And chant.
I thoroughly enjoyed Elizabeth Gilbert’s account of her stay in India (The Pray part of Eat, Pray, Love.) And jealous, because when I do things like she did, like staying at an ashram and being in silence, meditating and chanting a lot, doing volunteer chores, I’ve NEVER gotten the blue-coiled kundalini snake to suddenly explode up my spine and out the top of my head into pure bliss consciousness. But I have experienced a quiet healing peacefulness in surroundings where people are devoting their lives to prayer, silence, sitting, chanting and serving. Elizabeth conjures the spirit of her Guru’s ashram through her chatty willingness to include us inside her head, so we can sort of get an “ashram contact high,” as she goes through her own transformation. Now onward to Love.
I was at Atlanta airport 2 weeks ago and bought this book. I was trying to read something different from what I usually read: Buddhism and Judaism. The Italy section was nice, entertaining and brought really nice personal experiences. I’m now heading to the end of the India section. I’ve never been to an Ashram and am not familiar to Hindhuism. Also, I’m leaping some paragraphs of this part. Her report makes me feel bored and not interested.I don’t think I’m getting a an approach that gets my attention. Let’s see when I arrive in Indonesia!
regina
I guess I like to eat as much as pray – loved the italian section. also liked the india section – especially when she is meditating and beating herself up when she starts to plan the colors of her meditation room back home — very familiar planning thought.
Maybe it’s a male/female thing? I was bored and uninterested in Italy. No, I probably I appreciated the India part so much because I’ve been to similar ashrams in india, and have met the teachers she was referring to, and it brought back the feeling of them to me.
This is TOO funny!! I’ve been thinking of your book for weeks now as the antidote to “Eat Pray Love.” Actually, the male, more earnest about getting enlightened, and more honest about what actually happens along the way, antidote. Put THAT in your ads!
btw – total non-sequitor:
Have you seen the “Dancing” video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY
It is the single greatest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Very worth watching the whole 5 minutes. Also, check out a good summary of his story and how he found the woman who sings on the video: http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2008/06/27/2396/dancing_with_the_universe
Yes I love that video and sent it to a bunch of people.