Empire of the Soul

Reminiscent of the work of Bruce Chatwin, this soul-searching literary travelogue turns a keen and uncompromising eye toward India. A Westerner in love with this most un-Western of countries, Roberts (In Search of the Birth of Jesus) evokes in lush prose--and almost too vividly--the profound spiritual heights and sordid depths of humanity he encountered during his years in India in the 1970s and his several return trips in the '90s. The spiritually inclined will be fascinated by Roberts's truth-seeking missions with the famous guru Sai Baba and various traditional Hindu yogis, but they will meet less lofty characters here as well--at one point, Roberts accompanies a sadistic drug-lord to his hashish-oil operation. Roberts describes in excruciating detail unsanitary washroom facilities, fetid food and extremes of poverty--slums, crippled beggars, child prostitutes. His views of the Western seekers he meets along the way are just as unvarnished, especially of the sex-obsessed followers of Bhagwan Rajneesh. Yet the haunting splendor of this ancient, religion-drenched land shines through. At the end of his travels, in Siva's city of Benares, Roberts ponders the cremation-ash laden Ganges River and comes to know his own truth. Going deep within the paradoxes that form the fabric of India, this book offers far more than a postcard depiction (Oct.)