Writing about the spiritual life isn't easy; you can either make it sound unbearably dreary, self-congratulatory (I Found the Way and the Light -- Ask Me How I Did It!) or just unbelievable.  I prefer the unbelievable myself: big, scary, magical.  In this category, I recommend, AGHORA, AT THE LEFT HAND OF GOD, by Robert E. Svoboda [Albuquerque, 1986] which my friend Griffin recommended to me on a trip to the Kali temple in Laguna a few years ago.  This is the first of a series of works by Svoboda about his mentor/teacher/guru the Aghori Vimalananda, and to say more is to spoil the experience.  Not for the faint of heart.  I found it all astonishing and absolutely riveting.  And yes, unbelievable at first, but that's the attraction.  I mean, once you actually explain how to feed a crowd with one loaf and one fish, you sort of take the fun out of it, right?

Slightly tamer but compelling in another way is Irina Tweedie's memoir, DAUGHTER OF FIRE, [Inverness, 1986], her diary of spiritual training with a Sufi Master.  Long, but worth the effort.  She really deals with the self-doubt and the torture you can put yourself through.  The masochist in me totally identified.

Mark Matousek's SEX, DEATH, ENLIGHTENMENT [New York, 1996] strikes closer to home (as opposed to Mrs. Tweedie) and deals with the enlightened beings I've actually met.  A great book, which was recommended to me by D and I've recommended to many others.  As I said earlier, Mother Meera was here a few months ago.  She figures in Mark's story.  So does Amma; D and I were at Amma's Devi Bhava last night. 

And back to Christopher Isherwood, whose MY GURU AND HIS DISCIPLE [Minneapolis, 1980] is a work I admire much more now than I did before I moved to L.A. -- when I was young, I was strictly an Auden devotee and dismissed Christopher.  I've changed.  His novel MEETING BY THE RIVER is another favorite.

Devi Bhava is the concluding public ceremony to Amma's visit to L.A. which D. and I attended last night, along with a number of friends and acquaintances and a couple thousand other people.  The evening includes a Puja (worship), Meditation, and then Darshan, (blessing), which Amma bestows on people by hugging them, one at a time.  This part takes hours and hours beginning at 7 pm and lasting into the morning hours.  [www.ammachi.org]

D and I have gone a number of times over the years to Devi Bhava, here and other places.  Every year something happens.  This year was pretty tame, for me.  Got home, went to bed and then woke up in the middle of the night wide awake, got out of bed and lay on the floor, blissed out, freaked out but like I was just following directions.  And that's where I was when the sun hit my eyes a little while ago.  I know: boring, huh.  Hardly a mystical experience.  I've had apparitions show up in the past, strange dreams, other far more dramatic stuff.  But if I told you, you wouldn't believe me.