Customer Reviews

The Initiation

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THIS BOOK HAS CHANGED MY LIFE LIKE NO OTHER! I have read most of the popular spiritual books by all the well known authors. The Initiation is the first book to give me a profound PERSONAL spiritual experience. I am not the same person since I read it. It touched my heart so deeply that I now feel I have been initiated. I have a such a new awareness about myself, the world, and others I am sure I have gone through a form of enlightenment. Everybody notices, and when they ask me what's happened, I can only say,"Read The Initiation!" I am happier, stronger, more peaceful, and I am able to love like never before. I repeat, THIS BOOK HAS CHANGED MY LIFE! I'm telling everybody I know to get it. I think it will be one of those books everybody on the planet will soon be talking about. I wish I could thank Dr. Schnell personally. He must be amazing!

For those who read and were influenced by such books as The Autobiography of a Yogi, and Be Here Now of Ram Dass, or are simply walking their own path looking for inspiration, this is a new book of a powerful spiritual journey, that of Dr. Donald Schnell, initiated as Prema Baba Swamiji and of the avatar Babaji's continued teaching through him. I was greatly moved by the story of his initiation and the playful mystical experiences he has with Babaji and his humility as he shares those experiences with the the reader. He shares what he has learned and received through his initiation and now brings forth for those who wish to receive such divine gifts. I was also very touched by a great love story, that of him and Leelananda, his wife Marilyn Diamond. I hope to do a workshop with them soon to receive the blessings of their teaching. This book points a way to bringing divine love into our everyday awareness and as a way of being in the world and truly transforming our world.

If you've ever wondered what it feels like to experience divine enlightenment, THE INITIATION is the book you've been waiting for. Author Donald Schnell shares his extremely personal journey to India where he meets the immortal Babaji yogi, and describes what many would consider to be the indescribable. After all, how can one adequately convey the way the world looks when all illusion (maya) is stripped away? Yes, miracles are possible, but they are only "siddhis", or sacred gifts which are not the true essence of reality. Siddhis like manifestation, teleportation, and levitation are joyous to behold, but are not meant to distract us from seeing the miraculous nature of the universe which is present here right now.

Schnell not only describes the way the world looks when one feels the joy and bliss of divine awareness, but he does so in such a way that the feeling of this loving state of consciousness is bestowed upon the reader. I felt like I had received many blessings as I read this book, and I know my life will be ever the richer for it. Schnell describes many details of how it felt to undergo a very special kind of initiation from the moment when he felt suddenly called to India, to the wondrous miracles he encountered as he traveled across India, to the culmination of his trip in his initiation into the yogic order with his new yogic name, Prema Baba Swamiji. The accounts of his meetings with Babaji are a joy to read -- Babaji appears to still be in his early twenties, in spite of the fact that he's been teaching students for hundreds of years. He grants Schnell's request for a photograph of him by materializing one. He also materializes a very beautiful and sacred crystal, which is still molten-hot and malleable when it appears in Schnell's hands out of thin air.

While THE INITIATION is ostensibly an autobiographical account of one man's journey to enlightenment, this book is actually much more than that. THE INITIATION feels like it has been blessed to convey the inner vibration of love that Babaji and Prema Baba Swamiji wish for readers to feel and know. For when we come to recognize this state of blissful awareness, or Premananda, we realize that we, too, have made the journey to enlightenment.

The Initiation by Dr. Donald Schnell is a fascinating account of one man's encounter with the Immortal Babaji (of Sgt. Pepper and Autobiography of a Yogi fame). Unlike many books in this genre, this one had the distinct ring of authenticity. While reading the book I experienced an inner warmth in my heart and a joy that lasts. I've already read the book three times and given away copies to all of my friends. I am breathlessly awaiting another book from this skilled author. As an editor of a book publishing house I see tons of manuscripts each year. If you are looking for more than a book and desiring a personal experience of connectedness to the sacredness of life--do yourself a favor and read this book. Better yet share it with a friend. It is a powerful love story.

In the Initiation, the Author Dr. Donald Schnell takes the reader through a truly magical journey of self discovery and unfoldment that leads him to the "Deathless Avatar", Babaji who initiates him into a sacred order of swamis and becomes Prema Baba Swamiji. For a western man outside of India to have the profound privilage of not only meeting the ageless 2000 year old living spiritual legend Babaji in physical form (who one may read about in 'Autobiography of a Yogi' and many other great spiritual works)but to also be initiated in Babaji's sacred order of swamis is beyond amazing.

Any reader lucky enough to pick up this book will go through this incredible journy and initiation that Dr. Donald Schnell was blessed to experience as if you were right there by the side of the author as he travels the depths of India, his heart, his mind, and into the timeless here and now where God resides. If one is open minded enough to pay attention to the proufoundly simple yet immensly powerful mind, heart and sould opening universal truths and teachings that are so humbly and subtly put forth to the reader by this great man then the reader too will experience the beginning of the magical unfoldment of the human personality that begins with the realiazation that the path to god begins with the understanding that devine love is not a distant, new age concept, but is a devine reality that is available to all of us right here and now. ...

The Initiation is a very enjoyable book to read for many reasons. While it is autobiographical -- the story of the author's initiation by his guru -- it is much more than that. It combines the story of a seeker's journey to find himself, and takes us along with him in his forays into the spiritual side of India. We meet the eternal Babaji, connect with Kali, the Divine Mother, we travel in India with the elusive Babu, and even more, we connect with our own spirituality as Babaji and his teachers answer the deep questions we may or may not have formulated ourselves at some point.

As you read of Dr. Schnell's voyage into himself and into the center of love, you also voyage alongside. The book may read as easily as a novel, but is packed with spiritual insights and understanding like a hefty spiritual tome. While the book may be the story of Dr. Schnell's transformation into Prema Baba Swamiji, it is really about each one of us, and our transformation into the Divinity we truly are.

Donald Schnell has written a little book with a big message! As coordinator of www.babaji.net, I highly recommend this book to all who want a deeper connection to Babaji within their hearts. It is inspirational, informative, and a blessing to all who read it. It confirms that Babaji is available to guide us along our spiritual path. It explains many simple concepts that will improve our everyday lives, benefitting all sentient beings. Congratulations to Dr. Schnell for capturing the spirit and the essence of Babaji's teachings and transmitting them to the world at large. Om Namah Shivaya

Dr. Donald Schnell has many gifts and talents, which are shared with the reader through one of his greatest talents - the ability to communicate through words. The Initiation is an easy read, one you won't want to put down. It's a fast paced Journey to Premananda that will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you wanting more. I can't wait for the sequal! It left me with a new found peace, a greater sense of self and a much better understanding of what it is we are all doing here. Om Prema Om!

Yet another fraudster. The author claims to have spent 17 years of study under Dr. Hugh Greer Carruthers (another con man and I should know, he was my uncle) however the author fails to mention that Carruthers died in 1960 and the author was born in 1955.

As editor of The Celestine View, I'm one considered enlightened to the mystical side of this world, though I still consider myself a skeptic. The truth of Prema Baba Swamiji's words shine through this wonderful book. Thank you so much Swamiji for having the courage to tell your story as it happened and not tone it down as to make it believable to skeptics such as myself. The truth within has made the extraordinary believable for me.