Customer Reviews

The Teachers of One: Living Advaita: Conversations on the Nature of Non-Duality

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Awesome work...and I hope Marvelly will consider a sequel including even more teachers (Stephen Jourdain? Byron Katie? Neelam?), although this is a great representative sampling. Not only are the interviews with these modern-day Advaitins at once engaging and penetrating, but Marvelly's chronicling of her own "walk on the path" of nondual understanding is thoughtful and touching, and deeply personal in a way I very much appreciate and relate to. The interview with Pamela Wilson especially is like sitting with her in satsang; marvelously vivid. This is must reading for anyone interested in timeless wisdom and spiritual self-reliance.

This is a book to read slowly and savor, as each page offers so much to reflect on -- and even argue with! Impelled by her own spiritual search, Paula Marvelly interviews the best-known teachers of Advaita and asks the questions that matter. The resulting conversations are intense and energy-filled. Marvelly's likeable, questioning personality shines through, a good counterpoint to the teachers' assurance. She observes them and herself with honesty and touches of humor. The dialogues are enhanced by Marvelly's striking photographic portraits of the teachers. I turned to them time and again while reading, finding they deepened my sense of each teacher's personality. I don't know when I've read a book that gave me more to think about!

In this book Paula Marvelly interviews fifteen contemporary teachers of Advaita. Each teacher has a slightly different (occasionally contradictory) take on the teaching, which makes for very rich reading. This is accompanied by Paula's own sparse but valuable commentary in which she is not afraid to expose her own vulnerability and frustration as a seeker.

In all, this is a welcome contribution to the glut of Advaita books available at the moment, giving just about the right amount of each teachers perspective without too much waffle.

I look forward to a volume two!

The interviews with various Advaita teachers were very interesting and revealing. The book began with a series of live, vital interviews for the first 11 chapters, with some brilliant interviews, especially with Catherine Ingram, Pamela Wilson, Francis Lucille and Satyananda. After that the interviews seemed "canned" and the answers less vital or compelling.

There are some inaccuracies in the book. For example,the author implied a direct lineage from Ramana Maharshi through Papaji to Gangaji. This is not correct as Ramana Maharshi did not appoint anyone to carry on his teaching, and specifically stated that he would not. Ramana Maharshi left no lineage for anyone to "receive", or "pass on".

Excellent quotes were used at the end of chapters from, among others, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, and J Krishnamurti.

All seekers will empathise with this sincere and beautifully written, personal search for the truth of the Self, as the author traverses the world to interview a number of modern teachers of Advaita. There is much to learn about their personal backgrounds, teaching styles and content and gems of wisdom are elicited by the penetrating questions. But for me it was the interludes between these, where the author writes about her own feelings and reactions that make this book special. The reader shares her moments of confusion, loneliness and yearning as well as those of peace, understanding and acceptance, culminating in a samAdhi experience in Ramana's Virupaksha cave at Arunachala. Wonderful!


Dennis Waite, author of Back to the Truth: 5000 years of Advaita

It is inspiring for a lot of seekers to see how Paula is examining the Advaita scene. Some of the interviews are very interesting, some parts of them are personalising the whole enlightnment issue a bit. Recommanded.

Jan Kersschot, author of "Nobody Home"

I really liked that Marvelly's book. Being interested for a long time to non-dual teachers I was surprised by the author ease to present her subject. Her interviews are well conducted and her book is easy to read for newcommers ou "advanced" fans of Advaita. I particularily enjoyed her rendering of her visit to Sri Ramanasramam in India. Great book, highly recommended !

This book was AWESOME! I learned so much about myself and others. It truly kept me interested every page! I loved it and recommend it to anyone who has an open mind and an open heart, if you don't then read it and you might become open!!! :) If you are doubting buying it then please take my advice this is a purchase you will never regret!!!

This is such a good book. It exposes the fallacies of the non duality doctrine as all the interviewed teachers of the same belief show their differences. Most interestingly was that the writer despite her indepth time and questioning with each famous teacher, found after each one that they really made no difference to her after a short time. She concludes " I shall never cease in this exploration..." in her last line. One teacher Vartman put it well " I havent understanding or firm conviction about anything...tomorrow I will see somethng deeper and Ill go, God, I was just speaking a bunch of crap yesterday"! page 200.
So I admire this study and the sincerity and depth of the writers questions. She really tested these teachers and showed them to be what they are as oposed to what they say. Brilliant.