Cat Guru [Paperback]

Naina, Ph.D. Lepes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2004

A semi-wild cat named Sweetie enters the author’s kitchen in an ashram in India and gives birth to two incredible kittens, Bhakti and Samah. This seemingly mundane event triggers a whirlwind of wonder and humor, love and pathos, delight and questioning—as we too become initiated into a new order of intimacy with nature’s laws. As the story unfolds, it evolves from a simple tale filled with the surprises of maya, to Naina’s reaction to the events, whether known or surmised. Both these levels are supported by the spiritual insights that are continually being offered, as the cats become our teachers. The Cat Guru reveals that caring for animals teaches us love and compassion, and encourages us to open our hearts to a higher consciousness, bringing new meaning and depth to our lives. The book includes 16 color photos of Sweetie and her kittens, as well as footnotes and glossary, for those who are interested in Hinduism.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This charming story affirms that caring for animals teaches us love and compassion, and encourages us to open our hearts to a higher consciousness. This is how we all proceed upward beyond the biological evolutionary cycle into genuine spiritual evolution. A divine partnership is established to help us ascend the ladder of creation until we each embrace our God nature. We evolve both on the physical level of the body and the psychological level of the psyche—from animal to human to divine. Then we discover our true home—which exists always—and we break the bonds of evolution.

About the Author

Naina Lepes became initiated into the joy of cats when a black and white stray crawled through a tiny opening in her sixth floor window in New York and remained for fourteen years. A longtime student of Vedanta and Eastern spirituality, she is the author of The Bhagavad Gita and Inner Transformation and formerly worked as Jungian psychotherapist. Naina resides in India and New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Nicolas Hays (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892540990
• ISBN-13: 978-0892540990
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,567,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A delightful, frustrating and instructive journey., December 10, 2004

By 

Beth Isabelle (Imperial Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cat Guru (Paperback)

Naina Lepes creates a microcosm that we enter willingly. We share her initial optimism for the health and happiness of the cat family, an optimism soon tempered by realism. Just as parents must learn to accept their inability to protect their children from life's sorrows, we learn, along with the author, that we have limited control over the health and happiness of the adorable kittens and their exasperating parents. As the author's perseverance is tested - and occasionally derailed - by cat antics, vagaries of fortune and the idiocies of individuals within the ashram's world, we remember our own frustrations when meticulously prepared plans were demolished by the unexpected. Through the author's interpretation of her experiences and their relationship to the greater spiritual universe, we learn to accept that the cat nature must dictate the way life is lived by this cat family - and that this, like the nature of fate in our universe - is not always readily understood by humans. As we work through the disappointments of our daily lives, sometimes overwhelmed by the tragedies we see in the world and uncomprehending of the personal and political choices of others, we take comfort in the knowledge that we can learn to transcend this reality to find inner peace.

4.0 out of 5 stars Cats & India, June 21, 2005

By 

Sarah Jane Goodson (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cat Guru (Paperback)

The Cat Guru is a beautifully-written nonfiction account of the
author's adventures raising a family of ferral cats on an ashram in
India. Guru means teacher, and the book describes what the author
learned about the meaning of life from observing the cats and her neighbors. In the chapter "A Pile of Feathers", the mother cat brings a bird into Naina's living room to teach the kittens. Naina first watches in disgust as the kittens play with the bird and devour it on her living room floor; then she realizes the cats are simply doing what is good and natural for them. It is not a children's book. Naina reveals the ashram to be a microcosm of the world with some of the same insensitive bureaucrats as anywhere else. The book includes color photos of the cat family, starting with the birth of the kittens.

5.0 out of 5 stars Not only for cat lovers, February 28, 2005

By 

Marcia Salgado - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cat Guru (Paperback)

The Cat Guru is a wonderful parallel story of development. The book is not only about cats but also about human growth. I found the story to be deep, intimate, touching, and sometimes funny. I really could not put the book down. I became very involved with the cat family. Throughout the book you get a glance into the East Indian culture. If you didn't like cats before you read this book, you might start thinking about them after you are finished. I will never forget Maya. I really loved the book!