This book is harrowing and took a lot of honesty to write. Andrew Cohen is a guru who underwent something like two weeks training with a teacher in India--supposedly in the lineage of Sri Ramana Maharshi--before being turned loose on the public. He's so out of control that his own mother wrote an expose' of him (Luna Tarlo and her book, "The Mother of God", is available on amazon). I suppose the people who believe in Cohen are just good but immature kids. And for those still capable of hearing a dissenting voice, I offer this anecdote.

I once knew an American who was a direct disciple of Ramana Maharshi. In the late nineteen forties he flew to India at age 17 and arrived at Ramana's ashram unannounced. The Maharshi was in the meditation hall sitting on a slightly raised dais, as always. He greeted the american kid warmly, asked some questions about his hometown of new york city (for example: "Are the buildings really that tall?") The Maharshi already had advanced cancer and could only hobble around painfully with a cane, but he personally got up, took the kid's hand, and led him to a dilapidated cabin where he could bed down. Having made certain the kid was comfy, Ramana left. My friend then practically fainted from exhaustion (trans-oceanic flights then were still endless propeller-driven marathons).

The kid was awakened nine hours later starved boy scarf the meal. Apparently satisfied that the boy was recovering, Ramana Maharshi slowly stood up and limped back to his seat in the meditation hall.

This is a true story. (The man was the Gnani Robert Adams and his book "Silence of the Heart" is available on amazon. He died in 1997 with the same nobility with which he'd always lived).

This book I'm reviewing tells a paralell story. Andrew Cohen kept a whole restaurant full of his devotees waiting for lunch while he piddled around, becoming extremely late. Finally they ate without him. When Cohen arrived he threw a HUGE TEMPER TANTRUM how DARE they eat before him?

Now, here's the punch line: does this sound like Sri Ramana Maharshi to you?

Ramana probably would have insisted they all eat FIRST then would have painfully limped around freshening everyone's drink. Don't kid yourself, being degraded never sped anyone to enlightenment. (Ignore ken wilber, Cohen's big defender, ALL he knows is books).

However, buy this book and decide for yourself. By all means, think for yourself.

- except for the part about desperately needing the other guy to stroke his own ego. And it's perfect really, because each can tout the other -- saying "he's revolutionary" or "Cohen is a rude boy teacher and you simply can't deal with that" -- and in doing so, avoid actually having to practice anything themselves. Even selling water by the river, one dies of thirst without at the very least an occasional sip.