Book of the week - Sai Baba, The Holy Man and the Psychiatrist

[Guest guest]

Sai Baba, The Holy Man and the Psychiatrist

By Samuel H. Sandweiss, M. D.Birth Day Publishing Company; (1975)240 pages;

illustrations; ISBN: 0-9600958-1-0

Readers' reviews at:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0960095810/103-2266958-4601411

 

 

Raising from the dead (passage excerpted from the book):

http://www.worldlightcenter.com/sai-baba/risedead.htm

 

 

Contents

 

Foreword by Dr. V. K. Gokak

Introduction

 

Part I - The Journey

1. Sweets, Sweets

2. Good News

3. Letters Home

4. First Meeting

5. From Thin Air

6. Shattered Rock

7. Psychiatry & Spirituality

8. Monkey Mind

9. Caduceus & Kundalini

10. A Soul In Transformation

 

Part II - Coming Home

11. The Avatar

12. Gold Spot

13. Prasanthi Nilayam

14. Burning To Ash

15. A Trip Of love

16. Questions & Answers

17. Sai Baba's Teachings

18. Lotus Feet

 

Foreword

 

Dr. Samule Sandweiss, in his thought-provoking book on Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai

Baba, has opened up three main avenues of communication: a fascinating

narration of his own experiences with Baba; his probe, as a psychiatrist, into

the roots of psychiatry and his consequent discovery that what passes as

psychiatry is an incomplete science and that quite essential additions have to

be made to it from the field of spiritual awareness to make it truly effective;

and the reproduction, from Baba's writings and speeches, of passages which are

regarded by Dr. Sandweiss as key passages for an exploration of Baba's

teachings.

 

Turning over the pages in which these passages are printed, one can easily see

that Dr. Sandweiss' choice is a happy one. Baba on Avatarhood; Baba on the nine

forms of devotion; Baba on the relation of the individual to society; Baba on

Sadhana: these and other pivotal quotations take us to the heart of Satya Sai

philosophy.

 

Dr. Sandweiss' own experiences with Baba are not only interesting but fairly

typical. He is first rendered unsettled and "unmade" and the remade in the

light of spirit. The "monkey mind" crumbles gradually and gives up its struggle

and is replaced by a genuine sensitiveness and receptivity. Allowing his

skepticism to fly as high and as long as it can, he still realizes that, if

there is any honesty in doubt, it has to admit and accept the existence of a

soul and a transcendental reality--a new spiritual dimension to the universe.

He also grasps the truth about the role of the Avatar in human affairs. In

short, Dr. Sandweiss undergoes a profound transformation. He becomes a

different person, gaining as he does a new spiritual dimension.

 

This change is reflected in the consequent attitude toward his own

profession--that of a psychiatrist. A scientist of consciousness in required.

Psychiatry itself has to change into an art of healing based on the science of

consciousness. Dr. Sandweiss may raise a hornet's nest around him by this

strange assertion. But truth has to be accepted as truth even if the heavens

move around you and fall.

 

It is his sensitive discernment, his honesty and forthrightness in the course of

his exploration that will endear Dr. Sandweiss to the readers of this book. A

transparent sincerity permeates this piece of writing. The writer takes his

readers into confidence regarding all the changes in his thoughts and moods. We

come to know every bend of the road he has taken and the direction of each step.

This is what makes it a genuine document of human sensitivity and of the

psychology of profound inner changes.

 

Dr. Sandweiss is a valued friend and we cherish many deep interests in common. I

am very happy that I was given the opportunity to write these few lines by way

of an appreciation of his book.

 

Vinayak Krishna Gokak

Brindavan, Whitefield

Bangalore, India

 

 

The book is available at:

 

Sri Sathya Sai Book and Information Centre, Toronto, Canada

http://www.saibooks.org/

 

Sri Sathya Sai Books, UK

http://www.srisathyasaibooks.org.uk/

 

Sathya Sai Publications, NZ

http://www.sathyasai.org.nz/booksforsale.htm

 

Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0960095810/103-2266958-4601411

Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Messenger