Thursday19 Jul 06:21 AM
Rampuri Baba Blue-Eyes' Yoga Revolution
"The sage reflects and envelops the world in which he finds himself."
Cartouche, in Baba: Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Yogi
I just finished reading Baba: Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Yogi. Wow. Not only is the story enthralling and the author genuine, but it's also uncommonly smart and perceptive. Lean of fat and fluff, it's a joy to read. Beyond the playfully serpentine plots twists and surprises, the book squarely wrestles with the apocalyptic East-meets-West hall of mirrors known as western orientalism and exoticism, both subtly and overtly.
I'm going to share a few of my favorite morsels, despite the fact that by doing so, I implicate the text as just another spiritual book with excerpt-able, thoughtful quotes. Not so. For one thing, throughout the book, the author never plays the role of the teacher. So it's not like he's spewing out spiritual teachings for us to ponder, rather he's sharing a story. His story. These quotes are from other characters (Cartouche and Hari Puri Baba) in conversation with the young, blue-eyed baba.
"The real revolution is to transform yourself, not society. If you can succeed, then society will follow. The world is fucked up, corrupted by capitalist elites, but we cannot hope to win any war on the material plane. Finding the Truth is the only way."
Cartouche, in Baba: Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Yogi
"What? You think the Rishi Patanjali or the Rishi Panini... had ideas that just came to their heads?.. No, these men were great sadhus who lived at their dhunis, surrounded by disciples who didn't spend their time studying, but selflessly serving their gurus. And the gurus gave to their disciples what they had received from their own gurus. Not just the 'teachings,' or instruction, but the gurus transferred their own nature, so that very personality of the guru became that of the disciple. With this as the foundation, these seeds of knowledge you call 'teachings,' when passed down, bore fruit, and that fruit bears more seeds. That is the tradition."
Hari Puri Baba, in Baba: Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Yogi
Remarks
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Fri 20 Jul 2007 at 07:20AM
A wonderful book and awesome book review. It's true when one start to move towards better life then others follow.
Sun 22 Jul 2007 at 08:54PM
gbSk
ya know, i read this right before we went to N. india in '05. cheb i sabbah gave me a friend of his phone # who has an ashram in haridwar. it wasn't until later ir ealized it was ram puris #. unfortunately he was out of station,,,in delhi i think. but he was super friendly on the phone and i do want to meet up with him one of these days.
it kinda read like a harry potter in naga land adveture!
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