by Kripamoya Pranada Comtois was kind enough to send me a copy of her book Wise Love: Bhakti and the Search for the Soul of Consciousness. I wanted to do her book justice and set aside some uninterrupted reading time, so while visiting family in Cornwall, south-west England, I read up to chapter 1. I liked the narration of Vyasa in his ashram and was happy to finally put a name to his wife: Vyataki. Let’s hear it for the woman who was the wife of Vyasadeva and the mother of Shuka. Since the author – with the surname of Comtois (probably pronounced com-toys by my American cousins who love hard vowels) no doubt had some French or Belgian … [Read more...]

Tammy Stone Takahashi published this review of Wise-Love on Tattooed Buddha here. I have an endearing memory of my younger self trying to enjoy a coffee with a classmate in Toronto many years ago. We were both in the same Masters program in film, both heady and philosophically-oriented. We were staring intently at the fire-engine red mug on the table between us, wondering if we could ever really know we were seeing the same colour, or experiencing the same mug. Earnest as could be, we wanted to believe so badly that this knowledge was within reach. We also knew that this was an impossible dream. As I look back now, I want to hug these … [Read more...]