Overview

In this inspiring book of divine discovery, poet and seeker Arundhathi Subramaniam gives us a glimpse into the lives of four self-contained, unapologetic female spiritual travelers. “Among the finest pieces of spiritual truth-telling literature I have ever read ... A book to savor and celebrate.”—Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy and Ordinary Mysticism “As the pages turn, one feels a growing sense of shared humanity, even kinship, with these extraordinary practitioners of the sacred.”—Tim Parks, author of Teach Us to Sit Still: A Skeptic’s Search for Health and Healing In life, spiritual paths are often as unique as we are. Bringing together the voices of four women mystics walking very different spiritual paths, poet Arundhathi Subramaniam reveals the expansive potential of forging an intimate, personal connection with the divine. We'll meet these four travelers: Sri Annapurani Amma, who left the safety of home to follow the summons of a long-dead saint and chooses to live naked, Balarishi Vishwashirasini, a nada yoga teacher who became a guru as a child and admits she's missed out on a real childhood, Lata Mani, who discovered tantra after a major accident left her with a brain injury and today talks of how the spiritual life is deeply anchored in the wisdom of the body—not unlike the redwood trees of her adopted home, and Maa Karpoori, who needed to resist pressure to marry, and found her calling in a local yoga class and now radiates fierce independence and the contagious joy of living. Sensitive, insightful, and lyrical, Women Who Wear Only Themselves bathes us in the kind of mystery that feels deeply familiar and invites us to connect with whatever sparks our spiritual fire.

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9780063385894

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Reviews

""Beauty can be the boat that carries meaning across the waters of the mind home to the heart. Women Who Wear Only Themselves is a rare book that combines substantial spiritual insight with gorgeous writing. It is lyrical and wise, poetic and revolutionary. The four contemporary women sages the author lifts up are extraordinary, no doubt about it, yet it is Arundhati Subramaniam’s own author’s note and preface—among the finest pieces of spiritual truth-telling literature I have ever read—that rewove the tattered strands of my feminine soul. A book to savor and celebrate."" — Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy and Ordinary Mysticism ""To be guided by a guru who died three centuries ago, to converse daily with Shiva, to be possessed by mantras in earliest infancy, to live naked the year long, whatever the company … Subramaniam’s frank interviews with four women who have lived their Hinduism to the full allow us a precious insight into experiences that might seem far beyond our Western understanding. As the pages, turn one feels a growing sense of shared humanity, even kinship, with these extraordinary practitioners of the sacred. It’s hard to think of a more effective way of overcoming our cultural incomprehensions."" — Tim Parks, author of Teach Us to Sit Still: A Sceptic's Search for Health and Healing ""[This] tender, unblinking, insightful book opens doorways of perception to the spiritual and sacred. A truly transformational text."" — Namita Gokhale, author of The Book of Shiva ""A wild ride. An amazing experience. What a ravishment of a book, what a contraband of riches."" — Jerry Pinto, author of Em and the Big Hoom

""Beauty can be the boat that carries meaning across the waters of the mind home to the heart. Women Who Wear Only Themselves is a rare book that combines substantial spiritual insight with gorgeous writing. It is lyrical and wise, poetic and revolutionary. The four contemporary women sages the author lifts up are extraordinary, no doubt about it, yet it is Arundhati Subramaniam’s own author’s note and preface—among the finest pieces of spiritual truth-telling literature I have ever read—that rewove the tattered strands of my feminine soul. A book to savor and celebrate."" — Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy and Ordinary Mysticism ""To be guided by a guru who died three centuries ago, to converse daily with Shiva, to be possessed by mantras in earliest infancy, to live naked the year long, whatever the company … Subramaniam’s frank interviews with four women who have lived their Hinduism to the full allow us a precious insight into experiences that might seem far beyond our Western understanding. As the pages, turn one feels a growing sense of shared humanity, even kinship, with these extraordinary practitioners of the sacred. It’s hard to think of a more effective way of overcoming our cultural incomprehensions."" — Tim Parks, author of Teach Us to Sit Still: A Sceptic's Search for Health and Healing

"""Beauty can be the boat that carries meaning across the waters of the mind home to the heart. Women Who Wear Only Themselves is a rare book that combines substantial spiritual insight with gorgeous writing. It is lyrical and wise, poetic and revolutionary. The four contemporary women sages the author lifts up are extraordinary, no doubt about it, yet it is Arundhati Subramaniam's own author's note and preface--among the finest pieces of spiritual truth-telling literature I have ever read--that rewove the tattered strands of my feminine soul. A book to savor and celebrate."" -- Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy and Ordinary Mysticism ""To be guided by a guru who died three centuries ago, to converse daily with Shiva, to be possessed by mantras in earliest infancy, to live naked the year long, whatever the company ... Subramaniam's frank interviews with four women who have lived their Hinduism to the full allow us a precious insight into experiences that might seem far beyond our Western understanding. As the pages turn one feels a growing sense of shared humanity, even kinship with these extraordinary practitioners of the sacred. It's hard to think of a more effective way of overcoming our cultural incomprehensions."" -- Tim Parks, author of Teach Us to Sit Still: a Sceptic's Search for Health and Healing"

Author Information

Arundhathi Subramaniam is a leading Indian poet, described as ""one of the finest poets writing in India today"" (The Hindu, 2010) and ""a unique poet of our times... in a league all by herself"" (Indian Literature, 2021). Winner of the Sahitya Akademi Prize for Poetry 2020 (awarded by India's national academy of letters), her fourteen books include Love Without a Story (Bloodaxe Books, 2020) and most recently, the Penguin anthology of Indian female sacred poetry, Wild Women (2024). Shortlisted for the prestigious TS Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2015, her various poetry awards include the Il Ceppo Prize in Italy, the Mahakavi Kanhaiyalal Sethia Award, the inaugural Khushwant Singh Prize, the Zee Women's Award for Literature, the Raza Award for Poetry, the Mystic Kalinga Award, the Trinity Arts Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, the Homi Bhabha and Charles Wallace fellowships, among others. She has worked over the years as curator, critic and poetry editor, and divides her time between New York, Mumbai, and Chennai.

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