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Gifts from the Goddess presents the essential teachings of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati, colloquially known as Guruji. Previously named Dr. N. Prahlada Sastry, Guruji left a prestigious position in India's missile defense complex to become a spiritual teacher in Hinduism's millennia-old school of Sri Vidya Tantra. Along the way, he discovered and revived a long-forgotten Goddess temple in a remote Indian jungle, traveled the globe teaching the powerful techniques of Sri Vidya, and attracted tens of thousands of followers worldwide. At the center of Gifts from the Goddess lie Guruji's two largest works: his 1994 opus, Understanding Sri Chakra Puja, and his stunning 1979 debut, Dasa Mahavidyas ('The Ten Great Wisdom Goddesses'). Both pieces have been revisited and updated by Guruji, and are presented here for the first time in their entirety. Gifts from the Goddess also includes other pieces of writing and lectures from throughout Guruji's career. Each reveals his inimitable voice and personality – lively, insightful, inspiring, and often humorous. His writing offers beautiful teachings on building and deepening one's spiritual practice. Discover his lessons on nurturing a relationship with the Divine (and the Universe), understanding the secrets of Tantra and Sri Vidya, incorporating a spiritual attitude into everyday life, and much more.

Nearly four decades ago, an intense series of spiritual visions led one of India's top nuclear physicists, until then a religious skeptic and man of science, to walk away from his prestigious post at the heart of the country's missile-defense complex. Retreating into the remote jungles of eastern India, he discovered the remains of a centuries-old Tantric Mother Goddess shrine and embarked on a life-altering quest to revive and expand it – eventually attracting tens of thousands of followers from across India and around the globe. Part biography and part spiritual guidebook, this book chronicles the astonishing, inspiring – and yet deeply human – life of Dr. Nishtala Prahlada Sastry (later best known as Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati, or simply'Guruji'); his triumphs and disappointments, public successes, and personal crises. In addition to Amritananda's life story, the book also offers a generous selection from his writings, lectures, ritual guides and poetry – a treasure trove for those who wish to significantly deepen their spiritual practice while remaining fully engaged with the world.