It was at such a time that, in a quaint village in south India, a young boy was found in deep meditation. He would say, ‘I have family everywhere. People are waiting for me.’ Nobody believed him then. Time revealed the destiny of the millions who came to him to discover themselves. Over the years, his sublime presence and pragmatic teachings would foster the values of joy, peace and love across the world. His transformative art of breathing, the Sudarshan Kriya, became a household practice, an alternative way of life that inspired people to seek self-realization. He became the guru who made the ethereal tangible, who brought about a profound shift in every sphere of human endeavour—from art to architecture, health care to rehabilitation, inner peace to outer dynamism. From a carefree child to a teenager often found in the company of saints, from a young meditation teacher to a revered spiritual Master, this book is an intimate and affectionate account of the life of Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar by his sister Bhanumathi Narasimhan, who witnessed his mystical life unfold up-close. Gurudev: On the Plateau of the Peak is an attempt to fit the ocean in a teacup, offering readers a sip of infinity.

    She is the power that protects and destroys. She represents the fertile, bountiful earth, and is the protector of all life form. All goddesses are considered to be a manifestation of her. The worship of the goddess has evolved over time. Local village goddesses of the forest, field, river and lake became versions of the one great female principle. Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati are also considered to be forms of Adi Shakti. The Devi Mahatmayam or the ‘Glory of the Goddess’, describes her as the fierce and beautiful goddess who fights asuras and wards off evil. She shields the gods against evil and stands up for the worthy.Amar Chitra Katha brings together stories of seven goddesses from the Puranas, folklore and the Devi Bhagavata. Endowed with strength, grace and courage, these goddesses show us the power of being a woman.

     Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati promise nothing short of a grand transformation of humanity with the birthing of a new joy-centered consciousness on Earth at this time. They take us on a grand spiritual journey by weaving new insights into ancient teachings, correcting what has been altered in scriptures by their "male" authors, and revealing new secrets about Buddhas, and Gods and Goddesses who have walked on Earth. Whether it is Eve's original sin or the closing of magnificent Goddess Temples or Sita's Fire Test or Mary Magdalene's depiction as a prostitute, "enlightened women" have been portrayed as sinners by numerous kings, emperors, writers, popes, and other religious heads for millennia. The messages of Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati correct many misconceptions and misrepresentations about the "patriarchal" stories from Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. These profound messages by the two ascended Goddesses will delight you, surprise you, transform you, and even enlighten you.  Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati also reveal new information and intimate secrets about their many incarnations on Earth with Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and other divine beings. They reveal how the transformation of many souls from their ancient tribe created two of the major world religions known as Hinduism and Buddhism.  This book is not only about spirituality, but also about history, philosophy, religion, and psychology. Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati provide new insights on mind, body, soul, chakras, elements, contrast, time, destiny, karma, sensuality, tantra, higher self, heavenly realms, expanding levels of enlightenment, ascension, and of course the author’s favorite – a new way of experiencing the “divine feminine” within oneself.  This is the first book in the Ascended Goddesses Series. Future books in this series will have conversations with Goddesses Parvati, Mother Mary, Kuan Yin and Tara, among others.  JOIN OUR TEAM OF VOLUNTEERS  The Path of Joy Organization is donating 5,000 copies of this book to uplift disempowered girls, women, and mothers, elderly living in old age homes, handicapped people, young adults with challenges, patients in hospitals, and numerous NGOs all over the world. Send an email to join our team of volunteers to distribute the 5000 copies.  The author recently signed an MOU with RENEW (Respect, Educate, Nurture, and Empower Women - http://renew.org.bt/) to donate 600 copies of this book to their 600 active volunteers, who provide help to the disempowered girls and women in Bhutan.  Another 100 copies of this book were sent to the volunteers and interns of Apne Aap Women Worldwide (http://apneaap.org/), an organization that saves girls and women from sex trafficking and other forms of exploitation.  Even a Buddhist "nunnery" in Punakha founded by the Queen Mother of Bhutan took 120 copies for their 120 resident nuns. The many stories of enlightenment of Eve, Sita, Radha, Yasodhara, Yeshe Tsogyal and other women help in undoing the widely-held Buddhist belief that incarnating as a woman is inferior to incarnating as a man for spiritual attainment.

    Revealing a Shiva Devotee's spiritual visions and experiences, Autobiography of a Shiva Devotee is a beautifully written account of an extraordinary life that is inspiring and lovely at the same time.The award-winning book has inspired hundreds of devotees around the world and continues to do so.

