Autobiography of an Awakening [Paperback]

Andrew Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2002

Autobiography of an Awakening is a portrayal of Andrew Cohen's uncompromising search for liberation, his profound awakening, and finally his painful struggle to come to terms with the discrepancy between his teacher's realization and his own. As he attempts to make sense of the confusing conduct of his teacher, Andrew is forced to question again and again the real meaning and significance of the enlightened condition. The result is a disarmingly personal story, and a fascinating investigation into the causes of the corruption so prevalent in the spiritual world today. Autobiography of an Awakening is a powerful work that reveals both the explosive implications of what it means to aspire to spiritual liberation and the extraordinary dedication that it takes for any human being to stand alone in the truth.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A profile of a passionate young man whose search for the truth and self-realization took him around the world, both as a teacher and a disciple. Even at the worst odds, the loss of friends and family, he persisted. Disillusionment, especially in one's teacher, seems to be par for the course, and Andrew struggles throughout the book to reconcile his master's ambivalence. We are led to understand the depths and difficulties of the master/disciple relationship. There is an openness to Andrew that makes him accessible and non-dogmatic. If any of you have experienced states of awakening, this book will reaffirm that experience. A direct and simple approach to truth may be what we all search for but soon forget. Our cynicism and negativity block our progress. Andrew encounters this time and time again, but persists in his own inner guidance. Here is the budding of an enlightened soul whose teachings bear close attention. -- New Visions, Winter 1992

This is a compelling and thought-provoking account of the life of Andrew Cohen. It describes his search for enlightenment and his arrival at the end of that search in the meeting with his teacher. It does not end with the author's enlightenment, however, for it goes on to explain and describe his continued exploration into the true nature of enlightenment and recounts how this uncompromising investigation eventually led to the painful and public fall-out between Andrew and his teacher. Revealing and calling into question many widely-held beliefs about spiritual life, it's a powerful indictment of the current spiritual scene and the hypocrisy that abounds in it, not by an outside observer, but by a contemporary spiritual teacher. -- Bodhi Tree Bookstore Review, Winter 1992

True to the title, Cohen gives a very American, very candid picture of enlightenment. At sixteen, "I suddenly knew without any doubt that there was no such thing as death and that life itself had no beginning and no end." Insight, revelations, plague (or nourish) him, he passes through swamis, Hasidic rabbis, Sufi masters, Zen masters "and even went to visit Christian faith healers." In India he meets his teacher, goes through spiritual transfiguration, begins teaching and eventually, after a grueling time, grows disillusioned with the power trips of that teacher. But awakening, enlightenment, is the goal, the goal-less goal. Cohen warns us against blindly believing in anyone. A very personal look at a modern guru who insists on the willingness to face the Truth, "to abandon absolutely every and all thought formation and subtle concept in the pursuit of that Perfect understanding." -- The Book Reader, Fall 1992 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Here is the budding of an enlightened soul whose teachings bear close attention. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: EnlightenNext Inc. (February 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883929369
• ISBN-13: 978-1883929367
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,437,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew Cohen is a spiritual teacher, cultural visionary, and founder of the global nonprofit EnlightenNext and its award-winning publication EnlightenNext magazine. His original teaching of Evolutionary Enlightenment redefines spiritual awakening within the context of cosmic evolution and highlights a new understanding of God or Spirit as the creative impulse toward change in both self and culture. After a transformative meeting with the renowned Advaita Vedanta master H.W.L. Poonja in 1986, Cohen began teaching internationally and almost immediately started reshaping the larger cultural conversation about the purpose and significance of enlightenment in our time. He founded EnlightenNext magazine almost twenty years ago as a forum for serious spiritual and philosophical inquiry, and has since become known for his unique capacity to foster culture-changing dialogues among leading thinkers from a wide array of traditions and disciplines. 

