He appears out of nowhere in a sleepy little neighbourhood in suburban Kerala. He calls himself Shunya, the zero. Who is he? A lunatic? A dark magician? A fraud? Or an avadhuta, an enlightened soul?

Saami—as they call him—settles into a small cottage in the backyard of the local toddy shop. Here he spins parables, blesses, curses, drinks endless glasses of black tea and lives in total freedom. On rare occasions, he plays soul-stirring melodies on his old, bamboo-reed flute.

Then, just as mysteriously as he arrived, Shunya vanishes, setting the path for a new avadhuta, a new era.

This first novel by Sri M is a meditation on the void which collapses the wall between reality and make-believe, the limited and the infinite. With its spare storytelling and profound wisdom, it leads us into the realm of ‘shunya’, the nothingness of profound and lasting peace, the beginning and end of all things.

The author Sri 'M' is an extraordinary individual. His uniqueness lies not only in the fact that at the young age of 19 and a half, he travelled to snow clad Himalayas from Kerala, and there he met and lived for several years with a 'real-time' yogi, Babaji, but also that he should undertake such an unusual and adventurous exploration, given his non-Hindu birth and antecedents.

The metamorphosis of Mumtaz Ali Khan into Sri 'M', a yogi with profound knowledge of the Upanishads and deep personal insights, born of first hand experiences with higher levels of consciousness is indeed a fascinating story.

Sri M was born in Tiruvananthapuram, Kerala. At the age of nineteen and a half, attracted by a strange and irresistible urge to go to the Himalayas, he left home.

At the Vyasa Cave, beyond the Himalayan shrine of Badrinath, he met his Master and lived with him for three and a half years, wandering freely, the length and breadth of the snow clad Himalayan region. What he learnt from his Master Maheshwarnath Babaji, transformed his consciousness totally.

Back in the plains, he, as instructed by his Master, lived a normal life, working for a living, fulfilling his social commitments and at the same time preparing himself to teach all that he had learnt and experienced. At a signal from his Master he entered the teaching phase of his life. Today, he travels all over the world to share his experiences and knowledge.

For more information about Sri M, please visit: http: //www.satsang- foundation.org

Revised edition: This edition of Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master includes editorial revisions.

Practitioners of the ancient science of yoga have long contended that you don’t have to be a Hindu, in the conventional sense, to practise yoga, even though its origins lie in India. Renowned spiritual teacher, author, social reformer, educationist and global speaker Sri M goes a step further in this new and path-breaking book—he proves that, let alone belonging to a particular religion, one doesn’t even need to believe in God to be a true yogi. One of the best-known Vedantic scholars of our times, he draws on his deep knowledge of ancient Indian scriptures to prove that the godless are as capable as the God-inspired of reaching the pinnacle of self-realisation and bliss through yoga.

Based on a profound understanding of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, this is a step-by-step guide to the theory and practice of yoga for those who seek to know it better, and also for the young and the millennial, who may be stepping out for the first time. In lucid prose, with photographs for visual aid, Sri M takes us through the most complex notions of breath, body and posture with admirable brevity and clarity.

If you read one book on the subject of yoga, this is the one to choose.

‘This book is meant precisely to change misunderstood notions about yoga, while serving as a practical guide to practise yoga to perfection, without the “God crutch”. You will understand that ancient yoga philosophy has almost no interest in the concept of a creator or an all-powerful God, who controls you and throws you into heaven or hell according to his whims and fancies.

Even the great Patanjali, considered the foremost and earliest exponent of systematic yoga, in his masterpiece, The Yoga Sutras, uses Ishwara (God) only twice in the entire text and only as a useful adjunct to the main practices. Whether Patanjali’s Ishwara denotes an omnipotent “thundering God” or the tranquil Purusha of Sankhya philosophy is an age-old question that needs a healthy debate. We will look into these and other points of view because to practise yoga well, an understanding of its philosophical roots is important. Lastly, this book is an attempt to save the purity of yoga from being adulterated by religious cults and politico-religious outfits keen to exploit the masses and use them to their advantage.’ –from the Introduction

കേരളത്തിലെ ഒരു നഗരത്തിന്‍റെ പ്രശാന്തമായ പ്രാന്തപ്രദേശത്ത് എങ്ങുമില്ലായ്മയില് നിന്ന് എത്തിയതാണ് അയാള്. ശൂന്യ എന്നാണ് അയാള് സ്വയം വിശേഷിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്. ആരാണയാള് ചിത്തരോഗിയോ ദുര്‍മന്ത്രവാദിയോ തട്ടിപ്പുകാരനോ അതോ അവധൂതനോ ബുദ്ധാത്മാവോ സ്വാമി - അങ്ങനെയാണ് അയാളെ അവര് സംബോധന ചെയ്യുന്നത്... നാട്ടിലെ കള്ളുഷാപ്പിന്‍റെ പിന്‍മുറ്റത്തുള്ള കോട്ടേജില് താമസിക്കാന് തുടങ്ങുകയായി. അവിടെ ഇരുന്നുകൊണ്ട് അയാള് അന്യാപദേശകഥകള് കൊരുക്കയും അനുഗ്രഹങ്ങള് ചൊരിയുകയും ശാപങ്ങള് ചാണ്ടുകയും കണക്കില്ലാതെ കട്ടന്‍ചായ കുടിക്കയും പൂര്‍ണ്ണ മുക്തിയില് ജീവിക്കയും ചെയ്കയായി. അപൂര്‍വ്വാവസരങ്ങളില്, അയാള് ആത്മാവിനെ തൊട്ടുണര്‍ത്തുന്ന മധുരഗീതങ്ങള് തന്‍റെ പഴയ പുല്ലാങ്കുഴലില&#