    In a short life of thirty-two years, Shankaracharya not only revived Hinduism, but also created the organisational structure for its perpetuation through the mathas he established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri and Jyotir Mathas.Adi Shankaracharaya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker is a meticulously researched and comprehensive account of his life and philosophy. Highly readable, and including a select anthology of Shankaracharya’s seminal writing, the book also examines the startling endorsement that contemporary science is giving to his ideas today. A must read for people across the ideological spectrum, this book reminds readers about the remarkable philosophical underpinning of Hinduism, making it one of the most vibrant religions in the world.

    Stumbling into India on an accidental layover 1980, she gets drawn into a seeker’s journey, searching for truth and encountering the many remarkable men and women, gurus and teachers, who would act as guides for her decades in India. From Sai Baba to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, from Anandamayi Ma to Amma, she records her close personal encounters and experiences.The journey will take us to secluded and unknown yogis in the Himalayas to the famous celebrity gurus, to colourful festivals and ascetic caves. But her real journey is the inner voyage to Yoga or union, a union with the Self. As we travel with and through her we get to reflect on love and death, rebirth and liberation and the necessity and the limitations of the guru. Finding both inspiration and disillusionment, she returns again to her own Self and to the wisdom of India, a treasure for all of humanity in its journey.

    The world cultures covered in the book include Indic traditions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism; ancient civilisations like Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia and Egypt; and Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.Two themes of special focus in the book are: Impurity and Sacrality. While they are often understood as being opposed to each other, the book examines how they are treated as two sides of the same coin, when it comes to menstruation. This is especially true in Indic traditions and pre-Christian polytheistic traditions like Greco-Roman, Mesopotamian and Egyptian. Impurity and Sacrality complement each other to form a comprehensive worldview in these cultures.The book also examines how the understanding of impurity in Abrahamic religions differs from those of polytheistic cultures. As part of the examination of the sacrality attached to menstruation, a special focus has also been given to the deities of menstruation in polytheistic cultures and to what Ayurveda and Yoga say about this essential function in a woman’s physiology.Finally, a comparative study of menstrual notions prevalent in modernity is presented, along with a Do and Don’t dossier.

    Styled as a historical fiction, Krishna and Kamsa are portrayed as men pursuing their narratives according to their understanding of the world around them. What entails is a clash of two narratives-the dharmic one symbolized by Krishna and the other a totalitarian and despotic narrative epitomized by Kamsa. The only assumption that has been made is that Krishna was a highly gifted young man.In the story of the battle between an uncle he must kill to survive lies embedded the truth of a nation gone rogue and a critique of the social, cultural and religious circumstances of Mathura, Magadha, Kashi, and other leading power centres of Aryavarta-which holds relevance even in our times-thus setting the stage for the great epic of Mahabharata. The careful portrayal of the other kings and princes of the Mahabharata era shows how often flaws in character can lead to devastating consequences, affecting, sometimes, the nation as a whole. Thus, human psychology is laid bare, including the inherent limitations of man.Weaving a riveting account of the life of the Lord, the political intrigues, discussions on dharma and debates on the position of women in the society, Krishna Gopeshvara is a perfect portrayal of the Vedic era with a deep resonance to the times we live in.

     The words of Matthew Arnold, carrying a ring of truth, and cited with approval by Coomaraswamy, may not suffice today: “The brooding East with awe beheld Her impious younger world. The Roman tempest swell’d and swell’d, And on her head was hurl’d. The East bow’d low before the blast In patient, deep disdain; She let the legions thunder past, And plunged in thought again.” The dictum of Vedānta Deśika (14th c. C.E.) - that goblins need to be responded to in their own language (lest they understand nothing, nor refrain from their diabolical diatribes) — piśācānāṁ piśāca-bhaṣayaiva uttaraṁ deyam — is more apposite today than during his own times when the invading hordes dealt untold destruction upon our opulent temples and innocent populace. What Veṅkaṭādhvarin (17th c. C.E.) grieved, of the horrendous brutalities and warrantless animosity of the alien tribes, the turuṣka-s and yavana-s, is not less true of the contemporary “academic elite”: niṣkāruṇyatamais turuṣka-yavanair niṣkāraṇa-dveṣibhiḥ | It is scholars like Manjushree that can rise to the occasion to remedy the grim situation. (With due apologies to Mallinātha commencing his commentary on Raghuvaṁśa/Kumārasambhava, we may say:) bhāraty Ādikaveḥ Pollāg(Pollock)-durvyākhyā-viṣa-mūrcchitā | Mañjuśrī-mañjulā-vāṇī tām adyojjīvayiṣyati ||

    Intimate Experience of the Reality.

    It discusses the process of developing ‘Viveka’ – the human faculty of discrimination or discernment, between the real and the unreal, as the central task in spiritual life.