High on Wisdom

Here's the text of the Times of India review of The Crazy Wisdom of Ganesh Baba. I think it's the best review I've seen. Thanks, Manu Dev!

 High on wisdom

Manu Dev

Aug 1, 2011, 04.04pm IST

The Crazy Wisdom of Ganesh Baba
By Eve Baumohl Neuhaus
Pages: 160
Price: Rs 295
Wit and wisdom, posture and possibilities, drugs and discourse on the hippie trail — the book on the multi-faceted Shri Mahant Swami Ganeshanand Saraswati Giri, aka Ganesh Baba, has enough to keep the serious seeker as well as those just curious, engrossed. Written by Eve Baumohl Neuhaus, one of Baba's many students, this unusually candid book throws light on the life and times of Baba, who "considered himself the true guru of the psychedelic generation."

If the title, The Crazy Wisdom of Ganesh Baba is a teaser, then the blurb "psychedelic sadhana, Kriya yoga, kundalini and the cosmic energy in man" points to the many topics that the mystic shares his insight on. Copious notes of the teacher himself are reproduced to illustrate his profound thoughts, which were more often than not inspired by chillum sessions.

Eve's book traces Baba's early days from his initiation by Lahiri Mahasaya to his discipleship with Swami Sivananda and also the period when he ran the Anandamayi Ma ashram. The author also covers the mystic treading the path of Naga Babas, whose affinity to cannabis and other entheogens are well documented. Baba's dos and don'ts for joint sessions are also touched upon, which include the importance of keeping your back straight and controlled, deep breathing while focusing your attention.
Absolute honesty is the trademark of this book. The author pays glowing tributes to her beloved teacher, who is shown to predict that "the psychedelics, rather than the beefy-alcoholics are due to inherit the earth". Then she explains her surprise when she got to know about "his drunken rampages in New York City". Eve writes that even though Baba advocated vegetarianism, he had fish once in a while. She rationalises his behaviour with her arguments that teachers sometimes do have "crazy wisdom" to impart.

Baba's lessons on Crea (for creative) Yoga are given in alliterative 4 P's: posture, pranayama, pinealisation and pronov-mentation or posture (conscious posture and exercise), prana (conscious breathing and eating), practice (conscious action) and presence (constant awareness of consciousness).
The various diagrams and charts for "The Cycle of Synthesis" that depicts the evolution of matter to consciousness and back help the reader appreciate Baba's scientific bent of mind. The book has its origins in Eve's work with Baba in updating his manuscript for a book titled Crea Sadhana.
Ehud Sperling of Inner Traditions, which published Eve's book, gives an account of his days with the "outrageous" yogi in the preface. The picture of the 90-year-old Baba enjoying joints and dancing into the night with naked Brazilian Samba dancers at a New York City party thrown in his honour adds to the esoteric aura of this maverick mystic.

Along with the fun and laughter of Ganesh Baba, the book captures his insistence on what he considers one of the basics of sadhana — keeping the back straight. As Eve says: "If, in the end, you learnt nothing from Ganesh Baba except to keep your back straight, he would be satisfied." That's one thing the reader can implement as a first step and reap benefits, if not the entheogen part.

India 11: on time (or not)

The suggestions the other Americans made for improving the school led me to some reflections about time in India.

It began when Sarah responded to the outsiders' plea for a structured daily schedule, regular field trips, additional after-school programs, and so on, by saying, "I cannot ask my teachers to do more. They are already working long hours for reduced salaries. My teachers do what they do for affection, for love, not for money."

Values are different in India. Traditionally, it has been more important to ask after the family of the neighbor or relative you meet on the street than it is to get somewhere on time. Affection, caring, is of greater value than money or time. So, since many people still agree that responding to the need of the moment with love is more valuable than arriving on time or getting work done, the imposition of the Western values of efficiency and hard work is not always effective.

Values are shifting, however, as the Boom proves - young people are rapidly rejecting traditional value systems in favor of current fashion. All those new buildings are rising on schedule and the IT industry is delivering on time.

Nonetheless, I hope the person calling on that cell phone ringing in the temple of the sacred deity is asking about the family of the smiling young woman answering it.

