Book Description
One of the great classic spiritual quest books. Anyone who has looked to India for spiritual enlightenment will find it in A Search in Secret India
Product Description
The late Paul Brunton was one of the twentieth century's greatest explorers of and writers on the spiritual traditions of the East. A Search in Secret India is the story of Paul Brunton's journey around India, living among yogis, mystics and gurus, some of whom he found convincing, others not. He finally finds the peace and tranquility which come with self-knowledge when he meets and studies with the great sage Sri Ramana Maharishi. (20021018)
About the Author
Born in London in 1898, Paul Brunton published thirteen books between 1935 and 1952. He is generally recognized as having introduced yoga and meditation to the West, and for presenting their philosophical background in non-technical language. He died in Switzerland, where he lived for 20 years, in 1981. (20021018)
Excerpted from Search in Secret India, A: The Classic Work on Seeking a Guru - By One of the Greatest Spiritual Explorers of the Twentieth Century by Paul Brunton. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction to the New Edition
From the early days of the twentieth century, Paul Brunton journeyed across the major continents in search of people of high spiritual attainment, regardless of tradition. He travelled by boat, on horseback or donkey or camel and on foot, lugged heavy trunks with pack animals or bearers - without the conveniences, accommodation, places to eat, and modes of communication that make travelling abroad the relatively simple task it is today.
Like the geographers before him, Paul Brunton contributed to a new and vitally important mapping of the world - a map of the spirit, of the greater and small traditions, and of their leaders. When now we set forth for Karnak, Delhi or Dharamsala, we have some foreknowledge and familiarity with what we will find, and what we may hope to contact with our hearts through such journeys.
During his journeys, Paul Brunton ('P.B.' to his friends) met many types of people associated with formal and informal spiritual traditions. Some were sincere, some merely professional; some were out-and-out fakes, and some were authentic in their accomplishments. How can one tell them apart? And, upon the occasion of finding an individual of genuine spiritual insight, how can one determine if that person is to be one's own teacher? These questions arise again and again along our spiritual journey. Sometimes we will believe that they have been answered once and for all; sometimes we may believe that they can never be answered. The reality lies somewhere in between for most questers.
In A Search in Secret India, P.B. has accomplished two tasks at once. First, he has chronicled part of his own spiritual journey; second, he has organized the encounters in this book to stand as true examples which help us answer the aforementioned questions.
As to his own journey, P.B. began following the inward trail to wisdom somewhere in his teens; by the time of the travels chronicled in A Search in Secret India (1931), he was already an accomplished meditator and student of what were then considered the exotic ideas of the East. Although there was much still to learn, at least he knew what he was looking for - and that he must look for it. What he found changed his own life, and opened India to the West at the same time. Within a few years of its publication in 1934, Secret India had sold a quarter of a million copies, and made the names of Ramana Maharshi and Shankaracarya famous throughout the global spiritual community.
When read as such, Secret India is certainly an interesting book, capturing much of the flavour of pre-war India, and telling us a little of Brunton's own journey. However, it is much more than that. It is a careful - and vitally important - parable of the quest itself. P.B. tells us how to look for teachers, and how to find them; he shows us the difference between the religious, the magical and the spiritual. Finally, he reveals the means by which one may recognize - and be recognized by - one's own spiritual guide. This is the real secret of Secret India, and it is as helpful today as it was when P.B. first put pen to paper, all those years ago.
We hope you will be inspired and assisted by your study of this book and, like P.B., we wish to dedicate this edition to those great lights of twentieth-century India: Ramana Maharshi and Shankaracarya of Kanchipuram.
From the early days of the twentieth century, Paul Brunton journeyed across the major continents in search of people of high spiritual attainment, regardless of tradition. He travelled by boat, on horseback or donkey or camel and on foot, lugged heavy trunks with pack animals or bearers - without the conveniences, accommodation, places to eat, and modes of communication that make travelling abroad the relatively simple task it is today.
Like the geographers before him, Paul Brunton contributed to a new and vitally important mapping of the world - a map of the spirit, of the greater and small traditions, and of their leaders. When now we set forth for Karnak, Delhi or Dharamsala, we have some foreknowledge and familiarity with what we will find, and what we may hope to contact with our hearts through such journeys.
During his journeys, Paul Brunton ('P.B.' to his friends) met many types of people associated with formal and informal spiritual traditions. Some were sincere, some merely professional; some were out-and-out fakes, and some were authentic in their accomplishments. How can one tell them apart? And, upon the occasion of finding an individual of genuine spiritual insight, how can one determine if that person is to be one's own teacher? These questions arise again and again along our spiritual journey. Sometimes we will believe that they have been answered once and for all; sometimes we may believe that they can never be answered. The reality lies somewhere in between for most questers.
In A Search in Secret India, P.B. has accomplished two tasks at once. First, he has chronicled part of his own spiritual journey; second, he has organized the encounters in this book to stand as true examples which help us answer the aforementioned questions.
As to his own journey, P.B. began following the inward trail to wisdom somewhere in his teens; by the time of the travels chronicled in A Search in Secret India (1931), he was already an accomplished meditator and student of what were then considered the exotic ideas of the East. Although there was much still to learn, at least he knew what he was looking for - and that he must look for it. What he found changed his own life, and opened India to the West at the same time. Within a few years of its publication in 1934, Secret India had sold a quarter of a million copies, and made the names of Ramana Maharshi and Shankaracarya famous throughout the global spiritual community.
When read as such, Secret India is certainly an interesting book, capturing much of the flavour of pre-war India, and telling us a little of Brunton's own journey. However, it is much more than that. It is a careful - and vitally important - parable of the quest itself. P.B. tells us how to look for teachers, and how to find them; he shows us the difference between the religious, the magical and the spiritual. Finally, he reveals the means by which one may recognize - and be recognized by - one's own spiritual guide. This is the real secret of Secret India, and it is as helpful today as it was when P.B. first put pen to paper, all those years ago.
We hope you will be inspired and assisted by your study of this book and, like P.B., we wish to dedicate this edition to those great lights of twentieth-century India: Ramana Maharshi and Shankaracarya of Kanchipuram.
