Samadhi: Personal Journeys to Spiritual Truth

This collection of interviews with 41 Indian samadhis (saints who can achieve the deepest level of meditation) works best at demonstrating the tremendous religious diversity of northern India. Biermann provides only a two-page preface before allowing his subjects free rein on questions about truth, faith, reality, love and samadhi. There are Muslims; Tibetan Buddhists from the community-in-exile at Dharamsala; Catholic and Protestant Christians; devotees of Shiva, Krishna, and various gurus; and representatives of some relatively new Hindu sects. Some are wanderers and mendicants, while others live in settled religious communities; some respond to questions of enlightenment by emphasizing technical practices such as mantras, breathing and yoga postures, while others speak of self-realization in terms of total surrender and humility. Most answer the question about truth by pointing to the validity of all religious paths (""Anything is truth,"" claims one Hindu woman), though the Muslim leaders interviewed strike a more exclusivist tone by emphasizing Allah's revelation to Muhammad and the Five Pillars of Islam. Several of the samadhis speak of the self-mortifications that help them to focus their minds on spiritual matters: two have worn wooden ""chastity belts"" for years, and others regularly experience prolonged periods of fasting. Biermann largely keeps himself out of the picture, offering refreshingly little editorial commentary. The book is enhanced by his sensitive black-and-white photographs of each subject (some of whom were reluctant to be caught on film). (Oct.)