IMPORTANT UPDATE, JULY 1, 2019! Please be sure to read our latest campaign update with important information about shipping dates. The books have been delayed for a number of unforeseen reasons, and we expect to ship them in late 2019. All other perks are shipping THIS WEEK!

Explore the Essential Teachings of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati (1934-2015), widely known as “Guruji,” was a top nuclear scientist managing missile defense projects in India. Beginning in the late 1970s, he experienced a series of dramatic spiritual visions that eventually led him to abandon his career and become a teacher and guru in Hinduism’s Goddess-centered Sri Vidya tradition. Upon discovering the remains of an ancient Goddess shrine in the jungles of eastern India in 1983, he revived and expanded it, opening it to the public as Devipuram in 1994.

My name is Michael Bowden. I am an attorney, writer and publisher, and the compiler and editor of Gifts from the Goddess: Selected Words of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati. Working with Guruji, I authored his biography, The Goddess and the Guru, which published in 2017, supported by an extremely successful crowdfunding campaign. Gifts from the Goddess is a follow-up and companion volume--again, edited and compiled with Guruji’s direct input and involvement. The book presents a broad and generous selection of Guruji’s major, lesser-known, and never-before-seen works, together comprising a startlingly original and eye-opening primary sourcebook--laying out, in engaging, accessible prose, the deepest, most secret and closely guarded traditions of authentic Sri Vidya Hindu Tantra.

Where This Book Came From

One day in the mid-oughts, Guruji, knowing of my background in editorial and publications work, showed me an astonishing manuscript called Understanding Sri Chakra Puja. He had composed it more than a decade earlier, but it was never quite finished, he said. Guruji asked me to help him complete it.

The draft, he explained, had been written in 1993-94, with an American woman named Devi Parvati acting as both interviewer and scribe. They worked on the book together until early 1994, at which point Guruji became enmeshed in the minutiae of running the newly opened Devipuram, and Devi Parvati had to return to America. In those pre-Internet, pre-cellphone days, the two soon fell out of touch--and Understanding Sri Chakra Puja was left unfinished.

In the late 1990s, a massive computer crash at Devipuram caused Guruji to lose many of his early writings and other precious documents. Among the casualties was the original manuscript of Understanding Sri Chakra Puja. He eventually found a copy in PDF format and asked a young devotee to convert it back into MS Word. The young man did so, but in the process, many sentences, paragraphs and sections of the document--including many mantras--were either dropped entirely or scrambled out of sequence.

Guruji noticed the problem immediately, but had no time to fix it himself and could find no one else to do the job. Eventually copies of the draft leaked and began circulating among Guruji’s followers in various forms.

But Guruji still wanted to get it right. And that, he told me, is where I could be of assistance.

Reconstruction and Expansion

Over the next few years, Guruji and I worked slowly through Understanding Sri Chakra Puja, gradually restoring its original form. Along the way, I also began assisting him with editing and preserving some of his other writings and lectures. The more I read of his work, the more I felt it deserved a wider audience. I eventually suggested that a selection of his writings should be compiled with Understanding Sri Chakra Puja into a comprehensive selection in book form.

And the seed of the present volume was born.

Gifts from the Goddess includes writings and lectures from Guruji’s earliest (and arguably, most intense and vivid) days of spiritual teaching, while he was still a working nuclear scientist, and continues on to later gems written not long before his death. Among the many rarities in this volume are his powerful writings on the Ten Mahavidyas (“Great Wisdom Goddesses”) of Tantric tradition, a collection also known as the “Lusaka Notes”--works that even lifelong devotees have difficulty sourcing. Here, for the first time, they are presented in their entirety, augmented with later updates and additions by Guruji.

The Quality of Guruji’s Work

Guruji lived very much in the present moment. Once a lecture was delivered, an essay written, a ritual perfected, he did not linger for long in its glow, but immediately moved on to new challenges.

His manner of expressing himself was genuine and original. He was an evocative writer and a natural teacher with a compassionate, compelling and practical message that, I am confident, will genuinely benefit many people on many different spiritual paths. Over time, I came to view him as a quiet but profound game-changer, a true iconoclast, a living exemplar of the ancient archetype of the jivanmukta—the enlightened being living in the world. (In fairness, this is a claim he has never made, to my knowledge. Quite the contrary: “I don’t accept any claims of me being a realized soul,” he once said. “To me, material and spiritual are all the same. There is only one realized soul. That is God. And you are it.”)

For Guruji, it was always about his students, always about teaching and sharing understanding. That ethic and dedication to radical honesty, transparency and accessibility for all exudes from this collection.

Going It Alone

When, with Guruji’s help and guidance, I initially completed the drafts to his biography, The Goddess and the Guru, and his collected works, Gifts from the Goddess, I presented formal proposals and sample chapters from both to a wide range of commercial publishers.

The biographical portion, The Goddess and the Guru, received some compliments for its artistic and literary merit and presentation, but no commercial publisher saw any serious potential in it: “Who would buy it?” they asked. “This Guruji just isn’t well-known enough.” The Gifts from the Goddess part, however--that is, the writings--got a lot of nibbles. Two major “Eastern spirituality” publishers, in particular, were interested in publishing Guruji’s writings without the biography. One mainly wanted just the sexiest, most provocative “Tantric” stuff. The second publisher was kinder and more evenhanded, but still wanted to stick with affirmations and inspirational writings. The rest, the reviewing editor told me, would have to be “dumbed down, frankly”: it was simply “too authentic” to be palatable to a mass audience.

