From blue-eyed American to Indian 'naga' sadhu (Meet the American sadhu)

The Times of India ^ | FRIDAY, JULY 01, 2005 10:21:18 AM

[Gengis Khan]

NEW DELHI: Many people in United States dropped out and turned on in the 1960s as the country became involved in the Vietnam war and major cities became engulfed by race riots. Rampuri went a big step further - he disappeared into rural India and became a naked sadhu . For 21 years he wandered holy outposts and smoked pot from a clay pipe called a chillum, learned the rituals of sadhus - Hindu devotees covered in sacred ashes and sporting dreadlocks - from a guru and along the way abandoned his western name and cut most contact with his family in Beverly Hills. The wandering years are the subject of his book, Baba - Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Yogi , that gives a modern globalized... ...twist to what Thomas Wolfe wrote in the 1930s about a man who moves to New York and writes a best seller critical of his small town roots -- You Can't Go Home Again . Rampuri, 54, says he is a rare western witness to a demise of the ancient sadhu culture in India. The perch led him to realize that as a foreigner he could never fully understand the ways of the vast country, but equally he could never rejoin western culture back in the United States. The traditions of sadhus in story telling, ayurvedic medicine, yoga and in giving aashirvad (blessings) played an important role in India's ability to withstand 20th century commercial trends as many people found the holy men a potent reminder against middle-class desire, Rampuri says. "But the sadhus who were plugged into that -- that's coming to an end. This is what really impressed me. These were people who could basically wander the country with no clothes, no money -- nothing between you and the Earth. That is now in a tremendously rapid decline," he says, dressed in an embroidered kurta pajama in an interview at a luxury hotel in New Delhi. "The financial pressures on the sadhus now are just enormous -- many people shoo them away. I am one of the few people to see that from both sides and I feel other things that bind me to the sadhus -- but I still feel outside. I also feel an outsider to my own country. It's an epiphany. I see that I have come to play a very unique position."

[Gunrunner2]

Isn't he special.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Rampuri, 54, says he is a rare western witness to a demise of the ancient sadhu culture in India.

Let me guess-the demise is Bush's fault.

[snarks_when_bored]

Appearing wise to the poorly educated and credulous is no great feat, not is it something to feel proud of.

[Jim Noble]

[snarks_when_bored]

Read 'nor' for 'not', please.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

[patriciaruth]

LOL!

Yeah, the first thing that came to my mind was also The Church Lady.

[Tax-chick]

From blue-eyed American to Indian 'naga' sadhu

Did his eye color change?

[irishtenor]

LOL!!!!!!!

[jocon307]

"Did his eye color change?"

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I guess not based on the title of his book.

[Calusa]

Let me guess-the demise is Bush's fault.

It hit women and minority sadhus hardest.

[mountaineer1997]

I will read his book. He had the nerve to walk the talk, and I respect that!

[AlbertWang]

he says, dressed in an embroidered kurta pajama in an interview at a luxury hotel in New Delhi.

?????? I thought he was stumbling around, stoned and nude?????

[stan the beaver]

Wow, Beverly Hills. Another spoiled rich kid who ran away.

[meowmeow]

"But the sadhus who were plugged into that -- that's coming to an end.

...because being dirty, stoned and making a living selling snake oil to stupid people gets old after awhile?

[MirrorField]

he says, dressed in an embroidered kurta pajama in an interview at a luxury hotel in New Delhi.

?????? I thought he was stumbling around, stoned and nude?????

Probably just for that particular interview. All too many reporters spend much of their time in such hotels, spinning their stories from thin air, instead of hunting for facts on countryside. (sarcasm)Too uncomfortable and dangerous, you know? (sarcasm off)