Samadhi: Personal Journeys to Spiritual Truth [Hardcover]

Derek Biermann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2000

A spiritual life is a creative process, a path of devotion, and a journey of self-discovery. Photographer Derek Biermann traveled to northern India to obtain what became a rare and privileged insight into the sacred lives of devotees following different spiritual paths. He asked each of these individuals the same questions: What is faith?
What is truth?
What is reality?
What is love?
What is samadhi? With their blessing, the answers to these questions were recorded and transcribed and are presented here as a unique insight into the process of obtaining samadhi—the direct experience of the conscious Self. Samadhi is described as the deepest level of meditation in which the mind becomes completely absorbed in the uninterrupted contemplation of reality and ceases to function other than as pure consciousness. Each response is accompanied by a superb portrait photograph, taken by Biermann, which documents a special exchange of spiritual perspectives. What intrinsically binds all of these people together is their faith. Their knowledge and wisdom guide us toward a further understanding of the depths of spirituality in India.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of interviews with 41 Indian samadhis (saints who can achieve the deepest level of meditation) works best at demonstrating the tremendous religious diversity of northern India. Biermann provides only a two-page preface before allowing his subjects free rein on questions about truth, faith, reality, love and samadhi. There are Muslims; Tibetan Buddhists from the community-in-exile at Dharamsala; Catholic and Protestant Christians; devotees of Shiva, Krishna, and various gurus; and representatives of some relatively new Hindu sects. Some are wanderers and mendicants, while others live in settled religious communities; some respond to questions of enlightenment by emphasizing technical practices such as mantras, breathing and yoga postures, while others speak of self-realization in terms of total surrender and humility. Most answer the question about truth by pointing to the validity of all religious paths ("Anything is truth," claims one Hindu woman), though the Muslim leaders interviewed strike a more exclusivist tone by emphasizing Allah's revelation to Muhammad and the Five Pillars of Islam. Several of the samadhis speak of the self-mortifications that help them to focus their minds on spiritual matters: two have worn wooden "chastity belts" for years, and others regularly experience prolonged periods of fasting. Biermann largely keeps himself out of the picture, offering refreshingly little editorial commentary. The book is enhanced by his sensitive black-and-white photographs of each subject (some of whom were reluctant to be caught on film).
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Derek Biermann was born in South Africa in 1959 and for several years worked as the resident production and portrait photographer for the Cape Administration Performing Arts Board. He moved to London in 1982, where he spent the next five years gaining photographic experience. After emigrating to Australia in 1988, he established a studio in Sydney specializing in editorial and advertising photography. In 1993, he moved away from the commercial arena to begin a creative journey as a fine art photographer. What manifested through a personal transformation resulted in the emergence of his spiritual consciousness. Biermann's work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions in South Africa and Australia. Samadhi is his first book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 150 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1st edition (October 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570625794
• ISBN-13: 978-1570625794
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 9.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,732,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Samadhi? Well, kind of..., September 16, 2010

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This review is from: Samadhi: Personal Journeys to Spiritual Truth (Hardcover)

The author paid a personal visit to forty holy men and women, mostly in India, took their picture and asked them the same five questions. The last one was "What is Samadhi?" As it turns out most of them never got to the last question for whatever reason. A handful gave a curt one sentence answer and three of them actually talked about it for about one paragraph.

On p. 57 Maha Yogi Pilot Babaji said:

"Samadhi means oneness to the Self; beyond detachment. The body becomes the universe and we become the masters. The road to samadhi leads to total freedom, to think and observe your being. Samadhi is a silence totally within oneself, showing us that we have a destination in the spiritual world. To reach the end of samadhi is the meaning of life; to cross the barrier of death and time and existence. We are born into silence and are returned to silence. When you enter yourself into samadhi, everything becomes open to you; all doubts and curiosities are gone. You yourself are the universe once you cross the barrier of the ego by freeing yourself from the desires of attachment."

On p. 110 Shree Shree 1008 Kapalik Mahakal Bhairwand Saraswati said:

"A sense of samadhi is like life in a bubble. When you are sitting in samadhi, the fact remains that you are not there because you are with God. Samadhi links the Brahma chakra3 to the Almighty, and you become completely detached from the world. Everyone on this earth must seek some self-realization, and self-realization only comes when you think deeply about who you really are and where you come from. By thinking in this way, you will understand that it is possible to detach yourself from the world while living in the world. You live in this world like a lotus flower rising up above the mud."

On p. 146 Yog Mata Keiko Aikawa said:

"In samadhi I became myself, free from everything. I became oneness with God. I became light, beyond the mind and beyond the body; everything is dissolved. I became myself, joining the body with the mind. To get to know your Self, that is the highest stage of meditation and yoga. That is self-realization."

The author is a photographer and the coffee table book has extra pictures of other things too.