought. Also included is a diary narrating Copley's quest to track down Carpenter's and Isherwood's Vendantism and Forster's Krishna cult on a journey to India.

This book is the biography of biographers gem-like father Sopankaka, an ardent devotee of Lord Vitthal of Pandharpur from Maharashtra and a follower of the Warkari sect. Born in a downtrodden and marginalized community mired in superstition and ignorance, illiterate Sopankaka had to toil a lot to earn his bread and butter. While doing the backbreaking work, he began his spiritual journey under the guidance of his guru. He began this journey through listening to recitation of scriptures by his guru and memorizing the matter the whole day while working. In this way he attained spiritual scholarship and became a master in his field. After getting acquainted with letters, this philanthropist educated people from his village, deaddicted them and made them get rid of superstitious practices. He showed them the virtuous path of divinity and ensured their well being through his noble guidance in day-to-day affairs. He spread his spiritual wisdom across Maharashtra through bhajans and kirtans. This book is the gripping account of an enlightened sage who not only brought transformation in his peoples lives but also moulded his children through upright values and education.

Our story takes place in British India around the first half of the twentieth century when great political changes were sweeping the globe. The two world wars were exposing inhabitants of the world’s secluded regions to modernity, creating cultural conflicts. The mighty British Empire, after reaching its zenith, was crumbling. Gandhi was emerging as a national leader and teaching his followers that freedom from foreign domination can be attained by nonviolent means and that the inhumane treatment of outcastes in India is evil and must end. Father Gambino, twenty-eight, reaches India in 1920 from Italy. He mission is to spread Christ’s love to the pagans who worship idols and believe in many gods instead of his one true God. His goal is to save souls and open churches, schools, and orphanages. He refuses to learn or benefit from the experiences of other Catholic priests in India. He suspects many of his Christian beliefs were diluted, or even defiled, by exposure to Eastern thoughts. After a few years, however, his provincialism lessens when he meets and hears a scholarly British commissioner with in-depth knowledge of Hinduism and Buddhism. When the Japanese army reaches the Indo-Burmese border, Gambino moves from central India to the northeast to work in the Assam Mission. Here, the year after America enters World War II, he rescues an orphan from certain starvation and takes him to a Catholic orphanage. Krishna Swamy was born in the Deccan in 1885, the grandson of a temple priest who believes that everyone shouldn’t read or even hear the Vedas. He accepts the caste system as a natural order. His son secretly resents him and spends the last years of his life with the untouchables, defiantly teaching them the forbidden Vedas. When he masters the Sanskrit grammar his grandfather teaches, Krishna accompanies two of his friends on a pilgrimage. During the journey, the precocious seventeen-year-old observes the strength and confidence of Westerners and the fatalism and superstitions of his countrymen. At Banaras and Sarnath, they expand their horizons by attending many theological discussions. After relinquishing his priestly birthrights, he assumes the nonsectarian name of Bir Dharma and proceeds alone to Calcutta University to become “modern” by studying Christianity, English, and Western values. Professor Das and Brother Curren offer him a scholarship as a Sanskrit grammarian. Bir and Curren become close friends. They discuss commonalities between Hinduism and Catholicism. Bir soon discovers that studying other faiths develops respect for all religions. In 1911, Bir meets Nongrim Hilly in Calcutta who later joins the priesthood to spread Christ’s love to the remote northeast regions. Hilly asks Bir to convert and join him in spreading Catholicism. But Bir declines. He fears organized religions. After six years at the university, Bir goes to Delhi to work in the construction of the new imperial capital. There, a Sikh befriends him and invites him to a gurdwara where he learns about Guru Nanak’s teachings and Sikh history. Construction slows during World War I. Unemployment grows, and the future looks bleak. A cult member offers human sacrifice for early rain. While reporting this monstrosity to a newspaper, Bir meets a foreign war correspondent who introduces him to American and Indian papers as a Westernized guru and freelancer. His fame spreads. Colleges and universities invite him to lecture. Commissioner Gait requests him to speak about Hinduism to his new Indian Civil Service officers. Here Bir meets Gambino. When Bir visits the temples of Bhubaneswar, a cyclone devastates the coastal regions of Orrisa. Gambino joins the Catholic Relief Mission and shows Bir the importance of organization in undertaking large projects. Gambino next visits Father Kenny in Calcutta who advises him to meet Father Hil

The author presents a coming-of-age story of the influence of celebrated mystic Paul Brunton on his family, describing how, at Brunton's bidding, his family moved to Montevideo and he left home to study Sanskrit at Harvard