Maya in search of Tantric Father – my thoughts
GoodreadsBlurb –
‘Maya in search of Tantric Father’ is a story of a young and pretty American girl, who is shocked to learn a secret from her deceased mother’s diary. Maya comes to India in search of her biological father, who was a Tantric. Out of sheer determination, she travels to many holy places in India, facing numerous difficulties, which any solo woman traveler would face in India. Some mysterious powers help, guide and protect her when she inadvertently walks into danger. Her spiritual pilgrimage is full of miracles and interesting encounters with a Philosopher, an Astrologer, an Ayurveda doctor, a Tantric, a Swami, a Professor, a Music maestro, and a bureaucrat. Some of them fall in love with her but she has no time to reciprocate. Her only mission is a search and she cannot afford any distractions. Could she find what she was searching for?
My thoughts –This is the second book of the author that I have read, the first one being Tall Man Small Shadow (read review here). Both the times the author was kind enough to send me copies of the books to read and give my honest opinions on them. His books are not the usual kinds I read and both of his books have taught me something new. Thanks again Mr Goyal! :)
Maya in Search of Tantric Father is the journey of an American girl Martha (Maya), who after her mother’s death found out from her mother’s diary that her real father was actually an Indian Tantric Man. And hence she sets forth on a journey to India to search her real father – a blind search in a population of more than a billion people. The Indian journey she undertakes is an amazing one – meeting different people, visiting new places, gaining experiences of a life-time. In her quest to find her father she learns that she needs to find herself to get enlightened and reach completeness. Throughout her journey, the reader is enlightened about various aspects on spirituality and mysticism. The author takes us on a journey of the significant places of Hindu religion like Banaras, Rishikesh, Pushkar, Kamakhya, Kathmandu, Dharamshala and many more (often visited my people all over the world seeking Moksha) and also offers a simple explanation of whys and hows of things through the viewpoint of a foreigner, thus making it easier for the readers to understand and grasp the things better. At the end, Maya successfully completes her quest to find her biological father but the journey continues in a sequel “Maya in search of the Guru” where Maya embarks on a journey to search her Guru who will help her in her search within. I will definitely check it out.
The book was enlightening for me in several ways. I have often heard but haven’t paid much attention to the Vedic literature, rituals, etc. Also, I had earlier heard about ‘Tantra’ but had only some vague ideas about it. However, this book gave me an insight into all of these and it was a real learning experience. And since the information was given in the form of a story, it was much easier to understand too. However, how much of the information was based on facts I am not sure. I will have to do some reading myself to find out more.
Apart from the above ups of the book, there were a few downs too. The thing which did not go down quite well with me was the fact that throughout her journey through the length and breadth of the country she had no problems as such and did not encounter any bad person (except a drunken driver) which is far from reality. Also, the cover and the blurb could have been much better to attract more readers to pick up the book.
Final words – A mesmerizing read where a story is nicely woven with spiritual and mystic knowledge.
Some excerpts from the book –
Note:
- The book was sent by the author and my opinions are unbiased.
- This review is linked to my Indian Quills Challenge 2014 target (read about the challenge here)
