The Goddess and the Guru: A Spiritual Biography of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati

I especially enjoyed the work of Sir John Woodroffe (1865–1936), a.k.a. “Arthur Avalon,” who—while prominently serving as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in British India—spent his private hours explaining, defending and ultimately practicing in the then widely reviled Hindu religious schools of Shaiva and Shakta Tantrism.

Cliff arrived at Devipuram toting a small, pyramidal Sri Meru he had ordered by mail from Devipuram five years earlier.16 One day he brought the Meru to Guruji for his blessing. Handing it back afterward, Guruji told him, “This is for your healing.”

Sri Meru is a three-dimensional projection of a Sri Chakra, used in Sri Vidya worship, that figures heavily in Guruji’s life and work. See also “Introduction: The World of Sri Vidya” in The Goddess and the Guru, Volume II.