The Goddess and the Guru

Any serious seeker after truth will find in Amritananda's story a wonderful example of just how vivid life can become when you enter into a real relationship with the Divine. --Dr. Robert Svoboda, author of Aghora: At the Left Hand of God and a dozen other books The Goddess tradition lives and breathes in Michael Bowden's riveting account of Dr. Prahlada Sastry (Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati, or Guruji), a pioneering physicist who passionately engaged the provocative goddess of India's Sri Vidya tradition. A must-read for explorers of Tantra, mysticism, and the feminine divine. --Linda Johnsen, author of The Living Goddess, Daughters of the Goddess and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hinduism Here we find the life and legacy of a spiritual innovator--and nuclear scientist, no less--whose existence was as Goddess-filled as it was insistently human, a case study in sacred wonder carved by the challenges of everyday life. A page-turning gem of a book. --Corinne Dempsey, author of The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York In The Goddess and the Guru, Bowden has brought forth a work that is a joy to read, whose wisdom calls for more than a single reading...So read it again and again: You will find yourself traversing many dimensions with ease and in wonder. --Professor Ambika Talwar, Cypress College, author of Poems in Color and In the Folds of Your Sari Just as an ocean cannot be held in one's palm, a life cannot be fully contained in a book. But what readers of The Goddess and the Guru will glean is an experience--even if only for a short while--of what this particular ocean truly felt like. And that glimpse can become the prod, the catalyst, by which they might carry their individual sadhana forward. --Anantalakshmi Pisipati, eldest daughter of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati An important book if you're interested in authentic Tantra, especially Srividya Sakta Tantra. --Christopher Hareesh Wallis, author of Tantra Illuminated and The Recognition Sutras Guruji was an unusual personality, able to mask what he was to perfection. Nobody would ever begin to suspect what he was. I think he eventually became the human face of the Goddess, so that everyone who met him had an experience of Her. I am happy that his journey and his wisdom have been collected and shared in The Goddess and the Guru for the benefit of all. The world has rarely known his like. --Wijayaharan Aiya, founder and head priest of Sri Rajarajeshwari Peetam, Rochester, New York Pay close attention: The Goddess and the Guru has the potential to realign your world. --Roxanne Kamayani Gupta, Ph.D., author of The Yogini's Mirror Riveting storytelling and revolutionary teachings...on the miraculous possibilities that open up when we bring our spiritual and worldly lives together. --Sarah Tomlinson, author of Nine Designs for Inner Peace Not since Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi have we had such an intimate look into the making of a spiritual master and teacher. More than mere biography, The Goddess and the Guru is a reflection of us all...tracing not just how and what we practice, but what leads us to practice. --Maya Devi Georg, founder and editor of Brahmaloka or Bust