The Avadhut And His Twenty-Four Teachers In Nature
"It is such a wonderful book and excellent mix of scriptures and story. I remain saturated from absorbing the many teachings, there is so much!" --a reader in California"The Avadhut And His Twenty-Four Teachers In Nature belongs in every home alongside the Christian Bible, the Teachings of Lord Buddha and the Holy Koran. Its wisdom is sweet. The lessons are simple: Seeing God and the Divine Mother in every creature that you meet. It is a book to be read over and over again. This book holds Old Wisdom. It is as if the Teachings of Master to pupil over years has been gathered into a great fragrant bouquet." --Rev. Carol Woermann, Interfaith Minister, Alameda, CaliforniaThe Avadhut is a challenging, intelligent and engaging work of literature; it combines both high quality fiction with a slow revealing of the essential teachings of non-dualism. The success of the Avadhut is impressive as it is exceedingly difficult to write a good book, never mind a good story as well as a good educational title. The author has combined an interesting story, with sub plots, good character development and a great mood and atmosphere with an extremely erudite outline of non-dualism.The teachings contained within are outlined through the reflections, reminiscences and memories of the central character, the Avadhut. This allows a powerful central focus to develop; we have both the Avadhut as goal, free from the pains of attachment and the Avadhut as student, learning his way. As individuals we hence have a hero figure we can aspire to and a figure that voices our questions, concerns and enquiries. Since they are both the same character the possibility of individual spiritual achievement is emphasized.The atmosphere created throughout the volume is engaging, the travels of the Avadhut are interesting and the use of twenty four different teachers some human, such as the arrow maker and the child, and others non human, such as the earth, the moth, the ocean, and the elephant allow the teachings to be presented from many different perspectives. This really assists the learning process. To be honest, non-dualism in its many forms can be a difficult wisdom to truly understand, hence by looking at its many facets from different angles and perspectives we gain a real insight into its secrets. The teachings include dialogues, scriptural discussions, stories, tales and poetry, so the wide range of writing sustains interest throughout the volume. In addition, much of the teaching is voiced through different characters and hence has different tones and personality that again assist in the unfolding of the ancient wisdom.The use of dialogue is especially successful. When the Avadhut reflects on his youth, we can resonate with his questions and learn the teachings as though we were the student. By giving them bit-by-bit, punctuated with comments, questions and queries, the essential truth is really driven home.It is clear that the author is not simply repeating book knowledge , though his erudition is obvious. To be able to transmit the ancient knowledge in such a refined and condensed manner shows that the author has experienced much of what he is communicating and is writing from experience. This makes the Avadhut all the more powerful; for, what is being taught is real, what is discussed has been experienced. This is not dry repetition of others visions but is the distillation of wisdom from one who is far along the way on the great journey.At the same time, by embedding these within a fictional work, the reader is able to enjoy the process, appreciate the characters, and sustain a strong focus throughout. It is a large work and some chapters are solid enough that they make take a couple of readings. My advices is read it right through once and then take one chapter every two weeks and take a year long pilgrimage into the wisdom of non dualism. It is impressive that a volume such as this can be a great work of fiction, a good educational device and, in my view, an excellent course in non-dualist teaching.There are many books on the market covering the different branches of non-dualism. What impresses me with this volume is that the author avoids sectarianism, avoids doctrine and dogma, and emphasizes the universal nature of the Sanatana Dharma.The Avadhut is a superb volume. It is great literature, superb teaching and an inspirational read, it is the distillation of a important teaching which in this present age desperately needs to be heard and applied. --Dharman Sivan, Living Traditions, October 2001