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Pilgrimage to the Mother Reviews
Yoga
International
Pundrik C. Mehta
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Pilgrimage
to the Mother: Download sample pdf To order send $17.95 plus $3.00 shipping to Prema Press, 1705 14th St. PMB 392 Boulder, CO 80302. |
Review (excerpts) by Irene Petryazk from Yoga International, Summer 2000:
“A master storyteller whose vivid descriptions bring the sights and sounds of India to life. Alakananda Devi skillfully blends her personal journey (interweaving journal entries and letters into her narrative) with the myths and legends of India, giving the reader a wealth of information about the country’s rich spiritual heritage. And with rare insight and honesty she shares her experiences of the four stages of her pilgrimage—“renunciation, illumination, the longed-for encounter with the ‘black light’ of Truth, and the return to the marketplace”—the classical stages of the way of the mystic.
Embracing a renunciate’s life of intense spiritual practice, Alakananda Devi undergoes deep purification during the period (1980-1985) she wanders from one end of India to the other on her pilgrimage to the source of the River Ganges. Visiting numerous sacred sites, and receiving the blessings of many of India’s greatest saints and masters (among them Anandamayi Ma), she comes to learn that she cannot reach the outer source until she dives deep within herself to encounter her own inner source. In the process she is forced to come to terms with the darkest recesses of her mind as Mother India slowly strips away her identification with orthodoxy and patriarchy and reveals to her a world of inner truth and wisdom.
In Pilgrimage to the Mother, which is Book One of the Patchwork Mandala Trilogy, Alakananda Devi shares the teachings she learned about the spiritual importance and power of women for those who are tired of male-oriented spiritual organizations. She also includes information—maps, bibliography, and a resource guide—that is useful for prospective travelers as well as those interested in knowing more about India and her many spiritual traditions. Primarily, she writes to inspire others. The “journey from outer authority to the inner guru,” she writes, “from limited religion to universal mysticism,” is the the journey of every spiritual seeker.
Pilgrimage to the Mother is an extraordinary tale of spiritual unfoldment that is powerful and inspiring. An enthralling read from beginning to end, it is both a wonderful introduction to India’s spiritual lore and a call for every spiritual seeker to undertake (his or her) own inner pilgrimage.”
Review by Pundrik C. Mehta. LL.B. (Barrister-at-Law,
Inner Temple, London) Professor of Hindu Philosophy at the Hindu University
of America, June 3, 1997.
Here is a remarkable account of a spiritual soul in quest of Self-knowledge. It is the tale of an earnest seeker after Truth, who through deep aspiration, breaks out of her religious conditioning and surrendering herself to higher powers, embarks upon a spiritual pilgrimage of India. Surviving the trials and tribulations of such an endeavor, she discovers and integrates herself with the spiritual soul of India buried under the debris of outer chaos and ugliness. She meets a ‘companion on the way’ who turns out to be her soul-mate, gets help from God intoxicated souls of many faiths and immerses herself in various religious expressions, which she understands and assimilates with remarkable intuitive awareness. Help from outer authority leads to the awakening of the inner Guru. She ascends the mystic ladder portrayed in all religions and comes out at the summit where there is unity. She is a young English doctor, but more than that she is a poet and a determined ‘Sadhika’, or seeker as well as a practitioner of the religious Truth. Her ‘tapas’ or austerity and abnegation are pointers to all scholars of the mystic lore. Her ‘sadhana’ or religious practices and sincerity leaves her pure and innocent. Sri Aurobindo says that human transformation is possible only through deep aspiration from below and the answering Divine Grace from above. He further says that the Divine Grace can abide only in a receptacle which is pure. With both conditions fulfilled, she is rightly named Alakananda and her companion Sadananda by their Guru, who is common to both.
There are many books explaining theoretically the wisdom or philosophies of East and West. However, theoretic knowledge is mediate knowledge which does not erase the immediate ignorance of diversity within which humanity lives. What is required is an equally immediate awakening to dispel the ignorance of diversity and usher in the realization of unity. Alakananda Devi is in search of such immediate awakening and tells us how she came to it. This reason alone is enough to make this book an unique document useful to all seekers of Truth.
‘Perception
is action.’ This means that in the pursuit of Self-knowledge, the
only action is perception. Where there is direct perception, action becomes
an integral part of perception. Such action is automatic. Action flows
out of a person established in unity through right comprehension of totality.
Such action is not sullied by desire which is a limiting factor. The manner
in which Alakananda Devi resolves for herself this problem of contemplation
and action is another highlight of the book.
Alakananda Devi emphasizes that the greatest ‘siddhi’ or spiritual
achievement does not lie in acquiring powers. Such powers enhance the
ego and lead to a fall. The greatest ‘siddhi’ lies in the
ability to accept events as they come. This is not a negation of action
but the ability to act without concern for the result so ably expounded
in the Bhagvad Gita. Such action destroys the ego and leads to the awareness
of unity where there is diversity. It is the same as the ‘choiceless
awareness’ of the ‘Jnani’, or the practitioner of the
path of knowledge or insight. This is also ‘Prapatti’ or surrender
to the will of God, dealt with by Ramanujacarya and it is also the heart
of Islam. It is the first step in Self-knowledge which when attained is
the last one. Established in this step through her ‘sadhana, Alakananda
Devi returns to the ‘marketplace’ to offer her ware to the
needy.