Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru [Paperback]

Andre van der Braak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

Enlightenment Blues is Andre van der Braak’s compelling first hand account of his relationship with a prominent spiritual teacher. It chronicles both the author’s spiritual journey and disenchantment as well the development of a missionary and controversial community around the teacher. It powerfully exposes the problems and necessities of disentanglement from a spiritual path.

“Enlightenment Blues is the account of a young man's sincere and protracted struggle to transform his life according to the teachings of the American guru Andrew Cohen. Ruthlessly honest and unsettling, Andre van der Braak gives a vivid first-hand account of an uncompromising experiment in establishing Indian spirituality in a modern Western setting. This story is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the allure and pitfalls of surrendering one's authority in the hope of spiritually transforming the world” Stephen Batchelor, Author Buddhism without Beliefs

“Narrated with the psychological subtlety and drama of a good novel, Enlightenment Blues is a precise, profound dissection of the guru-devotee relationship. It should be required reading for all who are currently engaged in or considering studying under a spiritual teacher.” John Horgan, author of Rational Mysticism

"A profound contribution. The maturity and balance of this book place it at the front rank of works on contemporary spirituality. All the major themes of the spiritual quest are here - reason versus emotion, the problem of the ego, the guru, self-doubt, the place of altered states. Andre van der Braak has the creative gift of being able to hold opposing ideas in his mind without moving towards premature closure. Hence this heartfelt account of his eleven years in the Cohen movement is a beautiful testament to one man's quest to discover his own reality. Enlightenment Blues deserves the widest readership." Len Oakes, Prophetic Charisma

“Enlightenment Blues is the personal story of one man’s eleven year journey into and out of a group of seekers of enlightenment with a charismatic leader who claims to be an exemplar of perfection. What distinguishes this book are the writer’s insights and honesty in portraying the workings of an authoritarian belief system that operates under the guise of spiritual revelations. Anyone who has ever belonged to such a group, or knows anyone who has, or who wants to understand what the appeals and dangers of surrendering to a guru consist of, would benefit from reading this book.” Joel Kramer, author, The Guru Papers

"Andre van der Braak’s story is our own story. We walked the ‘yellow brick road’ whether it was Zen or Yoga or Advaita. We desperately wished for or found a Guru who could help us find our way home and we wholly gave ourselves. Andre’s talk of it is fresh and innocent. He takes us by the hand through a hazardous trail. Neither bitter nor estranged, nor having lost his passion for the way, he remembers with us what really happened, and why.” Orit Sen-Gupta, Author, Dancing the Body of Light – The Future of Yoga

Andre van der Braak lived in Andrew Cohen’s spiritual community for 11 years, an involvement initiated shortly after Cohen had begun teaching. He was one of the original editors for “What is Enlightenment Magazine”. He was also an editor for Cohen’s first teaching text, Enlightenment is a Secret, which entailed reading over 4,000 pages of transcribed talks, and editing them into book form.

Today, he lives in Amsterdam where he teaches philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and at Luzac College in Alkmaar.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing; First Edition first Printing edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972635718
• ISBN-13: 978-0972635714
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #940,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courageous, Laudible, a Classic., May 29, 2004

By 

rain cloud (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru (Paperback)

This book is harrowing and took a lot of honesty to write. Andrew Cohen is a guru who underwent something like two weeks training with a teacher in India--supposedly in the lineage of Sri Ramana Maharshi--before being turned loose on the public. He's so out of control that his own mother wrote an expose' of him (Luna Tarlo and her book, "The Mother of God", is available on amazon). I suppose the people who believe in Cohen are just good but immature kids. And for those still capable of hearing a dissenting voice, I offer this anecdote.

I once knew an American who was a direct disciple of Ramana Maharshi. In the late nineteen forties he flew to India at age 17 and arrived at Ramana's ashram unannounced. The Maharshi was in the meditation hall sitting on a slightly raised dais, as always. He greeted the american kid warmly, asked some questions about his hometown of new york city (for example: "Are the buildings really that tall?") The Maharshi already had advanced cancer and could only hobble around painfully with a cane, but he personally got up, took the kid's hand, and led him to a dilapidated cabin where he could bed down. Having made certain the kid was comfy, Ramana left. My friend then practically fainted from exhaustion (trans-oceanic flights then were still endless propeller-driven marathons).

