Reader's Review On Radhanath Swami's Book - The Journey Home

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“Radhanath Swami’s, The Journey Home: Autobiography Of An American Swami, is as much a delight to read as it is a defining and pivotal literary work of an enlightened being. Readers of all ages and faiths will find unimaginable strength, a wonderful sense of humor, sheer epic adventure, an outpouring of compassion, wisdom, and inspiration in its pages.“

Radhanath Swami is a diminutive, gentle, and yet, nonetheless, immensely powerful man, his appearance at once illuminating and also beguiling. Clad in a soft-hued, saffron-colored robe, his slender frame barely visible beneath the folds of cloth, he walks soundlessly, and yet, when speaking to his audience, addresses each and every member with conviction.

Recently, Radhanath Swami spoke in New York City, at the Bhakti Center and at Ashtanga Yoga New York, reading from his recent, unforgettable book, The Journey Home, Autobiography Of An American Swami. Amid the city’s bustling activity–the ever-present whir and rush of the holiday season–in a biting and deepening cold, Radhanath Swami delighted and warmed those who came to hear him, New Yorkers from all walks of life–devotees of Krishna, yogis, avid readers, all who could fill the space and sit in his presence.

Appearing shy at first–having to lean into the microphone to be heard, adjusting his cushion for several moments, and seemingly, with great effort, transporting himself from a profound and personal silence before speaking, Radhanath Swami recounted the vivid, devotional migration that transformed him from Richard Slavin, a suburban Jewish youth lost in the throes of the 1960s counter-culture, into a spiritual leader, confiding in each and every member of the audience as if we were all participants–intimate friends sharing the most memorable of journeys.

Put succinctly, Radhanath Swami’s life has been and continues to be one of epic dimensions. As a child born and unwillingly thrown into the malaise and alienation of suburban Chicago life in the 1960s, he was much too often a first-hand witness of and victim of great injustices. As he quietly recounted in his lecture and wrote in much more harrowing detail in his autobiography, he saw the shame that African-Americans suffered in the American ghetto in a “separate” and “unequal” system, acutely felt the horrors of an unjust war in Vietnam, and could not comfort his soul or sense of righteousness with an easy, material lifestyle and all its supposed trimmings.

Feeling alienated and alone in his sense of both loss and indignation, as a frail, nineteen year-old, the young Richard Slavin turned toward God. Growing his hair long in individual protest, “a statement of discontent,” he marched with Civil Rights leaders for the ideals of Martin Luther King Jr. and protested the Vietnam War at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1970 only to be the victim of tear-gas at the hands of the police and the target of uncontrolled rage as the only “white man” at an African-American civil disobedience demonstration. At times, during this difficult period of his life he writes in his book that he felt “like an open target for anyone suffering from anger or negativity.” However, what is instrumental was that he did not collapse into despair. Turning to the innate majesty and beauty of nature, to his inner heart, and to his good friend, Gary Liss, “whose friendship would become a miracle in my life,” he resolved: “If only like the running stream, I just follow my calling…nature may whisper her secrets and guide me to my destiny.”

Thus began the first part of Radhanath Swami’s physical journey which led him to travel all over Europe with his friend and ultimately, to sojourn alone to “Mother India.” In person–as he spoke to the hushed audience with the subtle and playful inflections of his voice and his fluid facial expressions–and in his autobiography, he

described with humor the most amazing of adventures–meditating with monks in Rome among the secret catacombs and remains of the dead; crashing in a crowded hippy pad in a church basement in Trafalgar Square; playing the Blues on his harmonica next to the legendary Johnny Winter; ultimately sitting in a cave on the Isle of Crete where he had his first spiritual epiphany.

Throughout each and every one of these experiences, Radhanath Swami, (aptly nick-named “Monk” in his late teens–a name that was more a legacy from the nick-name of his older brother on the wrestling team and less ironically, to do with his ultimate destiny) chose to find out “what can I learn from this?” Retelling his first pivotal revelation in front of a live audience and as written in his book, he continually maintained a sense of humility and grace during the most difficult moments.

In Crete, for example, after weeks of meditation, his best friend Gary one day confides to him, “Monk, something amazing happened to me today.” Radhanath Swami, surprised, replies, “Something amazing happened to me, too.” They look at one another in stunned anticipation. His friend declares, “I…heard a voice as the sun was setting…the voice told [me], ‘Go to Israel.’” Alas, Radhanath Swami, having also heard a voice, admits to his friend, “‘But Gary,’ I whispered, my heart pounding, ‘the voice told me, ‘Go to India.’” And thus, amid the laughter that erupted as he recounted the bewildered expression on his best friend’s face, Radhanath Swami described his realizaton that his quest was one that he must undertake alone.