India 9: clean air and good food in Bhubaneshwar

A clean world met us at the train station in Bhubaneshwar. A storm so intense it dropped hail and broke branches off trees had just passed through, making it possible for us to breathe freely for the first time since we'd arrived in India.

After getting settled in at Siddhi Mandap, we took a walk through Old Town. Raj pointed out the temples and tanks that are getting cleaned up, the new walls, plazas and plantings around the main pond. A pretty different scene from Benares, where the much beloved Ganga Math was replaced by a shopping mall.

How come Bhubaneshwar has the sense to preserve its Old Town, I asked, when so many other places in India are letting the boom take over? It's Ileana, said Raj. She has influence in high places. Ah.

The next day we had food at one of the main temples, Mahaprasad, sacred food of the highest order cooked by Raj's family, longtime priests of the temple kitchens (which feed 3000-5000 people a day!) It was - as it was the last time we were there - probably the best food we ate on our whole journey. Mmm.

doorway to Ganga Math, East/West center at Assi Ghat, Benares, 1968-2007

India 6: expanding awareness in Kashi

The Sahi River View Guest House in Benares is right on the river (or was, until the dam was built - now it is above some mudflats which are being rapidly transformed into a fancy plaza). Still, it is easy to get up early to see the sun rise over the Ganges. Our first morning there, we were out on the ghats before dawn.

After tea at an open air tea stall on the steps, we stopped in to visit Mark Dyczkowski who told us that after many years of studying Kashmir Shaivism, he was just beginning to teach. In fact, at 5 PM that very evening he would be giving the first of a series of classes on Trika yoga: a short talk and then meditation.

As the sun set that evening, Mark began with several outwardly simple propositions.

Everything is consciousness.

Consciousness is contained in three states: creation, persistence and destruction; and these three are all contained in a fourth state: eternity. This three-in-one is what is understood as Lord Shiva, or God.

Everything is God.

Trika yoga is a practice in which you realize your own Shiva-nature by becoming increasingly aware of your own awareness.

When you are aware that everything is consciousness, when your attention is fixed on your sense of awareness, when you are in the pure state of "I am" however briefly, you are one with Shiva.

We practiced being aware of our own consciousness with eyes closed and then with eyes open.

It is easy to reach that state for an instant, but it is very hard to maintain it.

And that is the basis of the practice of Trika yoga.

I was very moved by these ideas and continue to reflect on them. When I came home, I downloaded Mark's lectures from his website. I'm loving the practice and the understandings I am gaining from the talks.

India 4: How will you know who the father is if you don't ask the mother?

"How will you know who the father is if you don't ask the mother?" is a line I've been crediting to Ganesh Baba for years. Now I know that he was quoting a song by the great Baul singer, Lalon Shah.

One evening in Dehradun we watched a very beautiful Bangladeshi film Lalon, which, unfortunately, is not likely to make its way to the West any time soon. How I wish it would. Such stunning cinematography, such fine use of Lalon's songs to tell the story and to pass on the teachings, and such delightful caricatures of the people who didn't understand Lalon.

The Bauls are the wandering folksingers, singing sadhus, of Bengal. Their lineage, practice, and philosophy crosses the lines of traditional Hinduism and Islam, closer in some ways to Sufism, but a unique variant. Like all Tantric lineages, the Bauls believe that the way to God is through the human body.

I found it a tremendous relief to see the film after days of exploring the differences between belief systems rather than the commonalities. Here, among such poetic images and terms, I found myself sitting on my own magic carpet once again.

India 3: Tibet in Dehradun

February 10 - 14

While in Dehradun visiting our friend Jayant Gupta we also visited Tibet. We went to the vibrant Tibetan settlement.

We'd heard that Mindrolling Trichen Rinpoche had just died, but we didn't know that he was still in samadhi, sitting up straight, surrounded by his people, and that he wouldn't be considered really dead until he fell over, which could happen soon, or not for a couple weeks. The presence of thousands of followers sharing in the rituals going on around him meant that we couldn't go to the main stupa, so we visited Jayant's friend the weaver and his wife instead.

