Customer Reviews

Just Like You: An Autobiography

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've read this book several times now. Really. There's something about it that is working for me, or on me, and that is mysterious and intriguing. And positive and fun.

It's definitely not that the particulars of my life have been so much like Gangaji's. After all, I'm a man and didn't grow up anywhere near Mississippi. And while our life paths have some similarities, many of her experiences are completely foreign to me.

And it's not as if the book has such great explicit instructions, although there is wisdom, worldly and otherwise, gleaned from all the mistakes she made. The authors are careful to point out the danger of copying any patterns or methods to "get" something. Definitely the book is discouraging of following paths or copying anyone to achieve inner peace. "Nothing to be achieved, so stop trying, but do pay attention and do tell the truth."

It's more like there's a transmission here of something absolutely essential--call it wakefulness or peace or love--and it's changing me without any discernible effort, except the reading. And the way it's happening is comfortable, like walking for a while in a fine light mist. Eventually you discover you're soaked. I can't say I really know how this is happening, and I don't think it matters if I do know. But it seems I'm drenched, and loving it.

So I highly recommend that you try this book, open to the possibility that it may work on you also, and not to worry if it appears not to. It may anyway.

What a fabulous book this is! Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It's hard to believe that a book could be so jam-packed with exactly what I am interested in.

First, there's the autobiographical part. To me, it was fascinating to read about this woman's life. It evoked so much for me. The tenderness of childhood, the shift to status and popularity as an adolescent, the dissatisfaction with all that as a young woman and turning toward psychedelics and then spiritual understanding as a way to find happiness. No one speaks more articulately about the spiritual search and leaving it behind than Gangaji does.

Then there is the transmission of light and love that pervades the book. In her opening Gangaji says, "This is an invitation to shift your allegiance from the activity of your mind to the eternal presence of your Being." By the time I'd finished reading her story and by the time I'd experienced hours of being in her company, so to speak, I knew exacly what she meant by that.

In her newest book, Roslyn Moore brings to light the life and teachings of her teacher, Gangaji. In a skillful and graceful way, using interviews, dialogue and some of the letters exchanged between Gangaji and her teacher, Papaji, Roslyn brings forward a life, the life of a woman who professes to be just like you.

So it is. There is a story, yes. And to read it is to walk in memory with one's own story, one's own seeking. This offering, however, differs from other spiritual biographies. It is simplicity itself. In an utterly straightforward way the reader receives--both in words and through awareness--the ultimate question and its answer:

"The truth of who you are, right now, is already free. The truth of who you are is already at peace. The truth of who you are, at this moment, is already in bliss, in fulfillment. There is no need to search for anything, because you already are everything you are looking for. It is only the distraction of mind that keeps you from recognizing it.

Is Just Like You, only of interest to those on the quest for
realization? This reader doesn't think so. It is the heartfelt story of a western woman of our time who arrived in San Francisco looking for happiness. Hers is a tale of adventure, of doors opening and doors closing as life's opportunities reveal themselves.

It is a woman's story, full of the trials of a woman who joined
the counterculture in the seventies. And it is also filled with the insights and realizations of a woman who, in 1990, was directed to give spiritual teachings. At its heart is the revelation of universal beingness. Gangaji speaks the truth from her direct experience. She lives that truth. That makes this autobiography a treasure.

I thought this was a very simple, straightforward autobiography, very unpretentious. The author/s are definitely not trying to impress the reader with this small volume. It is a clean write-up minus any verbose intellectuality....direct and to the point...if Gangaji intimidates you - from what I garner from it's pages - the problem is not hers. The story is lacking in particulars but I suppose she is just being very candid and speaking very humbly, speaking only about the most salient aspects of her life thus far - I was actually amazed(!) that other reviewers saw very much otherwise - she does come across as very ordinary...that is until you read her other books - they are indeed quite heavy and not light reading at all.

"Just Like You" is very, very wonderful. It made my heart dance with happiness to see a techer who is down-to-earth and pragmatic and at the same time shares the enlightenment of the great spiritual masters. And the book is a delicious read. Once I started it I couldn't put it down.

Everytime Gangaji speaks, she gives us the secret. Eckhart and Katie left me firmly in my mind. Gangaji put me back in my heart. Also recommended: THE DIAMOND IN YOUR POCKET

Not a poorly written book, and mildly entertaining on a superficial level as an autobiography. But much like the spiritual ramblings I've seen on numerous occasions on public access TV, I find the enlightenment bestowed upon the masses by Gangaji to be vacuous and self-important. While it's a heartening journey she's undertaken to find peace with her own life, and admirable that she wants to share that with people seeking their own direction, I find her "teachings" to have an irritating smugness and all the substance of a bag of air. One must question the spiritual enlightenment of one who sells pictures of themselves on their own web site.

An Ok read purely for entertainment...seek enlightenment elsewhere.