Customer Reviews

Swami: Encounters with Modern Mystics

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4 star:		(1)
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This book explores extremely fascinating possibilities of the mind, body and spirit. I found it to be an enthralling read. I wonder if maybe the previous reviewer may have been disappointed for s/he was expecting a thorough examination of swamis or their lifestyle in general, and this book's purpose is neither. Rather, I feel Boyd invites us to challenge our beliefs and wonder about the potential we possess and sadly disregard.

This is a different sort of going-to-India-to-look-for-a-guru book in that journalist Boyd starts out in Topeka, Kansas at the Menninger Foundation with Swami Rama (of the Himalayan Institute). The year is 1970 and the Swami has come from India to show the good doctors how he meditates and slows his heart beat, etc. Only later does Boyd go to India to look, as a Hindu guide phrases it, "into this swami business." One recalls that during the sixties it was all the rage to go to India and find a guru.

This book is partly a follow-up to Boyd's very successful "Rolling Thunder" which was about a Native American medicine man. Like "Rolling Thunder," "Swami" is engagingly written and aimed at a popular readership. Boyd, like a novelist, sprinkles the text with color, atmosphere and recreated dialogue. The best part of the book is the interesting portrait of the charming and almost mesmerizing Swami Rama that emerges. He is a rather young swami with a great zest for life, a man wise in the ways of the world but still vigorous with something to prove.

Perhaps the main value of the book, at least for today's readers, is the insight provided about the traditional disciple/guru relationship in the broader experience of Hinduism. We can see how the system works. We have the church system in Protestant Christianity, the monastic system in Buddhism and elsewhere, but in Hinduism traditionally there is the guru system. These various systems are ways to maintain and pass on religious knowledge, rituals and practices.

The rest of the book leaves a little to be desired, especially Boyd's lack of yogic sophistication and a "country boy" arrogance that sometimes creeps into the narrative.

By the way, "swami" is an honorific title signifying someone who has reached "sannyasa," the fourth stage or ashram of life in Hinduism. Traditionally such a person becomes a wandering mendicant. Swami Rama "wandered" to America while running the Himalayan Institute and writing books. His charm might remind the reader of a style perfected by Deepak Chopra.

(Note: My book, "Yoga: Sacred and Profane (Beyond Hatha Yoga)" is now available at Amazon.)

Yoga: Sacred and Profane: (Beyond Hatha Yoga)

This is an excellent book. Personal experience, well written, many dimensions.
The first part is about Boyd's time at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka assisting Swami Rama during his tenure there. The reader can gain insights into the many sides of a holy man.
Part two is even better, when Boyd goes to India on his own and enters into the worlds of lesser known but highly developed yogis.

I don't understand how a person who visits 3-4 monks & write about swami. He visited 2-3 places & wrote a big book. I don't think it's good book to understand about swamis & sadhana thay do.