Early Western devotees of Ramana Maharshi 1940 to 1950

Series: Westerners in India. The following is an expanded and more compressive article that is sourced from Ashrams of India Volume 2. In 1911, Frank Humphreys, a policeman stationed in India, became the first Westerner to discover Sri Ramana. He wrote articles about him which were first published in The International Psychic Gazette in 1913. Sri Ramana only became relatively …

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Early Western devotees of Ramana Maharshi 1911 to 1939

Series: Westerners in India. The following is an expanded and more compressive article that is sourced from Ashrams of India Volume 2. In 1911, Frank Humphreys, a policeman stationed in India, became the first Westerner to discover Sri Ramana. He wrote articles about him which were first published in The International Psychic Gazette in 1913. Sri Ramana only became relatively …

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The Jesus Cave, Rishikesh

Ashrams of India : Volume 2 Vashistha Guha Ashram Ashram of Swami Purushottamananda near the Jesus Cave. Rishikesh Area: 23 km past Rishikesh toward Kaudiyala. Guru: Swami Purushottamananda (? – 13 February 1961). Swami Purushottamananda, was a disciple of Swami Brahmananda, who was the spiritual son of Ramakrishna. Before he was initiated into sannyas Purushottamananda …

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Ravi Shankar

From Ravi Shankar An Autobiography Raga Mala (1997) Edited and Introduced by George Harrison. From my childhood I had much interest and curiosity in spiritual matters, hearing about saints and yogis with special powers performing miracles – some who could materialise objects, who could themselves disappear and reappear elsewhere, or appear in two places at …

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The Arques Gospel of Mary Magdalene

The Expected One (Magdalene Line Trilogy, #1) by Kathleen McGowan. Review by Marcy Theobald : What food for thought! This is the fictional story of a writer/professor who goes on a journey that leads her to discover the lost Gospel of Mary Magdalene, which the author of this novel suggests is real and was discovered …

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A Brief History of the Hippie Trail

Series: Westerners in India. By Richard Gregory; Journey to the East The European concept of an epic overland journey to the east may have started with the conquests of Alexander the Great in Afghanistan and India around 325 BCE. But most in the west associate the idea with Marco Polo and his family in the late 13th century, …

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Early Western devotees of Sathya Sai Baba from the 1970s to the 1980s

Series: Westerners in India. Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s (1926 – 2011) early Western devotees and visitors to the ashram from the 1930s onwards… From The Hagiographer and the Avatar (2021) by Antonio Rigopoulos “Foreign interest in the guru of Puttaparthi grew rapidly, especially during the period 1965-1975. Through their testimony and books, a few select Westerners, primarily from …

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Early Western devotees of Sathya Sai Baba from the 1930s to the 1960s

Series: Westerners in India. Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s (1926 – 2011) early Western devotees and visitors to the ashram from the 1930s onwards… From The Hagiographer and the Avatar (2021) by Antonio Rigopoulos “Foreign interest in the guru of Puttaparthi grew rapidly, especially during the period 1965-1975. Through their testimony and books, a few select Westerners, primarily from …

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Jesus Lived in India: Suzanne Olsson

Suzanne Marie Olsson is an American author best known for investigating the bloodline and alleged tomb of Jesus in India. She wrote ‘Jesus in Kashmir, The Lost Tomb’ , research of the RozaBal in Srinagar, Kashmir alleged to contain the remains of Jesus, a claim first made widely known in the book titled ‘Book of Balauhar and Budasaf, the Ikmaj-ud-Din’, authored by …

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Somerset Maugham’s Swami

From the New York Times, A letter from India by David Shaftel. Books about Westerners seeking enlightenment in India seem to be everywhere these days, including in India itself. In Mumbai, Elizabeth Gilbert’s juggernaut of a memoir, “Eat, Pray, Love,” is prominently displayed in street corner bookstalls and hotel bookstores. Bootlegged copies are hawked to …

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