Sarada Chiruvolu, the author of ‘Home at Last,’ left a pharmaceutical career to pursue a spiritual calling. She dedicates her book to her primary guru, Sri Sri Amma Karunamayi. ‘Home at Last’ is part-memoir, part-guide to spiritual enlightenment.
She makes the point that spirituality is not something that can be achieved only “by those who leave their homes to reside in ashrams, monasteries, or caves. It is very much within everyone’s reach.”
She says, “the purpose of the book is to delineate the Truth pertaining to the spiritual dimension of life as I have experienced it.”
She goes on, “Ultimately, this book describes how the enlightened consciousness navigates one’s given life and integrates that life with higher consciousness after attaining realization. This is not a “how to” book in the conventional sense, mainly because the path to enlightenment can’t be laid out like the directions in a cookbook, step by step with exact measurements….however, the book does provide essential signposts of progress…this guidance can be useful to anyone who may be contemplating the pursuit of higher consciousness or who simply wants to learn more about it….this book is about the inner journey that eventually brings us all to the ultimate understanding of life and its purpose.
Sarada describes her “experience of bliss” during meditation and gives a few simple tips for our progress.
In Chapter 2, she touches upon Reiki healing, describing it and its influence in her life. She says she is more of a raja yogi and goes on to outline the eight-step method to reach bliss as propounded by the great sage Patanjali 2000 years ago.
In Chapter 3, she talks of renunciation and detachment, explaining how she lost interest in material pursuits. She explains that she was turning inward rather than outward. Sarada says the first book that made a deep impression on her was Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, translated by Swami Satchidananda. She also read books by or about Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Sri Ramana Maharishi, Swami Muktananda, Sri Nisargadatta Mahara, J. Krishnamurti, Ramesh Balsekar, Sri Aurobindo and Mother, Sri Chinmayananda, the Dalai Lama, Ken Wilber, David awkins, Osho Rajneesh, Gopi Krishna, Paramahansa Yogananda, and many more whom she quotes in the book on occasion.
She touches upon the law of karma and how we can alter the course of our karma.
In chapter 4, she introduces her guru, Amma Karunamayi, and her guru’s teachings. The next few chapters are about her visits to different ashrams and holy places like the Ramana Maharishi Ashram, Benares, Saranath, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Encinitas in California, and Puttaparthi.
In a chapter on meditation, she talks about how the practice is becoming popular since the time Maharishi Mahesh Yogi taught meditation to celebrities including the Beatles. A recent example is Director David Lynch who has been practicing for forty years and has announced that he hopes to teach it to the world.
She is one of the few spiritually aware beings who stresses on the need for good mental and physical health before embarking on a spiritual journey.
Sarada touches upon ‘kundalini’ and the different chakras of the body. She also introduces the concept of ‘granthis’ as made popular by her guru. She describes a host of physical challenges she experienced as her kundalini rose. She describes the “turiya state” and the experience of the “void.” She talks about “Jivanmukta,” and concludes that “self-realization is not for everyone; the impact is so forceful that those who lack the necessary physical stamina and mental health cannot bear it until it is their time. “. She believes that “ meditation, yoga, breath control, and other practices can help everyone lead a healthy life.”
Review Copy from Amaryllis
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