Another winner in the spiritual memoirs category. Marta Szabo becomes a resident in Swami Chidvilasananda’s ashram in New York state, working her way up through the ranks until she is entitled to serve Chidvilasananda (“Gurumayi” to her followers) directly. Having worked under the petty tyrants of the ashram hierarchy, Szabo now gets to be subject to Chidvilasananda’s catty remarks in person. It’s a strangely fascinating tale, and I stayed up late to finish it. I was quite struck by the differences between this and the Buddhist spiritual memoir I mentioned in my previous post. In Buddhism, nothing is solid, and concepts are ephemeral products of the mind. The Hindu seekers, by contrast, all take themselves very seriously.Marta Szabo. The Guru Looked Good: A Memoir. Woodstock, N.Y.: Tinker Street, 2009. Paperback. 408 pages. ISBN 9780578006260. $19.95.