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful story and an important message., October 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Autobiography of an Awakening (Paperback)

A powerful book! It had a very big affect on me and made me think deeper than I probably ever had about how important and also how delicate and dangerous it is to really walk on the spiritual path. Andrew Cohen describes his own enlightenment and his subsequent disillusionment with the integrity of his teacher. Truly, for anyone who has ever had to confront the question of a teacher or spiritual authority in whom their is unquestioned wisdom and spiritual power and yet also corruption and abuses of integrity, this book is a must read! It makes you realize how superficially this subject is generally treated. Andrew, a popular and powerful teacher in his own right, is forced to see that on one hand his teacher is without doubt a very awakened man AND a very corrupt individual AT THE SAME TIME. Yes, where have we all seen that before? Only constantly for the last 30 years. The most remarkable thing perhaps about this book is that Andrew fully addresses this subject with no cynicism! In fact, his whole message is that it is possible to live what you teach. Spiritual integrity is not only possible it should be what all of us demand from ourselves and our teachers. Thank God, amidst all of the fear and suspicion of spiritual teachers and groups these days, someone is bold enough to address these issues with intelligence, without a trace of cynicism and with what is clearly the utmost care, respect and appreciation for the sacredness and importance of spiritual life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN "AMERICAN GURU"? READ HIS STORY FOR YOURSELF, July 22, 2011

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Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Autobiography of an Awakening (Paperback)

Andrew Cohen (born 1955) is an American guru, spiritual teacher, magazine editor, author, and musician who has developed what he characterizes as a unique path of spiritual transformation, called Evolutionary Enlightenment. He has written a number of books, such as Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening, Living Enlightenment: A Call for Evolution Beyond Ego, Embracing Heaven & Earth: The Liberation Teachings of Andrew Cohen, etc. He has also been strongly criticized by his mother (The Mother of God) as well as former followers (e.g., Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru, American Guru: A Story of Love, Betrayal and Healing-former students of Andrew Cohen speak out).

Here are some quotations from this 1992 book:

"The day after (an Indian Swami) initiated me, while I was meditating with him and a small group of people, I had an unusual experience. Suddenly it felt like the bottom of my spine was plugged into a wall socket as I felt an enormous surge of energy rushing from the bottom of my spine up to the top of my head.... This event lasted a short time, and at the end of the meditation I could not speak, but could only do my best to control myself from bursting out laughing. I was amazed, fascinated and very inspired." (Pg. 15)
"Poonjaji told me that I had the same look in my eyes as his Guru Ramana Maharshi did. He said that he had seen these eyes only three times in his life: in his Guru's, in his own and in mine... He told me that he had been waiting for me his whole life and that now he was free." (Pg. 36-37)
"My friendship with my mother continued to grow as I got older. A fundamental shift took place though when I was twenty-two years old and consciously turned my life and full attention to spiritual evolution... I increasingly began to feel a tension in our relationship... Now she had become my enemy and this was one of the most painful events of my entire life." (Pg. 63-66)
"Apparently (my mother) had heard that Poonjaji has 'skeletons in his closet'---that he had been 'womanizing' while travelling and teaching in Europe and had had a child with a young Western student years earlier. I was stunned, but then realized ... that my mother must have made it up in order to discredit Poonjaji, because she, I had been told, disliked him intensely." (Pg. 87)
"I unexpectedly met a man who had been my Guru's disciple eighteen years earlier... (he) said Poonjaji seemed not to care at all about the mess he was leaving in his wake. He further confirmed the fact of Poonjaji's promiscuity and described how Poonjaji often lied, talked behind other people's backs ... He said that Poonjaji only cared about himself and often misused his power as a Guru for his own benefit."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful irony! Fascinating read., January 18, 2011

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TW - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Autobiography of an Awakening (Paperback)

Loved the irony of someone on a spiritual search, finding a guru who teaches non-identification with ego (in the Ramana Maharshi lineage)...then having a huge ego-based fall out with that teacher! Wonderful read. Very human and real.