The memoir, My Guru and I, an account of the journey of Patrick Neville Booth from his early childhood in Kokstad to becoming Swami Vishwaparanthapananda, or Swami Paranthapa, is finally available on bookshelves. Picture: Supplied
The memoir, My Guru and I, an absorbing account of the journey of Patrick Neville Booth from his early childhood in Kokstad to becoming Swami Vishwaparanthapananda, or Swami Paranthapa, is finally available on bookshelves.
The book, published by African Perspective Publishing, reflects on his early childhood, where his life was built around his great-grandmother and the three generations that received her guidance, to his years searching for purpose and meaning.
After many adventures, he arrived at the feet of a 'Mauritian saint' giving darshan (blessings) in Johannesburg.
Here with candid self-reflection, enthusiasm and sincerity, Swami Paranthapa depicts his inner voyage of transformation. He takes the reader on a journey across India, England and Europe where he does battle with his ego and his own negative tendencies and connects with the inner divine energy.
Under the guidance of Paramahamsa Sri Swami Vishwananda, he emerged from 25 years of continuous unfolding as a brahmachari and in June 2008, Swami Vishwaparanthapananda.
“My Guru & I will inspire readers to awaken to their true self and fulfil their highest potential,” said Swami Paranthapa, who spends most of his time at the Shri Maha Jwala Narasimha Centre in Johannesburg.
“This book was conceived in the middle of the night, in a small town in Maharashtra in 2017. My Guru and I had been travelling across Maharashtra for about a week. I was overcome with appreciation for Sri Swami Vishwananda, and how He had irrevocably transformed my life. We stopped the car at a chai stand. I looked into his eyes; my heart full of emotions impossible to express.
“The moment was so incredibly intimate and delicate, all I wanted was to be alone with him. Knowing my thoughts, he asked the other person in the car to buy us pakora from the chai stand. When she left the car, he took my hands in his, looked at me and said, ‘You must write about everything you have experienced with me and call it My Guru and I’.” The moment was so loaded with love, I absorbed the instruction and the journey towards writing this book began.”
He said he was initiated by his Satguru, Premavatar Sri Swami Vishwananda, in 2008 into the Bhakti Marga Order.
Throughout his travels around the world, he shares love, support and understanding to all he meets, about the nature of the mind, emotions and unconditional love.
“I have experienced and understood the power and importance of unconditional love through the example and grace of my Satguru. And as a result, I share this deep wisdom with all who wish to grow the awareness of joy, love and peace within themselves.”
Swami Paranthapa said anyone could reach understanding and change their experience if they were willing to venture meeting their own mind with kindness.
“The mind is the mechanism that makes all actions. It informs our actions from its own past experience. For example, if you have a horrible argument with someone and you tell that person hurtful things, the mind is the tool through which that happened, and the same mind at night tells you ‘how could you have done that’ and ‘how could you have said that’. When you meet your own mind with kindness, it is to understand that this is how the mind operates.”
The book is available at Exclusive Books Gateway and most Exclusive Books stores countrywide. A book signing event will be held at Exclusive Books in the Gateway Theatre of Shopping on May 25 from noon to 2pm. RSVP Merylene at 072 094 0777.
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