Book excerpt: India: Mirror of Truth A Seven Year Pilgrimage India: Mirror of Truth is the true story of a young American monk sent to India by his guru to teach meditation. His life-transforming seven-year spiritual odyssey takes him from the coastal waters of Kerala to the high Tibetan plateau. Along the way, he encounters saints and shamans, politicians and pundits, astrologers and ascetics, villagers and artisans. He visits ancient holy sites, meets swamis living at the source of the Ganges, participates in arcane purificatory rituals, experiences the excitement of thirty million pilgrims at the Kumbha Mela as guest of a maharaja, initiates India's elite into meditation, and shares the company of lamas at Tibetan monasteries in Ladakh in an awesome journey that is as culturally rich as it is spiritually stirring. Deep within the Himalayan peaks, he reunites with his ageless Himalayan Master patiently waiting for his return. The author's dream of pursuing enlightenment is realized when he renounces his work in order to seek spiritual liberation in an isolated mountain ashram.