sadhu (the indian wandering holy men), A Search in Secret India

Wikipedia defines the Sanskrit term sādhu ("good man") and sādhvī ("good woman") as renouncers, who have chosen to live a life apart from or on the edges of society in order to focus on their own spiritual practice.
The words come from the Sanskrit root sādh, which means "reach one's goal", "make straight", or "gain power over". The same root is used in the word sādhana, which means "spiritual practice".


I have been reading a book titled 'A Search in Secret India' by Paul Brunton. A hospital colleague sometimes back suggested me to read the book as our topic of discussion that day turned on mysticism and the holy men of India. Up-till that day, I had never thought about the mystic men and their lives. As our topic of discussion turned to India and the Indian way of life, she started telling me about the Indian Mysticism and the lives of the Holy men. As per my knowledge, the Sadhu(s) are the guys we many times see on the railway platforms and mela(s) and most of them had nothing to do , so went on to become a Sadhu or something of that sort. And many are just pretenders there to beg for money on platforms (and other places) and to shower you with grave curses if you don't comply with their demands for alms.

But she thought of the contrary and was of the opinion that not every one is alike and there is definitely something beyond this jargon; something that is true and beautiful; mystic.

Watching me not convinced much, she suggested me this book by Paul Brunton and during our next meeting she even brought me the book itself to take home and read!

Well as I started reading through the pages , I have to admit that my opinion about these guys did alter a lot. (Not that, all are the spiritual gurus, but yes there is definitely some beautiful meaning behind all these and that there are true spiritual men hidden away from all of us somewhere in the big world, although there number is very very less).

And one thing that i liked best about the book was the beautiful way in which a westerner (Paul Brunton) had described the Indian way of life which even today holds true on many of our aspects. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the book (A Search in Secret India) and recommend it to anyone interested in knowing about the Indian spiritual life....