The bottom line? To publish Guruji's writings commercially, we would have to give up on his intended and clearly stated vision--not to mention a huge amount of control over content, presentation, quality, etc. With the approach we are taking now, Guruji’s work remains in the control of Devipuram and Guruji’s followers.

And that is the reason for this campaign. We need to pull together and make this happen in a form that Guruji would recognize and approve. Yes, it’s a lot more work, and involves a lot more financial risk--but if we succeed, we’ll end up with the book that Guruji envisioned, the unadulterated teachings he wanted to share with the world, and an enduring legacy work to pass down for generations to come.

So it’s all up to us: Guruji’s friends, admirers, supporters, fans and disciples. If we don’t make this happen, no one else will. I’m working with the same editorial, design and production team in Canada that produced The Goddess and the Guru, and those of you who backed the first campaign know what high quality we were able to produce. We’ve done it once, and we can do it again. See more of what we created together in this video of the hardcover of The Goddess and the Guru:

Please support this support as generously as you can. All proceeds will be invested into the book’s design, materials, printing and distribution, and to furthering Guruji’s work at Devipuram and beyond. Together we can fulfill his vision.

The Other Contributors

In addition to Guruji’s writings, Gifts from the Goddess includes an array of extras to enhance and inform your experience of Guruji’s work, including:

A special introductory note from Sri Annapurna (Guruji Amma), Guruji’s wife of 58 years.

A powerful foreword, “Performing a Successful Transplant,” by Sri Uma-Parvathinanda Natha Saraswati, one of the most revered modern teachers in Guruji’s lineage.

Plus touching and inspiring perspectives from teachers of Guruji’s methods around the world:

Balasingam Janahan, an early disciple and practicing Vedic priest (United States).

Sundari Amma, Guruji’s sister-in-law and first disciple (India).

Sergey Babkin, a one-time Russian paratrooper, now a translator and teacher of Guruji’s work in the former USSR (Russia).

Venu Shyama (Mani), a prolific performer and teacher of Guru’s rituals (India and worldwide).

William Thomas, one of Guruji’s first Western disciples, and a longtime teacher (U.S. and Europe).

Janice Craig, a California-based yoga teacher who has adapted Guruji’s techniques for Westerners (United States).

Uma Prabha Menon, an early disciple and teacher (India and worldwide).

The Rewards

Of course, the biggest perk of backing this campaign is access to the first-edition paperback of the volume, as well as a beautiful special edition hardcover. And check out the stretch goals for all the extras we want to add to the hardcover! We’re also making a commemorative bookmark available to all backers.

For those who missed the first campaign, we’re also offering the chance to get all the perks from the hardcover level of that campaign—including the special stretch goal items! That includes:

• An original first edition hardcover of The Goddess and the Guru, with a fronticepiece signed by Guruji Amma.
• A small piece of one of Guruji’s favorite shawls.
• A commemorative bookmark from volume 1.
• A postcard of a Sri Chakra drawing by Guruji.
• A postcard of Guruji.

We’ll be printing another 6" x 8" art print, this time a beautiful shot of Devipuram at night, by Oleg Zinkovetsky.

Copies of the full-color, large-format hardcover art book Amrita Bindu Book of Quotes, and a DVD of the documentary film on Guruji by celebrated director Raja Choudhary.

Copies of Shakti Rising: Embracing Shadow and Light on the Goddess Path to Wholeness, signed by the author, Kavitha M. Chinnaiyan.

Rare hardcover special first editions of The Recognition Sutras: Illuminating a 1,000-Year-Old Spiritual Masterpiece by Christopher D. Wallis, usually available only direct from the author.

Stretch goals!

During the campaign, I set some stretch goals. We didn't reach all of them, but in order to have this volume match the quality of the first, I am funding some of the higher ones myself. The following will be included in this book:

• Both the hardcover and softcover editions will have foil stamping on the cover.
• The end papers of the hardcovers will be printed.
• The hardcovers will include an illustrated frontispiece, signed by me and by Sri Uma-Parvathinanda Natha Saraswati..
• Both the hardcovers and softcovers will include a full-color glossy photo insert.
• Both the hardcovers and softcovers will include two-color interior printing (black and red).

Trouble with your contribution?

We’ve gotten some reports of people outside the USA having their credit cards declined. I have been in touch with Indiegogo about this, and they've asked that if anyone has this problem, you please contact them directly at indiegogo.com/contact so that they can figure out what the exact problem is and hopefully help you. I will also accept direct contributions by Paypal of $250 and up and transfer them into the campaign myself. Send your contribution using the friends and family option (this is important so I don’t get double charged when I move your donation into Indiegogo) to mbowden@rwu.edu, and be sure to include what perk you want and your shipping address!

Questions?

Got a question about something not covered here? Send an email to michaelmbowden@gmail.com.

Thank you for your support!