The kid was awakened nine hours later by a soft tapping at his door. He opened it. There stood Ramana, all alone, holding a palm leaf filled with food. Ramana sat down, like a good dad, and watched the half-starved boy scarf the meal. Apparently satisfied that the boy was recovering, Ramana Maharshi slowly stood up and limped back to his seat in the meditation hall.

This is a true story. (The man was the Gnani Robert Adams and his book "Silence of the Heart" is available on amazon. He died in 1997 with the same nobility with which he'd always lived).

This book I'm reviewing tells a paralell story. Andrew Cohen kept a whole restaurant full of his devotees waiting for lunch while he piddled around, becoming extremely late. Finally they ate without him. When Cohen arrived he threw a HUGE TEMPER TANTRUM how DARE they eat before him?

Now, here's the punch line: does this sound like Sri Ramana Maharshi to you?

Ramana probably would have insisted they all eat FIRST then would have painfully limped around freshening everyone's drink. Don't kid yourself, being degraded never sped anyone to enlightenment. (Ignore ken wilber, Cohen's big defender, ALL he knows is books).

However, buy this book and decide for yourself. By all means, think for yourself.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Abuse Of Power, June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru (Paperback)

This book is an appalling tale of abuse. One of the sadder incidents, as told by van der Braak, occurred when Andrew Cohen and a couple of his students pressured a confused woman into giving $2 million (which was most of her money) so that Andrew could purchase his community center at Foxhollow. This resulted not only in a serious financial loss to the woman, but caused her to risk losing her family relationships as well. Van der Braak recounts how Andrew then broke a confidence with the woman, publicly revealing that she donated the money, and publicly ridiculing her for not being able to give up her "ego." In my opinion, such manipulation and abuse of power call into question what Andrew and his community are attempting to do today in the name of "enlightenment."

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emporer's new clothes, May 25, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru (Paperback)

Four instead of five stars only because it's not a great book, although it's an important one and the author does a commendable job recounting his experiences as honestly as he's able.

As long as "enlightenment" is viewed as an object to be obtained or won, there will always be con artists to pimp the idea that you either have it or you don't, that I have it and I can give it to you (and take it away just as easily). It too easily becomes nearly impossible, then, not to conflate "enlightenment" with said con artist's (always increasingly paranoid) judgments. So how "enlightened" you are with Andrew Cohen, for instance, means how "powerful" or "revolutionary" you make his words seem when editing them (on his website, Zen teacher Brad Warner makes a nice point about this: something like, "Andrew, you oughtta try writing your OWN book. Some of us do it that way, y'know").

Andre van der Braak is a very sincere seeker who got hooked by a professional. It's also true that van der Braak wanted a kind of Daddy, someone to love him unconditionally, to give him "enlightenment". This happens, of course, and a true teacher would've held up a mirror, would've deflected such adoration, and would've helped van der Braak learn to stand on his OWN feet. Someone like Cohen, however, starts licking his lips and shopping for real estate in Massachusetts.

After reading it, I ventured to some of Cohen's websites, expecting to find a particularly charismatic schlep. But I don't understand the attraction: he's just a schlep. I viewed an "engaging" clip of him and Ken Wilbur "in dialogue". Cohen just sort of stammers with big, silly words he doesn't understand, trying to impress Wilbur, who sits back nodding in his best Foucault imitation. Two guys who've got it all figured out -- except for the part about desperately needing the other guy to stroke his own ego. And it's perfect really, because each can tout the other -- saying "he's revolutionary" or "Cohen is a rude boy teacher and you simply can't deal with that" -- and in doing so, avoid actually having to practice anything themselves. Even selling water by the river, one dies of thirst without at the very least an occasional sip.