The couple lived in a small room mostly filled with an elaborate altar stacked with neat piles of baked offerings for the lama. After a requisite sharing of some whiskey, the weaver showed us some of his things: his drums, his yellow dragon hat, and his flute made of a bone. He played for us and he chanted, blessing us over and over again. It was soon evident that this humble man was much more than a weaver. We went to the temple and saw the special dice used for divination and the ancient book of interpretations. We were there for a long time, taking in the sounds and colors of Tibet.



By the time we left, I think we all felt as honored as if we'd had the darshan of the lama himself. And perhaps we had.

India 2: the rug is pulled out

February 9, 2008

It is only by grace that one meets people like professor
Dr. Lokesh Chandra. How lucky for me that Roxanne cultivated such a deep friendship with Dr. Chandra, who is the uncle of her first husband. This was my second visit there; my photo of him in Wikipedia was taken three years ago.

Since the purpose of this visit to India was to gather information that would help me write the commentary for Ganesh Baba's manuscript, I showed the professor what I had finished so far and asked for his comments.

His response totally threw me. After remarking that the layout looked very nice, he told that he disagreed with the basic premise. Let me share the synopsis I sent to the publisher:

"Ganesh Baba (Shri Mahant Swami Ganeshanand Saraswati or Giri, c.1885 – 1987), the ever-edgy embodiment of Lord Ganesh and original outrageous Psychedelic Swami, left behind three book-length manuscripts, all serious works: carbon copies of carbon copies covered with his handwritten corrections and commentary. Crea Sadhana, a manual for spiritual practice, is the first of these to be published. Written at the height of the sixties, Ganesh Baba’s message of systematic synthesis of the spiritual and the secular through ancient and modern science is more relevant today than ever before.

Crea (for “crea”-tive) Yoga is a unique set of exercises and understandings evolved from the tantric practices of traditional Kriya yoga carefully culled for contemporary students, particularly those whose path includes the use of marijuana and other entheogens. A balanced, accelerated, self-perpetuating process of physical, biological, psychological and spiritual integration, Crea is based on a deceptively simple numerology and the open-hearted belief that all religious paths have the same end.

Crea Sadhana contains the core of Ganesh Baba's teachings, beginning with conscious control of one's posture, breath and attention, and extending to the farthest reaches of the cosmos. Like the god whose name he bears, Baba's words and diagrams break through the barriers of current cultural and personal thought patterns, and continue to reveal their secrets long after one finishes reading."

The part with which Dr. Chandra disagrees is that, at an essential level, all religions share their genesis and goals. That idea, he explained, rose out of the linking of East and West in Calcutta during the decades before and when Ganesh Baba lived there, a convenient new concept arising from the need to get along, and not one with a longer history or any real credence. He gave me the names of the Brahmo and Arya Samaj to look up, and talked about the Bengali Renaissance, and suggested I read the history of the Theosophical Society.

I responded politely but the rug was gone. I stood uneasily on the rough floor wondering how I would ever regain solid footing.

India 1: The power of dreams

February 6 - March 7, 2008

The morning I was due to fly to New York and from there to New Delhi, I dreamed I couldn't pass through a room full of people with their arms and legs in braces. Wires crossed every possible path and the space sparkled with flashing LEDS. I had somewhere to go but I couldn't get there.

When I woke, the phrase "encumbered by technology" rang in my head. With some reluctance, I repacked my bags, leaving behind my laptop, the video camera and all their paraphernalia. It seemed the obvious thing to do. I kept my tiny digital camera in its little case in my handbag, but I left the wires to connect it to the computer. My luggage much lightened, I felt great.

The flight to New York was fine, and I spent a delightful day and a half at my daughter's place in Brooklyn, and then I met my friend Roxanne Gupta at the airport at Newark. Our flight left around midnight.

My month in India was full of revelation and profound lessons, as always. In fact, it went extraordinarily well with one exception: near the end of the month, my little camera was stolen.

So this journal does not include the many photos I took. Words and an occasional borrowed image will have to do.

What can I say? I tried to sneak past the gate and I got caught.