The immensely detailed book, much like Radhanath Swami’s journey and his breathtaking lecture, continues to weave Radhanath Swami’s quest for spiritual knowledge with his steadfast pursuit to reach his homeland. His unwavering intent propels him ultimately to “Mother India” with nothing more than the echo of the voice that commanded him to go there. Assured he will find his way despite the fact that he is literally thousands of miles away from his original home and loved ones, Radhanath Swami arrives in his beloved yet unknown county only to be told by a border official that he will not be allowed into India. Glaring, the official flatly informs him, “We have beggars enough in India. We don’t want another one…You will not enter India. You are rejected. Now go back to where you came from.” Physically exhausted, haggard, destitute and heart-broken, Swami’s only response is one that has continued to characterize his life’s work and achievements, “I knew that I would not turn back…Never once did I dream that entry to India would be denied to me.”

Naturally, this conviction was only the beginning of Swami’s initiation and movement towards his unfolding destiny. The book is far richer and goes into much more depth about Swami’s multitude of experiences in India and ultimately, his evolution to become a Vaishnava Swami for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

In short, The Journey Home: Autobiography Of An American Swami, is as much a delight to read as it is a defining and pivotal literary work of an enlightened being. Readers of all ages and faiths will find unimaginable strength, a wonderful sense of humor, sheer epic adventure, an outpouring of compassion, wisdom, and inspiration in its pages. Not since, Autobiography of A Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda, has such a vivid, intricately penned tale of one man’s triumph of the soul been so beautifully recounted. The only other pleasure is to have the immense good fortune and grace of being present in Radhanath Swami’s company–whether he is reading from his book, merely sitting, or happily recounting one of his stories. As a man of infinite grace, his life and his life story offer all who hear it, infinite wisdom.

Rachael Stark received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Columbia University, has published articles in New York City papers and magazines, and is an Adjunct Professor of Humanities at N.Y.U./Poly.

“There is no way one can sum up or highlight the incidents and those events of Radhanath Swami’s life, and the only way one can feel the power of his telling is by reading the book.”

I have written about Patrick Levy and about Narvada Puri, and in that sequence of Western seekers from the 1960s, is Richard Slavin, now known as Radhanath Swami, who has written his own wonderful tale of early travails and eventual fulfillment in a beautiful book titled, The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami. The book has attracted more attention than either Patrick Levy’s book or Narvada Puri’s, including a lame review by the Harvard professor of religion, Francis Clooney, but that attention and limp reviews notwithstanding, this is a story of a beautiful journey that should be read by those who still see India as a spiritual beacon, for it will confirm that the journey to and through that spiritual home is mysterious, powerful, sometimes frustrating, and finally liberating.

It is not a book, however, for those who simply seek to travel to India to photograph exotic people and places, nor is it for those who think the spiritual journey will be without hazards or hardships.

Richie, as Richard was called by friends and family, also began with a hunger deep inside. He was 19 when he decided, with a friend, to leave the comfort of his suburban Chicago home and go “trekking” overland from Europe, via Israel, Turkey, and Afghanistan to end up in India. He finds, early in Chicago, that one of his best friends’ parents “hated him” because he was a Jew! Little Richie was “sweet, but so strange,” people observed, seeing that he liked sitting on the floor and eating (like Indians) rather than sitting at a table and eating. He even stood and ate at restaurants, a compromise his parents made with him! He wore clothes and shoes only that looked old and worn, and when he was 16 and a close friend died in an accident he began to look more desperately for spiritual sanctuary.

Attending Miami Dade College with friend Gary Liss, who would become a very powerful presence and influence in his life, Richie one day comes across a poster advertising Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s transcendental mediation class, and that then leads him to meditation, and combined with his love of music, Richie was on the road to becoming Radhanath Swami. It would take a few thousand miles and a few years to get there, and this book recounts that fascinating journey. The incidents and events as Richie and Gary trek through the world, and as Richie and Gary part ways in Israel, are so strange, astounding, singular that they have all the hallmarks of a “true life thriller”—just waiting to be made into a gorgeous Hollywood movie some day: not just a superficial “eat, pray, love” but a story of a life of substance, challenge, and fulfillment.

