I Love You India is a bonus CD that was especially written and performed by Swami Nirvanananda for Sundaram La Pierre's wonderful book,
Where Souls Dream God. The CD is not available on its own - if you want to have it you will have to buy the book - but you won't regret it as both are excellent.
Perhaps
Where Souls Dream God is so appealing because it is about today's spiritual India, not some bygone era, and as such we can relate to the many stories and experiences within its pages and realize that they can be our experiences too. This magical India is our India
. It is summed up on the back
cover where it says, "If you have ever thought about going there, after
reading this book you may just have to put your life on hold and leave
tomorrow..." That is a fair warning as it kindled in us a desire to return to
that magical land immediately! We couldn't put the book down as there are so
many incredible first-hand stories about meetings and experiences with saints,
children and everyone in between, that you will be transfixed.
India
is a land of mystery and magic. Yet to see Her as such requires a certain
receptivity; a certain degree of spiritual vision. The author, Sundaram La
Pierre has that vision. We have known Sundaram for a long time - many of us used to
meditate together about thirty years ago. He seemed like a sage back then and
he used to amaze us. When during a long meditation we would be thinking, "It
must be time for a chant by now...," we would peep over at Sundaram who would still be
perfectly erect and motionless in full lotus posture - gone somewhere we knew not where! Little did we know
that one day he would be sharing his experiences with us.
With kind permission from Self-Realization Fellowship, Where Souls Dream God
includes three wonderful poems about India by Paramahansa Yogananda, plus, a
tribute to India by Sri Daya Mata; If I Visit India, and the poem Sunrise -
Nandi Hill, Karnataka, by Swami Shantananda Giri, the senior-most swami of
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India. These three items are not currently available
in an SRF publication.
The book also contains approximately 100 photos, about
half of which are original. Some photos of Anandamayi Ma, and Neem Karoli Baba,
have never before been published! AND the 17 page glossary is an education in
itself!
For more description click the 'Extended Information' tab above.To cap it all, the book includes a wonderful Bonus CD of
kirtan and devotional songs recorded especially for Where Souls Dream God, by
Swami Nirvanananda, entitled I Love You, India. It is too beautiful for
words! Listen to some sample tracks below:
Bonus CD Tracks include:
1 Shanti Mantras / Ganesha Sharanam
2 On the Banks of the Ganges
3 I Love You, India listen:
4 Holy River / Mahamantra listen:
5 Om Namah Kristaya
6 Moola Mantra
7 Hara Hara Bhole
8 Closing Mantras
9 Song of India listen:
Playing Time: 66 minutes
About the Author:Sundaram La Pierre's great interest is Sanatana Dharma, the
Eternal Religion, kept for all the world by the Himalayan sages and great
masters of India.
He enjoys photographing and writing about her endlessly unfolding expressions
of spirituality.
Sundaram and his wife, Hilary, live in Encinitas, California,
where they coordinate a weekly Kirtan
Circle which is open to all who enjoy Indian
devotional chanting. They host many of the traveling kirtan artists who are
bringing this uplifting music to the world. It is their conviction that the
true purpose of music is to uplift the consciousness, leading to actual
communion with God.
In May of 2005, Sundaram began publishing Himalayan Heritage
Magazine to promote a greater awareness of the vast sublime teachings of
Sanatana Dharma and its traditions of saints. Published six times a year, each
issue contains an India Dreaming section featuring stories from or about
spiritual India, a Saints
and Sages feature, highlighting the life of one of India's great masters, and many
other stories of interest too all on he path of Hindu Devotional Mysticism.
Additional description:
In Paramahansa Yogananda's words: "From start to
finish, India
is a land of surprises, of contrasts and extremes. Life becomes prosaic
with too much business, too many dull certainties, so in India
one feels
that life is a great adventure; an experience of mystery and surprise"
Though I
have had the advantage of some Western education, yet I feel that in India
alone I
found the true solution to the mysteries of life."
The first portion of the book is built around
Yogananda's
quintessential poem, My India.
It was on March 7th, 1952, that the great Master left his mortal body
for the
shores of omnipresence. The last words he said in this life were from
this poem:
"Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves
and men
dream God - I am hallowed; my body touched that sod."
What follows are some of Sundaram La Pierre's own
impressions and experiences in this great land of sages and saints. This
is
great reading. Then there is a wonderful collection of thirty stories by
Swami
Atmarupananda, senior Vedanta Society minister; Swami Mangalananda of
the Sri
Anandamayi Ma Ashram in Omkareshwar; Swamini Umamaiya Udasin; Sadvi
Bhagwati;
kirtan singers Jai Uttal, Krishna Das. and Vaiyasaki Das; as well as
stories
from devotees of many different backgrounds and traditions.
Next is a chapter entitled, In the Presence of the Saints.
As the name implies, it is about the spiritual legacy of India's
saints, masters, avatars
and rishis. Their number is literally staggering. Most of us of Western
birth
do not have the conception of the magnitude of India's legacy of saints.
Also included are two outstanding
appendices:
India, by Swami
Sivananda; and
Swami Avdheshananda
Giri: Spiritual Practicality in Action by
Rajiv Malik. These provide a context for the spiritual glory of
India
by two of her great sons.
