Book Reviews of Whip of the Wild God by Mira Prabhu
Whip of the Wild God
Source: The Prediction
All too rarely, you come across a novel
that gallops you off into the biggest adventure of your life. It flips your
emotions from soaring glee to hair-yanking horror, feeds you pearls of
delicious wisdom that you know you’ll savour for years to come, and makes you
want to sob when you turn the last page. We’re lucky enough to have come across
one such book with Mira Prabhu’s Whip of the Wild God: A Novel of Tantra in
Ancient India.
The story follows the exquisite Ishvari, who,
as a 12-year-old girl, is plucked from poverty to be trained as the esteemed High
Tantrika – a priestess of sensual love. Her mission is to raise the kundalini
of the corrupt king and, in doing so, rescue her land from the spiritual
squalor that is encroaching with the rise of civilisation. Reading it, we lurch
from vicarious highs to despairing lows as Ishvari teeters on a tightrope
between spiritual enlightenment and fleshy corruption. It’s got more sex (Tantra),
drugs (charras) and rock and roll (emotional roller coastering) than Woodstock. But that’s
just the story.
The real gleam of Mira Prabhu’s novel is in
its fascinating exploration of yoga, Tantra, kundalini, Advaita and other
ancient Eastern teachings. These pearls of true wisdom are sewn into the fabric
of this bristling adventure with such skill that you wonder how this vivid tale
can also be such a seminal spiritual tome? This is the sexy big sister to Paulo
Coelho’s The Alchemist, and the Eastern answer to Elizabeth Haich’s Initiation.
Everyone really does need to read this book!
Author Bio
I was born in India and moved to New York in
my mid-twenties. It was during my tumultuous residence in Manhattan that I
first became fascinated by eastern philosophy’s power to transform the genuine
seeker. So, during the freezing winter of 1993, I began to write Whip of the Wild God, a novel of tantra set in
an ancient civilization reminiscent of India’s famous Indus Valley Civilization.
I completed this novel–believe it or not!–twenty years later, in the shadow of
Arunachala, the ancient hill considered by millions to be the God Shiva
incarnate.
Three
more novels are currently simmering in my consciousness–Copper Moon Over Pataliputra, set in the time
of the magnificent Mauryan Empire (300 BCE, India);Krishna’s Counsel, a contemporary novel (the
genre: metaphysical crime fiction!), set both in India and New York, and a
third, untitled, in which I intend to present the spiritual “view” necessary
for seeking moksha, or enlightenment–a unique and perhaps controversial view I
have garnered from my travels and study all across the globe–from south India
to Manhattan, to the foothills of the Himalayas, Europe, and finally back to
south India.
I now live in the deep south of India, hanging
out with my divine canines, Kali and Aghori, delighting in my growing garden,
and continuing to mine my own creative and spiritual potential.
Reviewer: SUSAN M. GRIFFITH-JONES
Source: Republica (Nepal)
| Whip
of the Wild God is a breathtaking account of life in the Indus
Valley of ancient India in which
the author, Mira Prabhu, has enchantingly captured a cultural, spiritual, and
historical kaleidoscope of those times and places. In a world setting of nearly
4,000 years ago, we are taken on a joyful and enchanting ride throughout this
brilliant narrative, woven with articulate words, and a skillful understanding
of the subject matter. Bringing resplendent life to all her characters in a way that allows us as modern people to also resonate with their pleasures and struggles, Prabhu’s words dance from page to page, carrying us through the life of the protagonist, Ishvari, from her days as an outcaste child in an indistinct village of the valley, to her times in the palace of the capital city with the king and his retinue who are as scheming and problematic as any modern-day politicians and leaders. Her role is not merely as a “queen” within the fabric of royal life but also as a high priestess, savvy in the ancient practice of Tantra. Indeed, throughout the story, the reader is articulately taken through the very intricate and difficult to understand techniques of the ancient Tantric arts so that one can understand their necessity as a panacea to the daily struggles of ordinary life. Between leaving her village and becoming the high priestess of the kingdom, Isvari has to pass through a special school for initiates into such arts. Here, we can easily relate to each individual on this course of education, struggling with emotional traumas, just as ordinary people do. However, through continual instruction in many methods that can lead them to overcome such mind problems if they apply the effort of practicing them, they may go beyond such difficulties. Ishvari, who stands out as the most capable of the students, has a very special mission to accomplish that only a very secret aspect of the Tantric path can avail. For the wayward king of Melukha, a powerful and demonically possessed individual, needs his ‘true’ or ‘highest’ life force energy activated in order to bring his mind back under control. The most effective and indeed the only method to do this would be to ‘alter’ his inner energy structure whereby his entire system would be pervaded by a higher force of energy, known as ‘kundalini.’ Held as he is by the lower forces of his own ego, this currently lies hidden and dormant within him. Portrayed as the only hope for the rectification of society’s evils, his consort Ishvari, who has been trained to initiate this process of the activation of kundalini through special techniques of sexual practice, would cause his mind to bring forth its peaceful and compassionate aspects once this energy are aroused in his system. As a leader of the people, these qualities would reflect throughout the kingdom, and the negativity sweeping through society will thus be reversed. However, things are not as straightforward as they may seem in theory, and Ishvari has to suffer greatly and face much personal strife in order just to stay alive in her role. In an arena that one would consider to be influential and privileged, she suffers the most pain and sorrow, turning to partial destruction of herself just to escape the pain of the reality she is forced to live in. Thus we see her fall again and again into the magnetic attraction of vice and, right to the end of her path stumble into the pitfalls of her own ego. As readers coping with our own lives, we can identify with Ishvari who, having been put on the highest pedestal with the best training and helped along the way by many teachers, still has her weaknesses. When we see that she has not just magically been transformed into some kind of ‘goddess’ status, we too feel capable of undergoing such a path of spiritual awakening. Throughout the story, the modern symbolism is apparent. Today, as in the ancient city of Melukha that Prabhu describes, our countries and cities are controlled by the same demonic forces as in Whip of the Wild God and our need to merge our inner spiritual force with the outward practical necessity to survive in the world proves tantamount for changes to be effected throughout the world. It is still pertinent that these Tantric arts are still available to aid the resurrection of humanity out of its lower habits, and that all of us as humans, who have the potential to use our greater energy force locked within ourselves, may be the catalysts of such ameliorative changes if we were only to apply time and energy to learning and practicing such skills. The entire path of Tantra, according to the ancient knowledge, is shown here; yet it is portrayed in a way that is totally approachable within the modern-day context, too. |
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