Book Club: Eat, Pray, Love: 10-12

The second book in our book club series is Eat, Pray Love. Is it a Hindu book? Not exactly, but it is very relevant to the experiences of non-Indian Hindus. The author has a Hindu guru (whose identity has been rather easily found out by those familiar with the world of Indian gurus). Julia Roberts after playing the author in the movie, claimed to have become a Hindu. So I think it will be worthwhile to examine the experiences and stories that led these women towards Hinduism…

Bead 10

Gilbert has set off for Italy.

In order to set off on her year of travels she gives up her house, her apartment, puts her belongings in storage and is free to take off to find herself.

I’ve heard criticism that it taints the authenticity of her spiritual experience that “I can actually afford to do this because of a staggering personal miracle: in advance, my publisher has purchased the book I shall write about my travels.”

This doesn’t bother me. The publisher paid for her to tell the story of her travels, whatever that story may turn out to be. It is up to Gilbert to put the work in and to shape that narrative into a spiritual discovery.

I might be severely lacking in cynicism, though. 😉

But seriously, I feel like her story is very familiar to me and yet I have never been to Italy and I had much of my spiritual awakening before making it to India. I think we can have that growth where we are but it wouldn’t make for as compelling a book to read. Take her journey as a metaphor for your own. Sure it helps to break away from all responsibilities and travel to a new place to have the time and space for self-contemplation but you don’t have to.

Bead 11

The satisfaction of Gilbert’s first meal in Italy, gorgeously described as it is, feels more about the release of worry and control.

Her savoring of a variety of Italian foods looked to me like the very first act of surrender.

Bead 12

Gilbert says she has always wanted to learn Italian. No particular reason for that language, she just loves it. I feel a similar way about Hindi. People often ask me to say why I picked that language to learn (as my great struggles with language study make it unlikely I’ll get a third one). Hindi isn’t a Hindu language, they say, Sanskrit is. Yeah, well, Sanskrit doesn’t “speak” to me the way Hindi does.

Gilbert has an exercise of reading a newspaper story in Italian every day, no matter how long it takes her or how many words she has to look up. I should really add something like that to my practice.

It’s fun to see the delight that she takes in learning this language she loves for no purpose beyond joy. Just for the pure love.