Customer Reviews

From Onions to Pearls

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Please disregard any negative reviews of this book. Anyone discrediting what this man says obviously doesn't get it!
The anger that it appears to generate in some people speaks louder than any review. He cannot upset you. Only you can.
Ironicaly this is the limited type of thinking that Satyam is attempting to expose as a waste of time.
If you read this with your heart, you will see that he does not say that practice is a waste of time. Practice is the required method to soften the layers of human conditioning. The only time wasted is practicing while not realizing that you are the source of your own enlightenment. It is not a "thing" you need to seek because is is already in you.
If repetition bothers you, pretend the book is one long chanting session and let joy overflow every time he says "You are That".

I read this book back in February this year and it blew me away. As a personal development junkie I didn't like this message at all but it somehow rang true. Soon after I suddenly felt an enormous sense of relief as I realised there's nothing to do! I had been chasing my tail for years. Which was also great in a way!
Read this book for a wake up call but also consider reading works of Gangaji, Papaji and good old Tony Parsons (The Open Secret & As it is).

WARNING: This book may be hazardous to your spiritual practice. In fact reading Satyam Nadeen's ONIONS TO PEARLS could end your spiritual practice altogether. This self-proclaimed, "awakened" (he dislikes using the word "enlightened") ex-convict and drug lord postures that awakening like all else in our lives is preordained through what he calls Destiny and Grace. It does not matter how many hours you sit cross-legged in front of a statue of the Buddha or how many years you spend in an ashram or a Zen monastery. If you are not predestined to awaken, then you will never receive a wake-up call from the Source regardless of how deep your spiritual practice may be. And, if you are predestined for enlightenment, it will happen even if you are doing hard time in a maximum security prison like Nadeen was.

Do I think it is true? Of course, it is true. Every guru down through the ages worth his or her zafu has stated that. So, what's the big deal? Well, I suppose that Michael Clegg, alias Satyam Nadeen, is the big deal. Or should I say dealer? First, it was Ecstasy, the drug of the eighties, that Clegg was dealing. That got him a mountaintop retreat in Costa Rica, a private plane and the opportunity to hang out at ashrams and monasteries all over the world. Eventually, it got him busted, and he had to spend two years in a holding cell in Florida, where he received his wake up call. Then he did seven years in a Federal prison at San Pedro, where Clegg went through his "Deliverence," a deepening process that integrates one's awakening with the world of duality and illusion. Although he negates the concept of karma completely, I would say that Clegg got his just desserts, considering he was doing spiritual practice while profiting from recreational pharmaceuticals. Now, Clegg is dealing strictly in enlightenment, which is much more profitable than Ecstasy. He gets $200 for a weekend intensive and up to $2100 for a week-long retreat in Costa Rica, and there are no Federal or State statutes to guard against. To his credit, however, Clegg did hard time, stuck it out and found a way to even profit from it. That's much more than I could ever hope to accomplish. I doubt if I would last a week in such a situation. I can hardly imagine what it must have been like for someone living such a luxurious lifestyle to find themselves suddenly ensconced in the worst of all possible circumstances. Clegg eventually came to accept his fellow prisoners as being one with the Source and a reflection of the perfection of life rather than a flaw. According to his insight, they help balance out the Freedom/Limitation equation of life. If there were no hardened criminals, there would be no Mother Teresas or Dalai Lamas.

He goes even further to state that those who maintain a spiritual practice for reasons of self-gratification are less in tune with the Source than criminals who are "being" exactly what life intended them to be. It all works out in the end the way it is supposed to, in spite of us, not because of us.

The problem with ONIONS TO PEARLS is that it is repetitive to the point of agonizing boredom and somewhat self-indulgent. Clegg could have stated his entire book in just a few pages: "Consciousness is all there is...You are not the doer." What I find so auspicious is that both Clegg and I received our wake up calls from the same source, Ramesh Balsekar who wrote THE FINAL TRUTH. You may want to read Balsekar or Scott Morrison instead. Both write in a selfless, to-the-point style whereas Clegg is rather cold and dogmatic.

I've done the Course In Miracles workbook all the way through and I've read the text twice. I've read Eckart Tolle, Kenneth Wapnick, and so many spiritual texts that I cannot name them all but never have I read something so radical and so powerful as "From Onions to Pearls". I can understand some of the negative statements, even I (a spiritual student for nearly 40 years) was blown away by some of his statements nevertheless, I am one to try before forming an opinion. So I walked in his concepts and peered through his perspective... and all I can say is WOW! I've never had something to take me "there" so swiftly and allow me to relax and go with the flow of life. Now life is "doing" me... I'm not doing life. It is the most freeing, peaceful, trusting, relaxing, graceful place I've ever been. Thank you Satyam. Bless you.

From Onions to Pearls is the last spirtitual/consciousness/self-help book you will ever need. Finally somebody who can not only translate the Eastern to the Western, but actually improve the clarity and insightfulness of it all. There is no doubt that this book will change many lives...and that's a tall order for the tool of print!

Satyam Nadeen is THERE (here).

A stunning, truthful book on awakening.

Nadeen's telling of his experience of awakening to freedom makes it seem attainable to all seekers. The simplicity of the message and the number of times and ways he reinforces that "Consciousness is all there is" has impacted me and the many people with whom I have shared this book profoundly. If you are searching for truth read this book. The process of peeling the layers of the onion will surely be accelerated in the process.

PS. I am confused by the negative first review...I can't imagine what kind of onions that reviewer expected...it seems we read two different books.

This is it. The one and only book on awakening that you will ever need to read. Don't think of it as reading a book. Think of it as having an experience. Exactly the same experience that Nadeen describes in the book. It's almost like taking a timed-release enlightenment pill. By the time you're done reading it your consciousness and your life will have dramatically changed forever.

This is not heavy 'I Am That' Advaita, its a little bit more down to earth.

Its the interesting story about a man who had just about done it all on the spirtual merry go round and ended up finding his true nature in a prison.

An enjoyable read.

This is quite simply the most important book I have ever read. The first review above is horribly cynical for someone who considers self enlightened (What nonsense, when there is no one there to be enlightened, when you are!) When groups are up and running all around the world to uncover this book's profundity, simplicity and ego-deprecating humor, I encourage everyone to join in. I also notice that one's resistance to the book is directly proportional to one's attachment to identity (Ego) I have never been so grateful for a book (Altho Conversations with God Book 1 came close) Thanks