Camille Gardner is trapped in the middle when a unique Southern town collides with the 'outside world' and big oil.A talented negotiator, Camille Gardner agrees to take on one last field assignment for her uncle before she settles down to pursue her real passion---working at an art gallery. But she'd rather be anywhere than Samford, Louisiana, the small southern town where she once spent the worst weeks of her life.To fulfill the obligation she feels to her uncle, Camille needs to entice a group of rural landowners to sell their mineral rights---and allow use of their precious water for the drilling of natural gas. Instead, she finds herself drawn to the local folk art created by those same landowners and attracted to Marsh Cameron, the attorney representing the landowners.The charming residents and the traditions of this small community leave Camille conflicted about her family obligations---and her own plans for the future. Perhaps she needs to give Samford a second chance.'Christie populates her story with a varied cast of Southern small-town characters. Her tendency for unresolved suspense is occasionally unsettling, but, overall, her stories have enough warmth and humor to keep her readers coming back for more.' --- CBA Retailers + Resources

The Guru Tradition: India’s Spiritual Heritage discusses the natures and roles of both the guru and the śiṣya, or disciple, as depicted in the Upaniṣads and Dharma Śāstras. The entirety of this analysis, of guru and disciple, is developed into a paradigm by which both the ancient and modern Guru Tradition can be more thoroughly understood. Four pivotal gurus from the twentieth century who have impacted the spiritual fabric of both East and West —Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Sri Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, and Paramahansa Yogananda— are juxtaposed and discussed alongside this paradigm. This study is conducted from the perspective of Advaita Vedānta, the Indian philosophical system of nondualism.

The worship of a living person as a manifestation of the divine is here examined as it is practiced among the sants of North India. This well-researched book provides the first coherent understanding of the movement as a whole, tracing its sources in both Indic and Islamic milieus and contrasting its perceptions of guru and lineage with those found in orthodox versions of Hindu and Buddhist tantra and Indian Sufism. At the same time, Gold examines the dynamic between holy man and tradition, and guru and disciple, to provide a vivid portrayal of devotees' attitudes toward the independent, and at times highly idiosyncratic, holy men.

This is the definitive and complete book about a phenomenon which did not exist a hundred years ago, but is now growing rapidly and dramatically changing Western culture -- the rise of Western (mostly American) teachers, who fill the role of guru or master. A few books have appeared on some narrow aspects of this astounding phenomenon; this is the first book to survey the entire field. Encyclopedic in its scope, The Book of Enlightened Masters includes biographical essays on 140 spiritual teachers, giving their life stories and an account of their teachings. Yet it is also a user-friendly introduction, with a survey of the teachers and their teachings, a historical narrative of how and when the movement developed, and an evaluation of the issues raised by it. A century ago, there were no Western masters-no Westerners who were, for instance, Hindu swamis, Zen roshis, or Sufi sheikhs. Now there are many such teachers, with millions of followers. Starting from scratch, the West has produced its own spiritual teachers in traditions that until recently were utterly alien. And in the last quarter-century, a number of independent teachers have appeared, who belong to no single identifiable tradition. The Western masters have not merely transplanted the Eastern spiritual traditions to the West, they have transformed these traditions by their distinctively Western approach: innovative, entrepreneurial, and combining elements from previously unconnected Eastern traditions. The new teachers are changing Western culture by making available a view of the human condition which is new in the West but very attractive to large and growing numbers of Westerners, an approach Dr. Rawlinson calls"spiritual psychology". Spiritual psychology holds that human beings are best understood in terms of consciousness and its modifications, that consciousness can be changed by spiritual practice, and that there are enlightened masters who have done this and can teach others.

This book examines three closely related questions in the process of canon formation in the Sikh tradition: how the text of the Adi Granth came into being, the meaning of gurbani, and how the Adi Granth became the Guru Granth Sahib. The censure of scholarly research on the Adi Granth was closely related to the complex political situation of Punjab and brought the whole issue of academic freedom into sharper focus. This book addresses some of these issues from an academic perspective. The Adi Granth, the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, means ‘first religious book’ (from the word ‘adi’ which means ‘first’ and ‘granth’ which means ‘religious book’). Sikhs normally refer to the Adi Granth as the Guru Granth Sahib to indicate a confession of faith in the scripture as Guru. The contents of the Adi Granth are commonly known as bani (utterance) or gurbani (the utterance of the Guru). The transcendental origin (or ontological status) of the hymns of the Adi Granth is termed dhur ki bani (utterance from the beginning). This particular understanding of revelation is based upon the doctrine of the sabad, or divine word, defined by Guru Nanak and the succeeding Gurus. This book also explores the revelation of the bani and its verbal expression, devotional music in the Sikh tradition, the role of the scripture in Sikh ceremonies, and the hymns of Guru Nanak and Guru Arjan.

A clear-headed and relatable guidebook for navigating the student-teacher relationship by one of the first female Buddhist teachers in the West. All major forms of Buddhism stress the need for a teacher. However, the importance of having a guide or guru is sometimes a source of cultural and spiritual confusion as Buddhism expands in the West. A clear understanding of the Buddhist view of the guru is essential for the student-teacher relationship to be beneficial for one's spiritual growth. Collecting over fifty years of personal experiences as both a student and a teacher, Shenpen Hookham writes candidly of the opportunities and challenges facing modern Dharma students in the West who wish to study with a teacher. Traditional texts often do not reflect how the student-teacher relationship manifests in practice, which leaves many pressing questions and a great deal of confusion in communities taking root in the West. With honesty and clarity, Hookham discusses the roles of the teacher, practices related to the guru, and commonly asked questions she receives as a teacher. This handbook is the first of its kind, breaking down in a pragmatic and relatable way everything you need to know to enter a student-teacher relationship with open eyes and an open heart.