Bones and Ash [Paperback]

Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1995

These poems and drawings are a distillation and selection from Ma Jaya's personal journals.

Between November 1991 and October 1992, she filled 89 large folios with sketches, photographs, and writings. They began as a tribute to her first student, Dr. Thomas "Billy" Byrom, a former don at Oxford University and a man of enormous heart and compassion. Billy died in 1991, and Ma Jaya used these handwritten volumes to continue conversations she had with him.

At the same time, Ma was working tirelessly with many who were living and dying with HIV/AIDS, and the journals became a tribute and ongoing conversation with them as well.

The title "Bones and Ash" is drawn from Indian imagery of the cremation grounds in India. The transition from earthly life to "bones and ash" is not an ending, but a beginning of a free life.  And so these writings offer a doorway to a life far beyond the ordinary.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...powerful poems,...epiphanies for our living and dying. -- Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religions, Harvard

...soars above the mundane existence of ordinary time...until I do not know which thoughts are hers and which belong to me. -- Arlo Guthrie, singer/songwriter

A remarkable collection...the mystery of compassionate presence and transformative outreach. I recommend it enthusiastically. -- Jim Kenny, Council of the Parliament of World's Religions

From the Author

I have only one path to teach, and that path is love. I use love as a razor to scrape away the scars left over from  the ego's wars against the heart.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 147 pages
• Publisher: Jaya Press (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964046938
• ISBN-13: 978-0964046931
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,544,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati is a spiritual teacher, mystic, and visionary. She teaches that divinity is ultimately beyond words and without form, yet manifests in countless ways to lead us to liberation. She tells us that all paths of love can lead to spiritual awakening.

Besides teaching and writing, Ma Jaya's accomplishments include starting an interfaith community; developing Kali Natha Yoga, a modern system drawn from ancient roots; guiding service projects in India, Uganda, and the US; working to end religious prejudice against the LGBT community; founding a model community for low income seniors; and creating a large body of sacred art.

Born into a Jewish family in 1940, Ma Jaya grew up in a cellar apartment in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, just a short walk from the ocean and the famous Coney Island Boardwalk. As a young girl, she found love and solace among the homeless people who lived under the Boardwalk. Welcoming her, they taught her many lessons about life, especially, "There are no throwaway people." She grew up to dedicate her life to humanity.

Enrolling in a weight loss class in 1972 led her to learn a simple yogic breath that would ultimately bring about her spiritual enlightenment. Her personal spiritual journey moved quickly and at times chaotically. As a thoroughly modern urban woman, she tried to live a normal life and raise a family; at the same time, as a person of rare spiritual gifts, she daily opened to a series of mystical visions and experiences. She had an experience first of Jesus Christ, then of Shri Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, and finally her guru, Shri Neem Karoli Baba. As early as 1973, she began to "teach all ways," giving a contemporary voice to the great truths that underlie all spiritual paths.

In 1976, Ma Jaya moved to Florida and founded Kashi Ashram, a spiritual community that embraces all religious and spiritual paths, where she continues to teach and serve. She offers the example of a spiritual life alive with love, faith, creativity, service, and the rituals of many traditions. Emphasizing individual spiritual growth, she teaches seekers at all levels and does not ask her students to follow any particular set of doctrines or beliefs. Or, as she often says, "This is not a religion!" She encourages her students to use what she teaches within their own faiths or traditions, and to practice kindness.