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| Plot Summary of Death of a Guru |
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"This is the sober but astonishing account of a man who grew up in Trinidad in the 1950's with the pundits and pujas as a Hindu of Hindus, a Brahmin of the highest caste. His father was revered as a god and avatar, having declared Brahmacharya just days after his marriage, and who henceforth never spoke as he meditated without ceasing until his death. Rabi explains his family life and the culture he grew up in with great clarity and detail, which forms a fascinating insight into the Hindu culture, the good and the bad. The beliefs and practices of the society are illustrated with the rituals and the worship of the snake, the cow, the sun. (There is a glossary at the back of the book defining all the terms used.)
All the pundits (Brahmins most learned in Hinduism) predicted that he would be a great pundit and guru himself. From the earliest age he strove to emulate his father and please his mother: he meditated, worshipped, and studied as hard as he could. His karma seemed good. However, his meditation with its psychedelic experiences and visions did not bring him the peace he sought. As a youth he found he could not control his temper, his self-centredness, or the chain-smoking which made him ill. As predicted, he himself began to receive the rich living of a pundit and guru; he even gave blessings to his worshippers as a godling himself. But he found he had many bad experiences, and many hard questions to answer. Then one day a voice told him that he was "not god".
His soul-searching eventually brought him to the Christian faith, and also most of his family. He came to London in the late sixties to become a doctor, where he found the hippy culture, dropping acid, and having the same experiences that he had been used to, using transcendental meditation. This led him to give up his medical training and become a missionary, which has since taken him all over the world, preaching and speaking."
Michael JR Jose, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Death of a Guru |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Kids:
- trouble in college
- trouble in high school
- rebelling against parent's expectations
- general coming of age story
job/profession:
- religious figure
Job/profession/poverty story
Yes
Kind of living:
- general poverty story
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- religious figure
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity
- Indian Indian
How sensitive is this person?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other people
Physique
- physically sick
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 6 ()
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
- Switzerland
- Germany
The Americas (not US):
Yes
The Americas:
- The Caribbean
Island?
Yes
Island:
- Caribbean Islands
City?
Yes
City:
- London
Century:
- 1960's-1970's
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Book makes you feel?
- spiritual
Commentary on society?
Yes
Commentary on
- race
- selfishness
- religion
Writer's slant towards subject:
- very favorable
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of nearly entire life
Autobiography?
Yes
Pictures/Illustrations?
- None
How much dialogue in bio?
- significantly more descript than dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 0-25% of book
How much is philosophy rather than life story?
- 0-25% of book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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