Book Review: A Search in Secret India
Author: Paul Brunton
Publishers: Rider Books
Pages: 312
Brunton’s book is a narration of his journeys across India with an important quest. He started from London to Bombay in spiritual quest, looking for a Guru. And he did this much before the Beetles came to Rishikesh or the flower children travelled to the east in big numbers looking for something they did not know what; the book is set in the pre-independence period.
‘A Search in Secret India’ takes the reader through the time he arrives in Bombay, travels south to plains of Deccan and again up north towards Benaras. On his way he meets many holy men, some genuine and some obviously fake. He also sees people who can perform actions that can’t be explained by physics, like turning a seed into a plant in a minute and people who are not affected by poison. Of the former he discovers to be a mere magical trick while the later remains unexplained, attributed to Yogic power. He goes on to explain much more about the wise men whom he meets who are no mere showmen but are uplifted souls at a higher spiritual plane, and sometimes he ponders on accepting them for his Guru. His long journeys lead him through many fascinating experiences but he finally finds his destination in a place where he began his search – in the abode of Ramana Maharshi in Thiruvannamalai.
Brunton’s descriptions are as fascinating as the people he meets and his narration holds the reader to go on. The book is mixed with his awe for the spiritual gurus but also portrays his English arrogance of the colonial period. It is a completely different travel book showing its reader of an India that is hardly known or written about.