It was four years ago that this writer had the opportunity to read The Journey Home, Autobiography of an American Swami. It was not an ordinary story and therefore made a deep impact ( https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/religion/on-a-spiritual-adventure/article5925424.ece ).
The author, Radhanath Swami, had traced his long and arduous path to identify his mentor. After several false starts, he finds his Guru in Srila Prabhupada of Vrindavan. Young Richard Slavin leaves the comfort of his Chicago home in search of God and realises that it is nothing but Love and all the attendant qualities including compassion, which would make the world a better place to live in.
For some reason, often mind would go back to the swamiji and his voyage. What is he doing now? Has his spiritual quest found new tenors? It was thus a surprise when this book landed for review. In what could be called a sequel, Radhanath Swami continues from where he left off. In a fluent first person account, he explains what bhakti yoga is and its different dimensions.
Culled from scriptures
The swamiji’s encounter with a woman at an airport provides a perfect seting. Full of anger and misgivings she challenges him to answer her questions. He manages to calm her and it is a transformed human being, infused with hope and cheer, that takes leave of him at the destination. The book abounds in stories and anecdotes culled from the scriptures and his own experience. Sample these:
The unquestioning faith of Dhruva, which compels the Lord to appear before him. The child, spurned by the favoured queen of his father, does not ask for the throne or kingdom for which he actually did the penance. Continuous meditation on Narayana has elevated him and he now wants a heart that will forever think about Him.
Or to illustrate willpower, the Tree of Life in Bahrain, a 400-year wonder, which flourishes with rich foliage in the middle of a desert. Linked to it is the remarkable life of Sindhutai. Brutalised by her husband and alienated, she rises to become the Mother of Orphans. When the husband knocks at her door as an 80-year old destitute, she accepts him — as her eldest son. Equally moving is the story of Hladini, who chooses to serve the much-tortured people of Liberia. And love is an emotion the swamiji has seen in abundance among animals too.
How to live spiritually in a material world? What is prayer? How is idolatry different from worship of images? Swamiji frequently resorts to the words of his teacher Prabhupada to answer questions and explain profound concepts, one of which is karma. Why am I suffering when I have not done any harm to anyone is a question often asked. If God is kindness personified, why is there so much suffering in the world? What is death?
Two of Swamiji’s close friends die and he is witness to their final days and the dignity with which they face the inevitable. “It left me with a broken heart and gratitude,” writes Swamiji. Their physical absence causing anguish and the love they spread filling him with gratitude.
Love as the essence of bhakti yoga is reiterated in the conclusion as the swamiji revisits the day he was given a tattered piece of paper on the banks of the Yamuna by an ascetic. On it is written a verse much familiar to him from childhood — a prayer of Francis Assissi. He marvels how neatly it dovetails into the universal spirit of bhakti, the yoga of love — on which philosophy the book hinges.
The Journey Within , Radhanath Swami, Harper Element, ₹399.
