Michael M. Bowden - Goddess and the Guru: A Spiritual Biography of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

Praise for The Goddess and the Guru

Any serious seeker after truth will find in Amritanandas story a wonderful example of just how vivid life can become when you enter into a real relationship with the Divine. Dr. Robert Svoboda , author of Aghora: At the Left Hand of God and a dozen other books

In The Goddess and the Guru , Bowden has brought forth a work that is a joy to read, whose wisdom calls for more than a single reading...So read it again and again: You will find yourself traversing many dimensions with ease and in wonder. Professor Ambika Talwar , Cypress College, author of Poems in Color and In the Folds of Your Sari

Just as an ocean cannot be held in ones palm, a life cannot be fully contained in a book. But what readers of The Goddess and the Guru will glean is an experienc e even if only for a short whil e of what this particular ocean truly felt like. And that glimpse can become the prod, the catalyst, by which they might carry their individual sadhana forward. Anantalakshmi Pisipati , eldest daughter of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

Here we find the life and legacy of a spiritual innovato r and nuclear scientist, no les s whose existence was as Goddess-filled as it was insistently human, a case study in sacred wonder carved by the challenges of everyday life. A page-turning gem of a book. Corinne Dempsey , author of The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York

The Goddess tradition lives and breathes in Michael Bowdens riveting account of Dr. Prahlada Sastry (Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati, or Guruji), a pioneering physicist who passionately engaged the provocative goddess of Indias Sri Vidya tradition. A must-read for explorers of Tantra, mysticism, and the feminine divine. Linda Johnsen , author of The Living Goddess, Daughters of the Goddess and The Complete Idiots Guide to Hinduism

An important book if youre interested in authentic Tantra, especially S r v id y S kta Tantra . Christopher Hareesh Wallis , author of Tantra Illuminated and The Recognition Sutras

Guruji was an unusual personality, able to mask what he was to perfection. Nobody would ever begin to suspect what he was. I think he eventually became the human face of the Goddess, so that everyone who met him had an experience of Her. I am happy that his journey and his wisdom have been collected and shared in The Goddess and the Guru for the benefit of all. The world has rarely known his like. Wijayaharan Aiya , founder and head priest of Sri Rajarajeshwari Peetam, Rochester, New York

Pay close attention: The Goddess and the Guru has the potential to realign your world. Roxanne Kamayani Gupta , Ph.D., author of The Yoginis Mirror

Riveting storytelling and revolutionary teachingson the miraculous possibilities that open up when we bring our spiritual and worldly lives together. Sarah Tomlinson , author of Nine Designs for Inner Peace

Not since Yoganandas Autobiography of a Yogi have we had such an intimate look into the making of a spiritual master and teacher. More than mere biography, The Goddess and the Guru is a reflection of us alltracing not just how and what we practice, but what leads us to practice. Maya Devi Georg , founder and editor of Brahmaloka or Bust

The Goddess and the Guru

The Goddess and the Guru

A Spiritual Biography of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

~

Michael M. Bowden

The Goddess and the Guru

A Spiritual Biography of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

Text 2017 by Michael M. Bowden

Photos by Michael M. Bowden unless otherwise indicated. Other photos the listed creators.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews.

45 th Parallel Press

P.O. Box 9551

providence, ri 02940

Cover design by Darinka Aguirre and Jeff Werner

Front cover photo 2015 Julianne Reynolds

Back cover photo 2014 Oleg Zinkovetsky

Interior design and typesetting by Jeff Werner

Copy-editing by Amy Haagsma

Proofreading by Hazel Boydell

Indexing by Sheilagh and Elspeth Simpson

Publishers Cataloging-In-Publication Data

(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Names: Bowden, Michael M.

Title: The goddess and the guru. [Volume 1], A spiritual biography of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati / Michael M. Bowden.

Other Titles: Spiritual biography of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

Description: Charlotte, Maine : th Parallel Press, [ 2017 ] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: isbn 978-0-9979466-0-4 (paperback) | isbn 978-0-9979466-4-2 (international paperback) | isbn 978-0-9979466-3-5 (hardcover) | isbn 978-0-9979466-1-1 (ePub) | isbn 978-0-9979466-2-8 (Mobipocket)

Subjects: lcsh : Saraswati, Amritananda Natha, Sri. | Gurus--India--Biography. | Physicists--India--Biography. | Hindu goddesses. | Spiritual life--Hinduism. | Tantrism. | lcgft : Biographies.

Classification: lcc bl1175.s37 b69 2017 (print) | lcc bl1175.s37 (ebook) | ddc 294.5092-- dc

e-book edition v1.0

For Guruji

~ Sketch drawn by Guruji in 1982, detailing his vision of Sri Meru.

(Sri Vidya Trust)

Only try to see for yourself.

Dont blindly accept what others say.

~ Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

Contents

~

THE GODDESS AND THE GURU

~

~ The original 2005 cad schematic for the Devipuram Merus, as edited and corrected by Guruji.

(Sri Vidya Trust)

A Note from Guruji

On behalf of the Goddesss devotees,

Thank you for your Herculean effort

in writing and assembling these materials.

May Her work, beyond the Three Worlds of Space, Time and Matter,

continue unimpeded.

Among the Hindu traditions, Sri Vidya is that which explores the connections

between the Mother, the Child and the FatherMother unity,

via the invariant geometries that define our Universe and beyond.

Attempts to clarify these constructs are much needed by the present generation,

which is so hungry for authentic information on why certain practices help

and others hinder our progress and quality of life.

Your work will help in this process.

I appreciate your time and trust in me.

I dont claim to be a perfect upasaka .

I dont have the scientific depth to understand the Creators ideas.

But like so many others before me, I have trie d and I am trying still.

So please do not put me on a pedestal or give me unwarranted credit.