Indeed there are aspects of food, and of prayer, and even of tantalizing love in this journey that will make readers wonder how a young man, actually just a teenager, has the nerve, the courage, the conviction to carry on his journey toward the spiritual goal that beckons him. He meets a lovely Swiss girl, Irene, in Florence, Italy who tells Richie “I have been praying for a companion,” and begs him to “. . . take me with you wherever you go.” That powerful temptation Richie rejects as a night of deep reflection tells him that he has got miles to walk on his spiritual journey. And sitting in Greece both Gary and Richie (now called “Monk” by his friends and by Gary) hear voices: one telling Gary that he should go to Israel, and another telling Monk to go to India. As they part ways, Monk decides to give up the nickname Monk and revert to his real name, Richard.

The on-land journey to India is so full of hazards that indeed they seem tailor-made for a Hollywood thriller. But to India he is headed, and Richard is determined, and he makes it—accidents, chases, prisons, and bad guys notwithstanding. The story about his quest for a guru in India, and of his meetings with the well-known gurus and humble villagers, of his battles with dysentery and snakes in the dark, of esoteric experiences and miraculous saves all make Richard’s journey into becoming Radhanath Swami a “stunning story,” as the great yoga teacher B.K.S. Iyengar describes it. There is no way one can sum up or highlight the incidents and those events, and the only way one can feel the power of his telling is by reading the book. Radhanath Swami returns to the U.S. but feels a great debt to India, and returns in 1986 to make it his permanent home. Settling down in Bombay, now Mumbai, Radhanath Swami has established several temples, schools, hospitals, and ashrams in Mumbai and elsewhere in India, and travels to the U.S. to enthrall and encourage those seekers now wanting to find a guru and quell their spiritual tumult. Just like Narvada Puri’s mother and sisters and other family members traveled to India from Germany to visit the “truant seeker” so does Radhanath Swami’s parents travel to visit him in India in 1989, and when his mother dies in 2004, his father and brothers request that he carry his mother’s ashes to India to be sprinkled in the sacred Ganga.

Radhanath Swami’s life journey is inspiring, and there will be some whose life will be transformed as they read his book. May their life journey be fulfilling!

- Ramesh Rao
(Professor of Communication Studies at Longwood University in Farmville, VA, is the author of two books on Indian politics and society and has written numerous op-eds for newspapers and magazines in India, the U.S., and the U.K. He also serves as the human rights coordinator for the Hindu American Foundation)

I recommend Radhanath Swami’s  The Journey Home to all regardless of what faith/religion one participates in. It is a story for all — life changing!! Mind opening!! Awe-inspiring!!

A couple of months ago, I had the privilege of hearing Radhanath Swami, a follower of the contemporary Bhakti yoga tradition. This strain of devotional yoga maintains that people who become aware of their spiritual identity share an imperative to reduce suffering in the world.

A Photo of Radhanath Swami

 

I became aware of his visit to the small yoga studio across from my house in Aliso Viejo, California after seeing a flier on the wall at Native Foods restaurant next to the studio. As I read the flier, something inside of me was insistent on seeing what this man was all about. I had never at that point actually seen someone of his stature or background in person. I marked the date on my calendar and set my heart on going.

 

A Photo of Richard Slavin (Now Radhanath Swami)

The evening of his visit arrived and I set out for the yoga studio. On the way over, I tried to find every excuse to turn around and go home. I didn’t know anyone going to the event, I wasn’t sure if I was going to connect with the swami’s message or if he was a good man. While doubts filled my mind, I kept moving toward my destination. When I entered the Core Power Yoga studio, I felt instantly at home and found a spot in the cozy yoga room. The event began when a beautiful African American singer by the name of C.C. White began chanting a mantra that I had heard before:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

She sang with such passion and devotion — the audience joined in and for about 10 minutes the mantra was repeated. There was so much warmth and love in the room, I could have heard it for hours.

Finally the moment came, Radhanath Swami began telling his story. He grew up in Illinois in a Jewish home. At the age of 19 in 1969, he felt a calling in his heart to travel to Europe with a couple of his friends. After trekking around Europe for three months, he found himself in Greece with very little money. Camping out in a cave with his friends, one morning he awoke to a voice inside of his soul inspiring him to go to India. He listened to the call and backpacked from Greece to India.

Journey Home - Autobiography of an American Swami

As he told his story, I was awestruck by how gracefully he spoke and his love for his Lord and humanity. It was clear that his travels through countries including Turkey, Afghanistan and Iran opened his heart and mind to the beauty of those he knew he could connect so deeply with. He told of an afternoon in Afghanistan in which he was having tea in a small shop with a man he had met and a boy entered — he was blind — his eyes deformed so much that it was hard to look at him.

