What do spiritual life and spiritual practice really mean? How do you tell a false guru from a real one? Is being part of a spiritual lineage important?

Spirituality is chic, and it is even big business. One way to get to the heart of what spiritual life is and isn't is by asking those who know - which is what Mariana Caplan does in this book. Featuring interviews with respected spiritual teachers and pandits in the West, this book brings a little sobriety and a lot of wisdom to an area deeply in need of it.

This book is available in seconds only.

"Seconds" are returns to the publisher where the covers are scratched, bent or torn; the text remains unaffected.

In all the mixture in the contemporary spiritual scene, some people are getting more wise and compassionate, and a lot of others are exploiting people, are on ego trips, deepening our ‘endarkenment’ and our samsara …– Charles Tart, Ph.D., Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, California; author, Living The Mindful Life

Caplan’s illuminating book calls into question the motives of the spiritual snake handlers of the modern age and urges seekers to pay the price of traveling the hard road to true enlightenment. – Publisher’s Weekly

A valuable, timely book, especially in sections devoted to the ‘hot’ issues of authenticity, ego inflation, and corruption with respect to spiritual teachers. – Shambhala Sun

Caplan’s thoughtful book should come as a ship to the rescue of practitioners of the broad New Age tradition. Highly recommended for all collections where New Age titles are popular. – Library Journal

Enlightenment is important; it rids us of all illusions and delusions. Speaking or writing about enlightenment prior to realizing it is problematic, if not foolish, because our illusions and delusions are still in place. Yet, paradoxically, unless we talk or write about enlightenment, we will not come to know of its possibility or become motivated to realize it. This is the uneasy position in which the writer of this book finds herself. The reader would do well to acknowledge the same uneasiness while reading the book.

Considering the inherent difficulty, even apparent impossibility, in defining or precisely describing enlightenment, Mariana Caplan has done a fine job of circling around the topic, illuminating it from as many angles as possible, while drawing freely on the wisdom and foolishness of others.

Getting to enlightenment is a matter of shedding old skins. That is a process we can readily focus on; it is called sâdhana in the Sanskrit language, which means spiritual practice: the progressive penetration and removal of our illusions and delusions, as well as all the afflictive emotions that accompany them. Thinking or talking about enlightenment becomes useful only when it stimulates us to take up a spiritual discipline, which calls for a lifelong commitment. I hope that this book will encourage readers to take concrete steps toward enlightenment or make their current steps more meaningful and determined. May all our choices be auspicious. – Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D. is a contributing editor of Yoga Journal, Inner Directions and Intuition magazine. He is also the Founder-President of Yoga Research and Education Center and has authored thirty books, including the award-winning Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga; Teachings of Yoga; Tantra: The Art of Ecstasy and The Yoga Tradition.