The boy pulled out a funny looking instrument that resembled a tambourine and started singing. His voice was clear and angelic. Words of devotion and love poured from his mouth causing Richard Slavin (Radhanath Swami’s birth name) to become silent. He was awed by what came from the boys soul, teaching that there is so much more to a person than meets the eye. The hearts cry is so very powerful when shared and heard.

In India, Barry was able to learn from great sages including the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Ananda Mayi Ma, Swami Satcidananda, and many more who make their appearances in his book The Journey Home.

For nearly three hours, I listened closely and secretly wished that his stories would continue. I was so very inspired that this man had set his mind to accomplish something extraordinary. The majority of us human beings would sit back and scoff at the idea of traveling to other countries with only enough money to by an airfare and buy food for a handful of days — and then believe that providence would guide and care for us. We’d prefer our conventional lives while wishing that we could have the nerve to do something different and extraordinary with our lives.

Radhanath Swami’s stories finally ended. I worked up the courage to approach him at the front of the room. He looked at me with compassion, and I thanked him for filling my heart and soul for a few hours.

Radhanath Swami with Mother Teresa

“What is your name,” he asked. “Jen,” I replied. He then peered deeply into my eyes and said, “If only others could be as kind as you are.” I looked back at him with emotion in my eyes. “Really, if only others could be as kind as you…you are a very kind person.”

I left thinking about kindness and took it as an assignment, as a call to try my best to be kind to all that I come in contact with.

A few days later, I bought the Swami’s book The Journey Home. For a handful of weeks I couldn’t put the book down. His words were so very inspired in my mind and his heart true.

He taught of the importance of humility, serving humanity, finding one’s own unique spiritual path, listening to others, expecting miracles and connecting with the Lord of the universe. In his mind, there is one Lord who loves and serves humanity, if they are only to open their hearts and minds.

I recommend Radhanath Swami’s – The Journey Home to all regardless of what faith/religion one participates in. It is a story for all — life changing!! Mind opening!! Awe-inspiring!!

 

Thank you Radhanath Swami for your inspiration and boldness!!

- Jen Engevik
Integrated Marketing Specialist & Professional Writer

Review found at – http://projectbebold.com/archives/2187

“This wonderful book shows how purity of heart can overcome all obstacles on the Spiritual Path. It sings to us of holding on to our dream of Real Love until it becomes Reality.

Come take this journey with Radhanath  Swami!”

- Krishna das
(A Bhakti Yogi – Devoted to singing and teaching)

“The Journey Home – Autobiography of an American Swami, is a great book and has made me learn how to balance life.”

- Anil Agarwal
(12th Richest Indian)

“The Journey Home by Radhanath Swami is a tale of the young boy & will reveal the love of God which is dormant within everyone’s heart and blaze. The reader is given a chance to change his life in the same way as the author.”

This book is the story of a young boy who is born in the land of richness and luxury, America. He gave up his mother land for the search of spiritual perfection, facing so many life threatening dangers, but he was determined to reach his destination. He eventually landed in India, the nest of sadhus, the land of yogis and the worshipable place of the Lord. There he met his spiritual master and dedicated his life at his lotus feet.

This compilation aptly glorifies the culture of Bharata Bhumi and is a beacon light for every one’s life. This tale of the young boy will reveal the love of God which is dormant within everyone’s heart and blaze. The reader is given a chance to change his life in the same way as the author.

I have interacted with Sri Radhanath since so many years. His simplicity, soft dealings, sober nature, great devotion to Sri Krsna and his initiation in preaching of devotional service has made me feel special pride in him. I pray and hope that people may get great inspiration in their life from such a spiritual practitioner.

Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji
(Sri Sri “108″ Vishwesha Teertharu of Pejawar is known by his followers as Pejawar Swamiji. Pejawar math (Pejavara) is one among the ashta mathas of Udupi, a famous Dwaita philosophy center. Vishwesha Teertharu took sanyasa at the very young age of 8 in the year 1938. His vidya guru is Vidyamanya Teertha of Sri Bhandarkeri Math. The Swamiji assumed first paryaya, turn to worship Lord Krishna at Udupi, at a young age)

“I greatly enjoyed this book. It shows how a man of great spiritual energy can start his adult life as a typical young rock ‘n roller and open his heart, mind and soul to great adventures and very great learning. The journey of Radhanath Swami is an inspiring and humanly touching one.

Throughout this book the reader never loses the impression that he is ‘one of us’.

Unlike other ‘holy men’, he is not posturing as one step removed. He is teaching us because he remembers how to be one of us. That is why the book is touching – because he himself has remained within close touching distance. We feel it is possible to take this journey”

— Professor Stephen Chan,
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)